The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander learned a lesson to open the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.
“You can’t just throw the first punch,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the visiting Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. “You’ve got to throw all the punches all night.”
Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder threw plenty of haymakers, helping their side to a 123-107 victory to even the series 1-1 going into Wednesday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis.
That was a departure from Game 1 last Thursday, when the Thunder led by 15 in the fourth quarter before Indiana came back to win the game 111-110 on a basket in the final second.
Gilgeous-Alexander led the way on Sunday for Oklahoma City, scoring 34 with eight assists, five rebounds and four steals, and went 11-of-12 on free throws.
There were plenty of areas of improvement from Game 1 for Thunder coach Mark Daigneault to point out after the victory.
Oklahoma City had more success turning Indiana’s turnovers into points at the other end, got better production from Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, had nearly double the assists after posting a season-low 13 in Game 1, and got an offensive spark off the bench from Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins.
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Daigneault said none of those alone was the difference-maker, but all came together for a much better result for his team.
“I think we were just a little bit better in a lot of areas,” Daigneault said.
The biggest stretch of the game came in the second quarter, when the Thunder ripped off a 19-2 run fuelled by their defence and Gilgeous-Alexander’s finishes on the other end.
To that point, Oklahoma City’s defence had not forced many turnovers, and it had not taken advantage of the few it had caused.
But during that big run, Gilgeous-Alexander scored seven of Oklahoma City’s last nine points – all off Pacers’ turnovers.
Indiana quickly answered with a 10-0 run to make it 52-39, but never got closer than that 13-point deficit.
The Thunder outscored the Pacers 26-12 in the paint in the first half and, for the series, now lead 88-68 in that category.
“They’re the best team in the league at keeping the ball out of there,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s a tough task.”
In Game 1, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren combined to shoot just 8-of-28 from the floor, with Holmgren going just 2-for-9 with six points.
Holmgren looked much more settled early on in Game 2, hitting five consecutive shots after missing his first of the game.
While Williams was not overly efficient, scoring 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting, he did go 8-for-9 at the free throw line and added five assists.
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Holmgren finished with 15 points, while Caruso added 20 and Wiggins 18 off the bench.
Tyrese Haliburton, the star of Game 1 after hitting the winning shot in the final second, led the Pacers with 17 points, though 12 of those came in the final quarter with the game fairly well in hand for Oklahoma City.
Over the first two games of the series, Haliburton is a combined 3-for-9 with nine points before half-time.
“I have to figure out how to be better at the beginning of games,” Haliburton said. “Kudos to them; they are a great defensive team.”
A big part of the Thunder’s defensive success against Haliburton has been thanks to Luguentz Dort. He has spent plenty of time guarding Haliburton but was on the opposite side of the floor for Haliburton’s Game 1 winner.
Dort finished with just three points, though Caruso gave him plenty of credit for the victory.
“He knows the role he needs to play for us to win the series and pick up that trophy at the end,” Caruso said.
Myles Turner added 16 for Indiana, while Pascal Siakam scored 15 points on 3-of-11 shooting.