Grit and Poise: Thunder Outlast Pacers to Reclaim Homecourt Advantage
The Indiana Pacers led the Oklahoma City Thunder 86-76 with less than a minute remaining in the third quarter of game four of the NBA Finals, but the Thunder outscored the Pacers 35-18 the rest of the way--including 12-1 in the final 3:20--to win 111-104 and reclaim homecourt advantage. The series shifts back to Oklahoma City on Monday night tied 2-2 after the Pacers led 1-0 and 2-1. This was the Thunder's second lowest scoring total in a win in the
2025 playoffs; they lost five of their previous six playoff games when
they scored less than 112 points, but they are 12-1 in the 2025 playoffs
when they score at least 112 points. The Thunder improved to 5-0 following a loss in 2025 playoffs.
The Thunder cruised through most of the 2024-25 regular season and went
12-4 in their first 16 playoff games, but beating the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals has been a
tough challenge for the Thunder, who displayed a lot of grit and poise
to come from behind to win on the road versus a team that has thrived in games that are close late in the fourth quarter.
The Thunder prevailed by outscoring the Pacers 50-36 in the paint after being outscored 50-48 in the paint in their game three loss. The Thunder also outrebounded the Pacers 43-33 while holding the Pacers to 34-80 (.425) field goal shooting. We are often told that range shooting and spreading the floor are essential for teams to be successful in today's NBA, but the Thunder won despite shooting just 3-17 (.176) from three point range because size matters in the NBA, and because controlling the paint is a major factor for a championship contender.
The biggest change that Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault made--literally and figuratively--was reinserting Isaiah Hartenstein in the starting lineup after replacing him with Cason Wallace in the first three games of this series. The move back to Hartenstein may not have seemed to help the Thunder when the Pacers jumped out to a 24-15 first quarter lead, but going back to the lineup and player rotation that enabled the Thunder to be a dominant team during the regular season and first three rounds of the playoffs paid dividends as the Thunder wore down the Pacers the rest of the way. Wallace's minutes have decreased from 33 in game one to 23 in game two, 24 in game three, and 19 in game four. Hartenstein's minutes have been fairly consistent--17, 22, 18, 21--but the Thunder won the two games when he played at least 20 minutes and lost the two games when he played less than 20 minutes. Daigneault tried to be clever by changing his starting lineup for the first three games and that move backfired, but he deserves credit for recognizing his mistake before it was too late to salvage this series.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 35 points on 12-24 field goal shooting and 10-10 free throw shooting, including 15 fourth quarter points. He had no assists, but sometimes the most effective way for a team's best player to impact winning is to accept the burden of scoring even when the defense is tilted against him. Instead of insisting on making the "right" play, Gilgeous-Alexander made winning plays by putting the ball in the basket when the game was up for grabs. Jalen Williams often initiated the offense while Gilgeous-Alexander played off of the ball, and Williams finished with 27 points, seven rebounds, and three assists. Alex Caruso contributed 20 points and a game-high tying five steals in 30 minutes off of the bench. Chet Holmgren powered his thin frame to 14 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 20 points and a game-high tying five steals while also grabbing eight rebounds, but he shot just 6-15 from the field. Nine Pacers played in this game, and Siakam was one of just three with a positive plus/minus number (+7, best on the Pacers). Tyrese Haliburton scored 18 points and had a game-high seven assists but he also had a game-high five turnovers. Obi Toppin scored 17 points and snared seven rebounds in 29 minutes off of the bench, but he had a game-worst -15 plus/minus number.
The Thunder became accustomed to easy, pretty wins during their dream regular season and for two of the first three rounds of the playoffs, but the NBA Finals have been a series of battles that are testing--and forging--the championship mettle of both teams. If the Thunder keep Hartenstein in the starting lineup, don't make any silly rotation changes, and use their size to dominate the paint then they have a great chance to prevail in game five to move to within one win of an NBA title.
Labels: Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Chet Holmgren, Indiana Pacers, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jalen Williams, Obi Toppin, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pascal Siakam, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 2:09 AM
Pacers Ride Big Fourth Quarter to Beat Thunder, Take 2-1 Series Lead
The Oklahoma City Thunder jumped out to a nine point first quarter lead, but the Indiana Pacers erased that deficit with a huge second quarter, and then used a big fourth quarter to outlast the Thunder, 116-107, to take a 2-1 series lead. The Thunder are renowned for forcing more turnovers than they commit and then pouncing on those extra possessions to score easy baskets, but in this game the Pacers scored 21 points off of 19 turnovers while giving up 14 points off of 14 turnovers. The Pacers also outscored the Thunder in the paint 50-48, and the Pacers had 17 fast break points compared to just 10 for the Thunder. The Pacers' bench outscored the Thunder's bench, 49-18. It is worth emphasizing that the Thunder changed their starting lineup before this series began--going small by inserting Cason Wallace in place of Isaiah Hartenstein--while the Pacers quite logically stuck with what has worked for them throughout the playoffs.
Role players tend to play better at home than on the road, and this game provided further evidence supporting that notion. Bennedict Mathurin scored a game-high and playoff career-high 27 points in 22 minutes off of the bench. His +16 plus/minus number was the second best in this game behind his teammate Obi Toppin (+18), who had eight points, six rebounds, and two blocked shots in 28 minutes off of the bench. T.J. McConnell became the first player in NBA Finals history with 10 points, five assists, and five steals off of the bench, posting a +12 plus/minus number in 15 minutes.
The Pacers' two big name starters made major contributions. Tyrese Haliburton scored 22 points, collected a game-high 11 assists, and grabbed a team-high nine rebounds. Pascal Siakam authored a strong all-around game with 21 points, six rebounds, four assists, and no turnovers in 32 minutes.
Jalen Williams led the Thunder with 26 points on 9-18 field goal shooting. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a rough game by his lofty standards, finishing with 24 points on 9-20 field goal shooting along with eight rebounds, four assists, and a game-high six turnovers; he had just set the record for most points scored in a player's first two NBA Finals games (72), breaking Allen Iverson's mark by one point. Chet Holmgren added 20 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, but he shot just 6-15 from the field.
The Thunder lost in the second round of the playoffs last year because
they had a small team that could be pushed around in the paint, and that
is why they acquired Hartenstein, who started 53 of the 57
regular season games that he played this season before starting each of
the Thunder's first 16 playoff games. The Thunder went 45-8 in the 53
regular season games that Hartenstein started, and they went 12-4 in the
16 playoff games that he started. Hartenstein has now come off of the
bench in each of the first three games of the NBA Finals, and the
Thunder are 1-2 in those games. I don't know or care what the
"advanced stats" say, but the statistic that matters most--wins and losses--speaks loudly,
screaming, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."
Prior to this game, Hartenstein led the Thunder in playoff field goal percentage (.619) and he ranked second in playoff rebounding (7.9 rpg). Rather than matching down to the Pacers by playing small, the Thunder would be better served by using their size to their advantage.
The problem is not just that the Thunder went small, but that they went small in a demonstrably ineffective manner. Wallace had a -15 plus/minus number in the second quarter when the Pacers outscored the Thunder, 40-28. Instead of enjoying a double digit halftime lead, the Thunder trailed by four, 60-56. The Thunder won the third quarter 29-20 with Hartenstein playing five minutes and Wallace playing less than one minute. The Thunder lost the fourth quarter 32-18 with Wallace playing five minutes (-9 plus/minus number) and Hartenstein playing three minutes (-6 plus/minus number).
This is not meant to suggest that Hartenstein and Wallace are the two most important players in this series. The point is that players are creatures of habit and repetition, as are teams; changing the starting lineup for no good reason prior to the start of the series sends a message--to both teams--that the Thunder don't think that they can win the series by doing the same things in the same way that they did to reach the NBA Finals. The impact of who is playing with whom has a ripple effect throughout the roster, and sows unnecessary uncertainty, as players wonder if they will be the next ones whose roles are changed/reduced.
The Pacers deserve full credit for playing well, and for outplaying one of the most dominant regular season teams in NBA history, but there is no getting around the fact that the Thunder's starting lineup change is a major story in this series. It is not too late for the Thunder to salvage their season and win this series, but time is running short: in NBA playoff history, teams that take a 2-1 series lead go on to win the series nearly 80% of the time, but the Thunder overcame a 2-1 deficit versus the Denver Nuggets to win the series, 4-3. Hartenstein started all seven games in that series, averaging 11.0 ppg and 8.7 rpg while shooting .590 from the field. His size and productivity made a difference in that series, and they could make a difference in the NBA Finals as well.
The good news for Thunder fans is that game to game momentum is a myth; each game in a playoff series is a separate event that starts with a 0-0 score. However, matchups and matchup advantages matter, and the team that wins the series is the team that best exploits its advantages while hiding/minimizing its disadvantages; the Thunder's size advantage will not matter if Coach Mark Daigneault refuses to exploit it.
Labels: Bennedict Mathurin, Cason Wallace, Indiana Pacers, Isaiah Hartenstein, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pascal Siakam, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, T.J. McConnell, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 1:56 AM
Rolling Thunder: Oklahoma City Slows Down Indiana, Ties Series at 1-1
After losing game one of the NBA Finals to the Indiana Pacers in stunning fashion, the Oklahoma City Thunder led game two 26-20 at the end of the first quarter and never trailed the rest of the way en route to a 123-107 victory. The Thunder outrebounded the Pacers 43-35 after being outrebounded 56-39 in game one, but the biggest difference is that the Thunder shot 40-82 (.488) from the field after shooting just 39-98 (.398) from the field in game one. The Thunder outscored the Pacers in each of the first three quarters before losing the fourth quarter 33-30 because of a cosmetic 11-6 run by the Pacers during which the outcome was never in doubt.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a game-high 34 points on 11-21 field goal shooting, he dished for a game-high eight assists, and he had a game-high four steals. Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 30 points in a home playoff
game for the ninth straight time, tying an NBA record set by Wilt
Chamberlain from 1961-64. Gilgeous-Alexander is not only an efficient and prolific scorer, but he attracts so much defensive attention that he creates easy scoring opportunities for his teammates. The term "gravity" seemingly has been trademarked only for use in reference to Stephen Curry even though the reality is that great players have tilted the floor/commanded double teams/exerted "gravity" throughout basketball history. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored 72 points in the first two games of his first NBA Finals appearance; in contrast, Curry scored just 45 points in his first two NBA Final games, producing 26 points on 10-20 field goal shooting in a 108-100 overtime win versus Cleveland in the 2015 NBA Finals and then scoring 19 points on 5-23 field goal shooting in a 95-93 overtime loss to Cleveland in that series. Curry's Warriors trailed 2-1 in that series before winning the title in six games as Andre Iguodala earned the Finals MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander is already a more impactful player at both ends of the court than Curry was during his prime, and Gilgeous-Alexander is still improving.
Alex Caruso, known primarily as a defensive stopper, poured in 20 points on 6-11 field goal shooting in 27 minutes off of the bench. Jalen Williams shot poorly from the field (5-14) for the second game in a row, but still finished with 19 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Aaron Wiggins made a big impact with 18 points off of the bench in 21 minutes, logging by far the best/plus minus number (+24) of any player in this game. Chet Holmgren bounced back from a subpar game one performance to finish with 15 points, six rebounds, and one blocked shot.
Replacing Isaiah Hartenstein with Cason Wallace in the starting lineup proved disastrous in game one, but in game two the Thunder played so much better overall that the change had less of an obvious impact; after posting a game-worst -13 plus/minus number in game one, Wallace had a +12 plus/minus number in game two while scoring four points in 23 minutes. Wallace did not light up the scoreboard, but at least he did not torch the Thunder's chances to win. Hartenstein led the Thunder in rebounding (eight) for the second game in a row, he ranked second on the team in assists (four), and he had the Thunder's second best plus/minus number (+17) despite scoring just three points in 22 minutes. Coach Mark Daigneault did not overtly admit that his lineup switch was a mistake by switching back, but in game one Wallace played 33 minutes and Hartenstein played just 17 minutes, compared to 23 and 22 respectively in game two. Look for Hartenstein's minutes to increase and Wallace's minutes to decrease even if Daigneault stubbornly sticks with his changed starting lineup.
Game one hero Tyrese Haliburton scored a team-high 17 points and had a team-high tying six assists, but he also had a game-high five turnovers. Haliburton's scoring total is inflated by his 12 fourth quarter points when the Pacers trailed by at least 15 points during the entire final stanza; he did not have much of an impact during the first three quarters. Six other Pacers scored between 11 points and 16 points. Pascal Siakam shot just 3-11 from the field, finishing with 15 points, a team-high seven rebounds, and four assists. T.J. McConnell had 11 points plus a game-high tying six assists. The Pacers tried to get the job done by committee, but the Thunder not only have a better committee but they also clearly have the best individual player in Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Pacers own homecourt advantage in this series thanks to their game one win, but the Thunder have beaten the Pacers three of the last four games that they played, and the Thunder have looked like the superior team for the vast majority of time during those four games. As the series shifts venues, there will be different officiating crews and other game to game changes, and the
Pacers' bench players will likely perform better than they did in Oklahoma City, but the better team generally prevails in a seven game series and the Thunder have demonstrated that they are the better team.
Some 1-1 series are more "equal" than others; in the 1991 NBA Finals, the Chicago Bulls lost game one to the L.A. Lakers on a last second shot, won game two 107-86, and won the next three games to clinch the first of their six NBA titles. It would not be surprising to see this series follow a similar course.
Labels: Alex Caruso, Indiana Pacers, Jalen Williams, Oklahoma City Thunder, Pascal Siakam, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Tyrese Haliburton
posted by David Friedman @ 11:10 AM
