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The Oklahoma City Thunder blew Game 1 of the NBA finals after holding a significant lead over the Indiana Pacers. In Game 2, they made sure there was no repeat, utterly dominating their opponents in a 123-107 victory that leveled the series at 1-1.
In Game 1, the Thunder had a 12-point lead at half-time and a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter before losing to the Pacers courtesy of a Tyrese Haliburton basket in the final second. On Sunday night, they took control of the game early on, but this time they didn’t let their advantage go.
“A lot of it comes down to just not panicking,” said Thunder’s Jalen Williams of his team’s ability to come back from their defeat in Game 1. “We always talk about winning the days in between [games] so just going back and looking at the film, and realizing not everything is as bad or as good as it seems in the moment.”
The result was perhaps not a surprise: the Thunder were 17-2 coming off a loss this season and are yet to lose back-to-back games in this season’s playoffs. And both teams would have recognized that Oklahoma City controlled most of Game 1, only to falter late under a surge led by Haliburton. In Game 2, however, the Thunder executed a far more complete performance, asserting control across all phases. Their aggressive defensive rotations disrupted Indiana’s rhythm, preventing the kind of scoring runs that had enabled the Pacers’ comeback in the opener.
“[Our defense] is where it starts,” said Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander after the game. “They’re a high powered offense and if you don’t get stops, you end up running all night and they can beat you that way.”
For the second game in a row, Gilgeous-Alexander was the game’s top scorer, with 34 points, but the reigning NBA MVP also had excellent support off the bench, notably from Alex Caruso and and Aaron Wiggins, who scored 20 and 18 points respectively.
Haliburton was the Pacers’ top-scorer with 17 points. That means no Indiana player has passed 20 points in a game this series, a tribute to the Thunder’s defense as much as any failings on the part of the Pacers.
“A bad first half, obviously, was a big problem,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And we just played poorly. A little better in the second half. But you can’t be a team that’s reactive and expect to be successful or have consistency.”
The best-of-seven series heads to Indiana for Game 3 on Wednesday night.
