All season, this is Oklahoma City’s formula: Lose one game and respond in the next game.
That’s exactly what the Thunder did in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Ontario’s Hamilton, local Shai Gilgeous-Alexander won 34 points, Alex Caruso added 20 points to the bench, and the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night to tie those finals.
“We did a great job tonight. We did something bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We have to be able to get better and be ready for game 3.”
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Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 points for Indiana, removing 15 points in Game 1, a fourth-quarter deficit, but never pushed on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 shots to the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013, without a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the final.
The third game is Wednesday in Indianapolis, which will be the first final of that city in 25 years.
“The first half was bad, and that’s a big problem,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And we weren’t doing well. The second half was better. But you can’t be a team that reacts and expects success or consistency.”
Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket of the night was the History Maker: It gave him 3,000 points this season, including both the regular season and the playoffs. In Game 2, he passed New York’s Jalen Brunson (514) to become the overall scorer in these playoffs.
In the second quarter, he turned the six-point game into a 23-point Thunder with a 19-2 record. This seems to have swung a few times – the Pacers immediately retorted 10-0, 52-39, Indiana is under 13 again after Andrew Nembhard’s layup scored 7:09 in the third inning – but the Thunder’s lead has never been seriously doubted.
“They did a great job,” Siakam said. “They went through the transition. … They were super aggressive and that’s what they did.”
Since noise levels in buildings are usually over 100 decibels – the Chain Saw is 110 dB for comparison purposes – the Thunder did what they did all season. They lost, this time in Game 1 with a loss of 111-110 and blown away with their response.
Including the NBA Cup Championship (not counting in any standings), when the Thunder now lost 18-2. Of these 18 wins, 12 were in double digits.
“It’s been a long 48 hours, and when you lose the first game, go into Game 2,” Thunder coach Mark Digneault said. “These guys are just focusing on what they need to do to win tonight and do a great job. That’s how we do.”
