
Gilgeous-Alexander blows up late as Thunder see off Indy to level NBA finals
The Oklahoma City Thunder stormed back from a 10-point second-half deficit to beat the Indiana Pacers 111–104 on Friday night, evening the NBA finals at two games apiece.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter, including nine straight during a crucial stretch as the Thunder pulled ahead for good.
Oklahoma City shot just 3-for-16 from beyond the arc, a season low, and Gilgeous-Alexander finished without an assist for the first time all season. But Jalen Williams added 27 points, Alex Caruso had 20 and Chet Holmgren posted 14 points and 15 rebounds.
Pascal Siakam led the Pacers with 20 points. Tyrese Haliburton added 18 and Obi Toppin scored 17, including a highlight-reel dunk that gave Indiana their first double-digit lead of the series late in the third quarter.
The Pacers started fast and led most of the night, but couldn't hold off the Thunder, who tied the game three times in the fourth before Gilgeous-Alexander's step-back jumper with 2:23 left put them in front for good.
Game 5 is Monday in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder will try to protect their reclaimed home-court advantage in what is now a best-of-three series.
Full report to follow.
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NBC News
25 minutes ago
- NBC News
In the biggest moment of his career, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander kept his cool — and saved the Thunder's season
INDIANAPOLIS — Through the first three quarters of Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — the regular season MVP — was faltering in the highest-stakes moment of his career. Though he had 20 points at the time, the Thunder were outscored by 16 with Gilgeous-Alexander on the floor. The offense looked discombobulated, and SGA was being hounded by Indiana Pacers guard (and childhood friend) Andrew Nembhard, unable to find space to operate. Oklahoma City looked very much in danger of going down 3-1, a deficit only one team has ever overcome in the championship round. And SGA was being rendered ineffective, forced to play off the ball by Nembhard's aggressive defense and failing to put his imprint on the game. But the MVP saved his best for last, scoring 15 points in the final frame, a poised response in the midst of a hard-fought battle. As a result, the Thunder out-clutched the most clutch team in the postseason with a 111-104 win — and now they're back in the driver's seat of the finals. 'I just tried to be aggressive,' Gilgeous-Alexander said of his performance down the stretch. 'I knew what it would have looked like if we lost tonight. I didn't want to go out not swinging. I didn't want to go out not doing everything I could do in my power, in my control to try to win the game...I guess it paid off.' All of SGA's fourth-quarter points came in the last four minutes and 38 seconds of the game, accounting for 15 of his team's final 16 points. 'I didn't know that, but that's crazy,' Oklahoma City center Chet Holmgren said when told about that stat. 'We've seen it before from him. We know that that's the type of player he is. But it's still impressive.' 'It's unbelievable,' said Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault. 'He really didn't have it going a lot of the night. He was laboring. We had a hard time shaking him free. For him to be able to flip the switch like that and get the rhythm he got just speaks to how great of a player he is.' It would have been easy for SGA to be frustrated. Game 4 was a slog. It was a physical matchup with both teams being called for over 25 fouls. And Nembhard was seemingly attracted to Gilgeous-Alexander by a magnetic force, following him around every square inch of the court. Instead, Gilgeous-Alexander remained at an even keel. When his team absolutely needed him to score, SGA found ways to evade Nembhard, often by drawing Indiana guard Aaron Nesmith into ball screens to force a switch, aggressively hunting a more favorable matchup. SGA finished the fourth quarter 3 of 6 from the field and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line, and the Thunder outscored the Pacers by 16 points in the 11 minutes and 12 seconds he was on the floor. It was the opposite of Gilgeous-Alexander's Game 3 fourth-quarter performance, when he looked fatigued and scored only three points. 'You really wouldn't know whether he's up three, down three, up 30, down 30, eating dinner on a Wednesday. He's pretty much the same guy,' Daigneault said of his star's resolve. 'You wouldn't know if it was a preseason game or it's Game 4 of the NBA Finals down 2-1 with him,' Thunder guard Alex Caruso added. 'No matter what's going on, you look at him and he's the same. Underneath that stoic personality or look on the court is a deep, deep-rooted competitiveness.' Gilgeous-Alexander wouldn't have been in position for his late heroics if not for OKC's defense, it should be noted. Indiana started the game on fire, scoring 20 points in the first four minutes and 48 seconds of the opening quarter. In the final five minutes and three seconds of the fourth, the Pacers scored only seven points. The lockdown defense set the stage for SGA, and he took advantage, turning the finals into a best-of-three series and wrestling back homecourt for the Thunder. 'Winning, especially this time of the season, it comes down to the moments, it's going to come down to late game,' the MVP said. 'Every team is good. There's rarely going to be a blowout. It comes down to the moments and who is willing to make winning plays on both ends of the floor. 'When I was a kid shooting at my driveway, I'd count down the clock for those moments. Now I get to live it. It's a blessing, it's fun, and I relish it.'


Daily Mail
28 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Las Vegas agrees two-year F1 extension as sport eyes 'permanent' home on the Strip
Las Vegas looks destined to become a permanent fixture on the Formula 1 calendar, after officials confirmed a new contract has been agreed through to the end of 2027. F1 racing returned to Sin City in 2023 on an initial three-year deal, and while no formal announcement had been made beyond the end of this year, the Vegas race remained on the 2026 schedule when it was announced last week. And now, speaking at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal this weekend, Emily Prazer - president of the Las Vegas Grand Prix and chief commercial officer of F1 - confirmed that a formal agreement is in place to keep racing on the Strip. 'We've agreed collectively that we're going to do a two-year extension for 2026 and 2027,' she said on a panel including high-profile Vegas GP stakeholders from various hotel chains in the city. 'We want to make sure that we're continuing to evolve what we're doing. But the intent is a much longer-term arrangement. As we all know, the race has had its challenges, but we're coming out the other side. So we want to make sure that it continues to work for both sides. 'So collectively, we sat down and agreed that was the best approach. We're very much planning longer-term, but that's kind of where we're at right now.' While two years is the formal arrangement, all members of the panel were keen to stress that Vegas is seen as a long-term destination for F1. Steve Hill - Chief Executive Officer and President of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority - joked that the race would be around 'for as long as I am... and I don't just mean in this job'. The Vegas race creates 4,500 jobs each year and has turned a quiet weekend in November into one of the city's most lucrative. Initial complaints over the time of the race - with lights out at 10pm local time - have also been answered, with officials moving the start back two hours to 8pm.


Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Georgia flips 4-star CB Caden Harris from Vanderbilt
June 14 - Four-star cornerback Caden Harris flipped his commitment from home-state Vanderbilt to Georgia on Saturday. Harris, who plays at Haywood High School in Brownsville, Tenn., is ranked as the No. 11 cornerback and No. 85 prospect overall in the 2026 class by the 247Sports composite. He announced his Georgia commitment with a short video posted to social media site X that included this note: "Recruitment shut down!!" Harris committed to Vanderbilt in April but took an official visit to Georgia on June 6 and had four others scheduled with Southeastern Conference teams. "I felt real strong about Georgia coming in," Harris told DawgNation. "We'd be in contact for a while, and they had just been hard on me ever since. We had the OV planned. I knew for sure I had to come down and take it. I was coming into it strong, and I left out of it even stronger." Harris' commitment is the fifth this month for Georgia, which stands at No. 4 in the 247Sports class rankings. The Bulldogs trail Southern California, Ohio State and Notre Dame, still early in the 2026 recruitment cycle. Georgia's class includes one five-star prospect, quarterback Jared Curtis from Nashville (Tenn.) Christian School. He is ranked by the composite as the No. 1 QB and No. 4 overall player in the class. --Field Level Media