Chet Holmgren's defense earns spotlight for Thunder's Game 4 win over Pacers
Chet Holmgren's defense earns spotlight for Thunder's Game 4 win over Pacers
INDIANAPOLIS — Matched up against Tyrese Haliburton, Chet Holmgren wouldn't budge. Go right. He went right. Go left. He shifted his feet left. After a couple of dribble moves failed to create separation, Indiana's best player settled for a rush fadeaway 3-pointer that was airballed.
Holmgren did his best 2016 Kevin Love impersonation. The Pacers hunted the switch but couldn't capitalize. They learned their lesson the hard way that you can't simply expect the seven-footer to not be agile enough to dance with perimeter scorers.
Holmgren finished with 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting, 15 rebounds and one assist. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and 6-of-6 on free throws. He also had one block and one steal.
The Oklahoma City Thunder won a thriller in a 111-104 Game 4 win over the Indiana Pacers. In a do-or-die scenario, OKC did just enough to accomplish its road trip goal and split the 2025 NBA Finals at 2-2 apiece.
Everybody who stepped on the floor played a role in the Thunder's season-saving fourth quarter. For Holmgren, it was two big-time second-chance buckets off Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's outside misses. They helped OKC stay within striking distance.
And then obviously, the defense speaks for itself. It's what made him one of the best defensive prospects ever. He's an all-time rim protector. Being pushed up as the power forward after Isaiah Hartenstein re-entered the starting lineup didn't mess with his mojo.
"He held up great. We don't do that a ton with him because he's just so impactful at the rim. But he can really switch," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about Holmgren's perimeter defense. "It's funny, when he was coming out of the draft, that was one of the things that they really recognized with him, is that he's very switchable. He's got great feet."
But several perimeter defensive stops highlighted some of Holmgren's biggest career plays. The Thunder played their best stretch of defense and the 23-year-old anchored it. That's all you can ask for from him. Even if the scoring and shooting numbers can be off.
"I wouldn't say we learned anything about each other. We've been in tough situations before. Every single time we've come together. That doesn't mean that we got to win the game that night when we did see adversity," Holmgren said. "No matter what happens, good or bad, pretty or ugly, we're always going to stick together. We're going to win together, we're going to lose together, we're going to have great moments together, we're going to fail together. No matter what happens, we're going to do it together."
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