Gilgeous-Alexander drops game-high 34 points as Thunder rout Pacers to even NBA Finals
This has been Oklahoma City's formula all season: Lose one game, respond in the next.
That's exactly what the Thunder did in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Hamilton, Ont., native Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, Alex Caruso added 20 off the bench and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night to tie these finals at one game apiece.
Jalen Williams scored 19, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren finished with 15 for the Thunder. It was the franchise's first finals game win since the opener of the 2012 series against Miami.
"We did some things good tonight. We did some things bad," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We've got to be able to get better and be ready for Game 3."
WATCH | 4 Canadians to watch in the NBA Finals:
4 Canadian basketball stars you can cheer for in the NBA Finals
4 days ago
Duration 5:20
Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 for Indiana, which erased a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Game 1 but never made a push on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 for the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013 to not have a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the finals.
Game 3 is Wednesday at Indianapolis, in what will be the first finals game in that city in 25 years.
Gilgeous-Alexander's first basket of the night was a history-maker: It gave him 3,000 points on the season, including the regular season and playoffs. And later in Game 2, he passed New York's Jalen Brunson (514) as the leading overall scorer in these playoffs.
But the real milestone for the MVP came a couple hours later, when he and most everybody else on the Thunder got a finals win for the first time.
A 19-2 run in the second quarter turned what was a six-point game into a 23-point Thunder lead. It might have seemed wobbly a couple of times — an immediate 10-0 rebuttal by the Pacers made it 52-39, and Indiana was within 13 again after Andrew Nembhard's layup with 7:09 left in the third — but the Thunder lead was never in serious doubt.
With the noise level in the building often topping 100 decibels — a chainsaw is 110 dB, for comparison purposes — the Thunder did what they've done pretty much all season. They came off a loss, this time a 111-110 defeat in Game 1, and blew somebody out as their response.
Including the NBA Cup title game, which doesn't count in any standings, the Thunder are now 18-2 this season when coming off a loss. Of those 18 wins, 12 have been by double digits.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CBC
2 hours ago
- CBC
Bell Canadian Swimming Trials: Day 4
Watch the preliminaries from day four of the Bell Canadian Swimming Trials at Saanich Commonwealth Place in Victoria, B.C.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gets help in Game 2 as Thunder roll past Pacers to even NBA Finals
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got some much-needed assistance from his teammates in Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and the Oklahoma City Thunder evened the series against the Indiana Pacers with a 123-107 victory on Sunday night. Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points in Game 1, but his supporting cast couldn't get it going, and Tyrese Haliburton's jumper in the final second gave the Pacers a 111-110 win. Gilgeous-Alexander had 34 points and eight assists in Game 2 — typical production from the league's MVP and scoring champion. Co-stars Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren played more like their usual selves on Sunday and ensured the Pacers had no chance to use their last-second magic. Veteran reserve Alex Caruso had another strong performance and Aaron Wiggins provided a surprise boost in Oklahoma City's first Finals win since 2012. 'I thought everyone played better individually, and I thought we played better collectively,' Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. Wiggins, who barely played in Game 1 and scored three points, had 18 in Game 2 and made five 3-pointers. He said the inconsistent minutes are not ideal, but his goal is to help the team. 'It's the NBA,' he said. 'There's a lot of highs and lows. There's a lot of other guys going through similar things and guys who have just kind of earned their rights. Understanding that, I'm still blessed to be in the NBA and do what I love. At this level, you can't take it for granted. Just continuing to stay ready and take advantage of the opportunities I get.' His performance was a welcome sight for the Thunder. 'He was massive tonight,' Daigneault said. 'Went in there with great confidence. Didn't go until the second quarter and dove right into the game. Great professionalism, great readiness and a huge performance for us in that situation.' Williams, an All-Star who scored 17 points on 6-for-19 shooting in the opener, followed that with 19 points. He didn't shoot all that well — he made just 5 of 14 field goals, but he made 8 of 9 free throws and put pressure on Indiana's defense. Thursdays Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter. Holmgren, who scored just six points in the opener, bounced back with 15 points and six rebounds on 6-for-11 shooting. Caruso, the veteran guard who the Thunder picked up in an offseason trade, scored 20 points and was 4 for 8 on 3-pointers. The Pacers expect Gilgeous-Alexander to score, but they also know they need to do better against Oklahoma City's other players in Game 3 in Indianapolis. 'It's a matter of slowing him (Gilgeous-Alexander) down and limiting the role players,' Pacers center Myles Turner said. 'A few of their guys stepped up tonight. I think Wiggins had a great game. Caruso, he did what he had to do. So it's about limiting their role players and making it tougher on them, at least.' ___ AP NBA:
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes control as Thunder roll past Pacers to even NBA Finals at a game apiece
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander says he figures out what he must do on a game-to-game basis and he's never sure what it's going to be. Lots of shots? OK. Plenty of assists? Then that'll be it. Some steals? Sure. He had no preordained idea going into Game 2 of the NBA Finals, and ended up ding a lot of everything. Thirty-four points. Eight assists. Four steals. Five rebounds. A blocked shot. Total control from start to finish. And more than enough for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder to subdue the Indiana Pacers 123-107 Sunday night and even the series at 1-1 heading into Wednesday's third game, ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Gilgeous-Alexander saw what was needed and made it happen. 'I always try to be aggressive and I never, like, predetermine it,' Gilgeous-Alexander said leading up to the game. 'I always, like, just let the game tell me what to do. So I guess last game I felt, more often than not, I had a shot or a play that I could attack on more than in the past, and that's just the way it went. 'So the same thing will happen in Game 2. I will read the defence and I will play off my feeling and my instincts.' According to the NBA, Gilgeous-Alexander's 72 points in his first Finals are the most in the first two games by any player. 'Shai, you can mark down 34 points before they even get on the plane tomorrow for the next game,' Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said after the game. 'The guy's going to score. We've got to find ways to make it as tough as possible on him. (Jalen) Williams played really well tonight. All their guys played well. And so we're going to have to do a lot of things better.' Nba Pacers fail to sweep Games 1 and 2 in a series for the first time in these playoffs OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — For the Indiana Pacers, a chance at being perfect in Games 1 and 2 of t… The Thunder are long used to seeing Gilgeous-Alexander up to such hijinks. 'Unsurprising at this point,' Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. 'It's just kind of what he does. He just continues to progress and improve and rise to every occasion that he puts himself in and that we put ourselves in. 'I thought his floor game tonight was really, really in a great rhythm. I thought everyone played better individually, and I thought we played better collectively. I think that was a byproduct.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The Thunder were never really threatened. They took an 11-point lead with about eight minutes left in the first half and the Pacers never got closer. Oklahoma City forced 15 turnovers that led to 14 points, and grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and turned them into nine second-chance points. There was not a stretch of the game where it looked like Indiana was truly comfortable. 'Another bad first half,' Carlisle said. 'Obviously, it was a big problem, and we just played poorly. A little bit better in the second half but you can't be a team that's reactive and expect to be successful or have consistency.' Gilgeous-Alexander's night was made a bit easier by major contributions from Chet Holmgren (15 points), Jalen Williams (19) and Alex Caruso (20). They all played better than they had in Game 1, allowing the Thunder to thrive with their multi-faceted offence. Nba Mr. Clutch: Tyrese Haliburton keeps delivering in the ultimate moments for the Pacers OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — You are Tyrese Haliburton. Tyrese Haliburton, whose bucket with less than a second remaining won Game 1, had a pedestrian night for the Pacers. He finished with 17 points but was far too passive for too long as the game got out of sight. He had just five shots and six points through the first three quarters. Aurora's Andrew Nembhard had 11 points for Indiana and Pascal Siakam chipped in with 15. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'People shouldn't just look at (Haliburton's) points and assists and judge how he played, or judge how any of our guys played just on that,' Carlisle said. 'That's just not … that's not how our team is built. I mean, we are an ecosystem that has to function together, and … we've got to score enough points to win the game but who gets them and how they get them (is) not important.' If there is one thing the Pacers wanted to avoid, it was to dwell on their unlikely comeback in Game 2. 'I'm not interested in talking about the past,' Carlisle had said before the game. 'Each day, as you are on a playoff run, is like a new day. I find that looking back is a dangerous thing. We've got to keep our eye firmly where it needs to be, which is on now and the next thing.' The focus now will be on Wednesday's Game 3 in Indianapolis and what challenges it will present. And what happens next won't be predicated on what happened before. 'Each game in this series is going to look different,' Carlisle said. 'I mean, every game in every other series we've played, a playoff series is a series of seven chapters, and each one takes on a different personality.' Elite company With a first-quarter basket, Gilgeous-Alexander became the 12th player in NBA history to crack the 3,000-point plateau (regular season and playoffs combined) in one season. Michael Jordan did it 10 times, Wilt Chamberlain did it five times and 10 others — Gilgeous-Alexander, Bob McAdoo, Elgin Baylor, James Harden, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Luka Doncic, Rick Barry and Shaquille O'Neal — have each done it once.
