OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Jalen Williams scored a profession playoff-high 40 factors, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder moved one win from a title by beating the Indiana Pacers 120-109 in Sport 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night time.
It was the tenth — and by far, the largest — time the Thunder stars mixed for greater than 70 factors in a recreation. Williams was 14-of 24 from the sphere, and Gilgeous-Alexander added 10 assists.
Pascal Siakam had 28 factors for Indiana, which now trails the collection 3-2 and can host Sport 6 on Thursday night time. TJ McConnell added 18 for the Pacers, who whittled an 18-point deficit down to 2 within the fourth — then watched the Thunder draw back once more, and for good.
“That’s a really good team over there,” Williams mentioned. “You just don’t trip into the finals.”
True. However now, every part favors the Thunder.
Groups that win Sport 5 of an NBA Finals that was tied at 2-2 have gone on to win the collection 23 instances in 31 earlier alternatives, or 74%. And groups with a 3-2 lead within the finals have gained 40 instances in 49 earlier alternatives, or 82%.
However Sport 5 was not simple. Removed from it.
Down by 18 late within the second quarter, the Pacers — the comeback kings of those playoffs, with as many wins on this postseason from 15 factors down or extra (5) than the remainder of the league has mixed, together with in Sport 1 of this collection — did what they do, chipping away. They usually did it with Tyrese Haliburton diminished to principally taking part in decoy on offense due to a leg problem that he aggravated within the first quarter.
Led by McConnell, who scored 13 factors in slightly below seven minutes of the third, the Pacers acquired inside 5 late in that quarter.
Then, Siakam went to work — a pair of free throws with 9:19 left acquired Indiana inside 4, then a 3-pointer a couple of minute later made it 95-93. Within the play-by-play period of the NBA, beginning with the 1997 playoffs, groups with leads of 15 factors or extra within the finals had been 80-9.
Make that 81-9 now, and the Thunder are one win away.
“That was honestly the same exact game as Game 1,” Williams mentioned. “Learning through these finals, that’s what makes a team good.”
Yet one more win, and his group might be licensed as nice.
Initially Printed: June 16, 2025 at 11:48 PM EDT
