Thunder open one other massive lead and preserve management, topping Pacers 123-107 to even NBA Finals

OKLAHOMA CITY — This has been Oklahoma Metropolis’s formulation all season: Lose one sport, reply within the subsequent.

That’s precisely what the Thunder did in Sport 2 of the NBA Finals.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 factors, Alex Caruso added 20 off the bench and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night time to tie these finals at one sport apiece.

Jalen Williams scored 19, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren completed with 15 for the Thunder. It was the franchise’s first finals sport win for the reason that opener of the 2012 collection in opposition to Miami.

“We did some things good tonight. We did some things bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “We’ve got to be able to get better and be ready for Game 3.”

Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 for Indiana, which erased a 15-point, fourth-quarter deficit in Sport 1 however by no means made a push on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 for the Pacers, the primary crew since Miami in 2013 to not have a 20-point scorer within the first two video games of the finals.

Sport 3 is Wednesday at Indianapolis, in what would be the first finals sport in that metropolis in 25 years.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s first basket of the night time was a history-maker: It gave him 3,000 factors on the season, together with the common season and playoffs. And later in Sport 2, he handed New York’s Jalen Brunson (514) because the main total scorer in these playoffs.

However the actual milestone for the MVP got here a pair hours later, when he and most everyone else on the Thunder received a finals win for the primary time.

A 19-2 run within the second quarter turned what was a six-point sport right into a 23-point Thunder lead. It may need appeared wobbly a few instances — an instantaneous 10-0 rebuttal by the Pacers made it 52-39, and Indiana was inside 13 once more after Andrew Nembhard’s layup with 7:09 left within the third — however the Thunder lead was by no means in severe doubt.

With the noise degree within the constructing typically topping 100 decibels — a chainsaw is 110 dB, for comparability functions — the Thunder did what they’ve achieved just about all season. They got here off a loss, this time a 111-110 defeat in Sport 1, and blew any person out as their response.

Together with the NBA Cup title sport, which doesn’t depend in any standings, the Thunder at the moment are 18-2 this season when coming off a loss. Of these 18 wins, 12 have been by double digits.

By Tim Reynolds