– by Adesina O. Koiki
A Lot of Sports Talk editor-in-chief
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OKLAHOMA CITY — For the Oklahoma City Thunder to get on the board in the NBA Finals after a gut-punch of a defeat, they had to dig deep — and then go deep into the bench after their opponents did the job in choking off most of their starting lineup from getting off — to get the job done.
The Thunder’s second unit complemented Shai Gilgeous-Alexander perfectly during a decisive 19-2 run in the second quarter as Oklahoma City cruised to a 123-107 victory over the Indiana Pacers inside the Paycom Center to tie the NBA Finals series at a game apiece. Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 34 points, eight assists and four steals.
He also excelled in Game 1 with 38 points, but the Pacers’ conscious effort to let him go off while stopping the rest of the Thunder’s starting lineup paid dividends during Indiana’s last-second Game 1 win. Enter the Thunder bench, who contributed 48 points and outplayed the Indiana’s vaunted reserves — as well as the Pacers’ starters.
Namely, Alex Caruso had 20 points while Aaron Wiggins chipped in with 18 points in just 21 minutes, with both going 6-for-11 from the field.
Though he still struggled from the field, Jalen Williams had 19 points, five rebounds and five assists, while Chet Holmgren bounced back from a six-point performance on Thursday to go for 15 points.
The Thunder became the first team to have five players score at least 15 points in an NBA Finals game since the Toronto Raptors did it twice against the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
Like in Game 1, the Pacers took the first punch and were able to stay close for the first quarter and change, but then the league MVP and his cohorts from the bench stretched the lead the double digits with that 19-2 run. After a Williams jumper, Wiggins followed on the next possession with a three-pointer off an offensive rebound to extend the lead to 11, 38-27.
Gilgeous-Alexander had seven points during that run, with his and-1 giving the Thunder a 47-29 lead. Wiggins then added his second three, after the play was kept alive by an offensive rebound by fellow reserve Isaiah Hartenstein, to extend the lead to 50-29.
Kenrich Williams had four rebounds and two assists in his eight minutes, assisting on Gilgeous-Alexander’s driving layup that ended the run and the competitive nature of the contest.
All five starters scored in double figures for the Pacers, yet no one really got going offensively to help Indiana stem the tide, especially when Indiana went just 8-for-22 shooting in that second quarter. Compounding Indiana’s issues in that frame is that six of their 14 turnovers came in the quarter, which the Thunder converted into seven points.
*Editor’s note: Above the byline is the photo gallery from Sunday’s Game 2 of the NBA Finals, with photos taken by ALOST photo editor Erica Denhoff. After clicking on a photo to enlarge the picture, press the left and right arrow buttons on either side of the caption to scroll through the rest of the pictures that appear on the first page, Also, click on the numbers and/or arrow appearing immediately below the picture grid to load the next set of photos. There are 78 pictures in total.
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