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Philippines, 08 Jul 2025 |
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Oklahoma Forces 2-2 Finals Series Tie, Starves Indiana for Point in 111-104 Win By Teodoro Medina Reynoso PhilBoxing.com Sat, 14 Jun 2025  In a reversal of roles, Oklahoma City Thunder finished strongly to post a 111-104 victory over Indiana Pacers to force a 2-2 NBA Finals series tie heading into the last three games. The final three games will be played in Oklahoma, Indiana and if needed, again in Oklahoma as the Thunder hold the home advantage for their better season record. League MVP Shai Gilgeous Alexander, haunted by Andrew Hembrand and the Pacers defense for three quarters, cut loose in the payoff period, especially in the last three minutes of the contest to power the Thunder to the win pulling away. Limited to just 24 points in game three loss, Gilgeous Alexander hit a night high 35 points, the last 11 in the last three minutes of the game to trigger a 12-1 strong windup from a 103-102 deficit. On the other hand, the Pacers fell into a maze of misses including from the free throw line where Bennedict Mathurin, the hero of the game three Pacers win could only buy a charity to account for his team's only point in the period. With Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam as usual carrying the scoring load with some help from Obi Toppin, Aaron Nesmith and Nembhard himself, the Pacers were able to maintain the lead, though slim ones from the first three quarters. Indiana led at half time 60-57. Reason for such was Oklahoma's own dedicated defense with the twin towers of Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hertenstein deterring any inside offense from Indiana and the Thunder perimeter defense disrupting every Pacer attempts from the outside, resulting to steals, interceptions and turnovers. Making up for Gilgeous Alexander's initial difficulties on offense, Jalen Williams and Alex Caruso combined well with Holmgren in posing problems to Indiana on both ends. Curiously this was the game where Indiana showed signs of faltering especially in the windup while Oklahoma in the overall displayed better pacing and rotation of players. These gave Gilgeous Alexander the energy to play very strongly in the end where OKC outscored Indiana in the final quarter, 35-19, a complete reversal from last game. With that, Gilgeous Alexander again emerged as the best performer of the night with his 35 points though he had just 3 rebounds and no assists. Williams supported him with 27 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. Caruso had 20 points aside from helping out in defense. Holmgren dominated with 14 points and night high 15 rebounds. Siakam topped for Indiana with 20 points plus 8 rebounds. After a near triple last time out, Haliburton could only come out with 18 points, 3 rebounds and a team high 7 assists. Toppin again helped greatly with 17 points and 5 rebounds. Myles Turner had 12 points but just 2 rebounds. Hembrand contributed 10 points. However, Nesmith, Mathurin and TJ McConnel only posted 8 points each as coach Rick Carlisle sparingly used them. Click here to view a list of other articles written by Teodoro Medina Reynoso.  |
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