INDIANAPOLIS — Twenty yards away from the narrow white brick hallway where Thunder players processed their Game 4 escape, their hoots and hollers stretched like shadows.
The youthful exuberance of rookie Dillon Jones filled the corridor. As did the conviction in Alex Caruso’s voice. The relief in Kenrich Williams’. A cushion felt by the nature of the Thunder’s Friday night paint job, brushing over three unruly quarters to scrape together a 111-104 win and even the NBA Finals at two games a piece.
Consider what this series asked of it in order to obtain this semblance of comfort.
With less than four minutes to play, the Thunder was seemingly cognizant of its dream season dangling in the balance. Aware it hadn’t won a fourth quarter all series, down three while facing a potential 3-1 deficit; 2016 LeBron James wouldn’t walk through the door.
Among OKC’s options were to seize the game then or “lose it,” All-Star Jalen Williams said, understanding of how fateful Friday’s final minutes felt.
“Our season is kind of on the line,” Williams considered during the timeout with 3:52 to play. “Get easy looks and make them work for everything at the end. Everything up until that point didn’t matter.”
Indiana won every quarter but one on Friday: the fourth. The one it’s monopolized. Those 12 minutes built Tyrese Haliburton’s unique legacy and Indiana’s chest-out confidence. The math, the momentum — there were no indicators that OKC could infringe on what looked like complete control.
Getting MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander the ball through three quarters looked as painful as it did two nights earlier. In that span, he scored 20 points on 18 shots, attempting just two free throws. Inbounding to him, with fellow Canadian Andrew Nembhard latched to his arm hairs like a bed bug, was taxing. Watching him attempt to cross halfcourt was as excruciating as ripping off a fingernail.
Indiana relentlessly played to its identity. OKC continued to play like a shell of its own. Its 11 assists were a season low. It volunteered rotations, and the Pacers’ 3-point attempts seemed as bottomless as mimosas at brunch. Entering the fourth quarter, they attempted double the 3s OKC did.
The Thunder was 2 of 14 from deep then, finishing just 3 of 17 — the first team since the 2010 Celtics to win a Finals game while making three 3s or less.
Obi Toppin was spoon-fed those looks. Haliburton deflected an inbounds pass, forcing a shot clock violation that contributed to what seemed like as early a burial as possible midway through the third.
“They really had the wind to their back,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “We had some deflating plays. It was an easy game to give up on.”
A 15-point lead versus the Pacers creates suspense. The games begin then. A five-point deficit against them, with their ball pressure and ability to easily find shots from range, feels bound to multiply.
Gilgeous-Alexander sensed the moment as it unfolded. This tough-to-tuck feeling that neither his will nor unwavering confidence would be sharp enough to cut down a 3-1 deficit if he allowed it. That to let a second straight game slip in Indiana wouldn’t just mean wasting the efforts of his surrounding core to that point, often strained and at times stumped — it would be to waste a season, too.
“I knew what it would have looked like if we lost tonight,” SGA said. “I didn’t want to go out not swinging. I didn’t want to go out not doing everything I could do in my power, in my control to try to win the game.”
Jalen Williams’ force drew 11 free throws, continuing to knock on the door of an incessant Indiana defense before finishing with 27 points. Chet Holmgren saved possessions with momentous putbacks. Caruso, with 20 points and five steals, effectively told TJ McConnell this town was only big enough for one of them.
That left Gilgeous-Alexander to spark fire in this 12-minute wasteland.
He thought back to the sound of a tattered outdoor ball hitting his pavement. He thought of how he’d count down the seconds in his driveway when he wished for this moment.
Game 4s can define legacies. Birth legends. Mute narratives. Twenty-five years to the day before Gilgeous-Alexander’s status would come into question Friday, a young Laker named Kobe Bryant shattered Indiana’s title hopes with an overtime overhaul in the same building.
Of SGA’s 35 points in this Game 4 — his first game without an assist since 2020 – 15 came in the fourth. He scored 15 of the Thunder’s final 16 points, all inside the final five minutes. With switches, he drew Pacers wing Aaron Nesmith, who didn’t seem nearly as well versed in the School of Shai as Nembhard. Nesmith reached in the wrong places. He snoozed when Gilgeous-Alexander rose for a catch-and-shoot 3 with 2:58 to go. SGA floored him for the baseline jumper that gave OKC a 104-103 lead.
And despite any Game 3 concerns about the Thunder allowing its most valuable player to switch, to heave and huff through defensive assignments, he grazed one of Haliburton’s late 3s.
“That whole game, he was getting harassed by all their players,” Kenrich Williams told The Oklahoman. “… He showed tonight why he was the MVP.”
Haliburton searched for an on-ball match while the fourth quarter dwindled. He never did find Love Island. He washed ashore on Chet island, managing a late dribble drive for one of his several high-arcing lay-ins that smooched the glass. But Haliburton got greedy.
You can only take your essentials on Chet island, this 7-foot-stretch of thin landscape with astonishingly nimble feet. The oxygen leaves much to be desired. Getting fancy won’t suffice. A couple stepbacks are all that fit in that bindle Haliburton carries.
But Holmgren, a plus-14 while posting 14 points and 15 boards, didn’t even allow that. He watched Haliburton airball his signature stepback with just under two minutes, and with fewer than 24 seconds, he caught Haliburton’s drive and forced Myles Turner to shoot a sidestep.
In the final quarter, Indiana was 5 of 18 and 0 for 8 from deep. Bennedict Mathurin, better known as Benedict Arnold in Game 3, floundered by missing three free throws late. Pascal Siakam went scoreless.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle has dressed his underdog like a contender. In fourth quarters, they’ve looked like favorites.
If the Denver series was an inflection point, OKC’s Friday night stare down of a 2-1 series was a boiling point.
The collective exhale in the Thunder’s retreat to the locker room had less to do with survival, with feeling like its sweaty backs are off the wall. It had far more to do with regaining ownership of these Finals in the quarter it always seemed destined to come down to.
Joel Lorenzi covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
NBA Finals schedule: Thunder vs. Pacers
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