Nearly three minutes remained and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 20-point lead still didn’t feel safe against Indiana, king of the comeback in these NBA playoffs.
It felt like Pacers star Tyrese Halliburton might finally be heating up.
But Pacers coach Rick Carlisle sent little-used forward James Johnson to the scorer’s table to enter the game, waving the figurative flag of surrender.
The Thunder took control of Game 2 of the NBA Finals with a second-quarter explosion that carried all the way to a 123-107 win Sunday night at the Paycom Center that evened the best-of-seven series at a game apiece.
League MVP Shai GIlgeous-Alexander was 11 of 21 from the floor and had 34 points, while reserves Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins combined to make nine of the Thunder’s 14 3-pointers.
Halliburton finished with a team-high 17 points.
The series heads to Indianapolis now, with Game 3 set for 7:30 p.m. Wednesday.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 34 points. The Pacers didn’t have anyone with 20 points. The series heads to Indianapolis tied at 1-1.
Active first three minutes of this quarter for OKC. Five O boards, just drew two Pascal Siakam fouls in a matter of seconds, and has forced two Indy turnovers.
Aaron Nesmith’s 3-pointer with 7:36 left in the third quarter prompted a Thunder timeout. The never-die Pacers were showing signs of life.
Nesmith’s triple cut OKC’s lead to 14 — a margin that sounds more comfortable than it is against Indiana.
The run stopped there. The Thunder made big shots of its own to keep the Pacers at bay — for whatever that’s worth.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander hit a midrange jumper over Bennedict Mathurin to push OKC’s lead back to 20 with two minutes left, but then Nesmith hit another timely 3-pointer.
SGA leads the Thunder with 27 points on 9-of-18 shooting. His counterpart, Tyrese Haliburton, is the only Pacers starter not in double figures.
Haliburton has five points and four assists through three quarters.
—Joe Mussatto, Columnist
Recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, Don Nelson was honored in OKC before the Thunder and Pacers met in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Aaron Wiggins played nine minutes in Game 1. In nine minutes tonight, he’s got 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting with three 3PM.
The Thunder has had some dominant second quarters in these playoffs.
Chalk up another.
Oklahoma City outscored Indiana 33-21 in the second frame and led by as many as 23 points.
And it could’ve been better for the Thunder.
During a stretch that lasted just under five minutes, the Thunder outscored the Pacers 19-2. But after a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drive pushed the lead to 23 points and Indiana took a timeout, the Pacers responded with a 10-0 run.
But the sledding was mostly difficult for Indiana. It had six turnovers in the quarter and made just 8 of 22 shots. The Pacers are shooting 34.9% from the floor.
The Thunder goes into halftime shooting 51.1%.
SGA has a game-high 15 points while Chet Holmgren has added 11.
No Pacer is in double digits, but Pascal Siakam and Andrew Nembhard have nine a piece.
—Jenni Carlson, Columnist
It’s a 23-7 Thunder run, which has it leading 42-27 midway through the second. Doing that Game 2 thing…
This Dub-led lineup found the biggest lead of the game (33-23), and now leads 35-27 at this timeout. Balance of disruption from Wallace/Caruso/Dub, Wiggins holding his own, Hartenstein is — well, playing his heart out.
—Joel Lorenzi, Staff writer
Tyrese Haliburton has made plenty of tough buckets this postseason.
But his shot late in the first quarter was bold, even for him. As soon as Haliburton caught a pass, he launched a 27-foot triple and watched it clank off the front iron.
Hasty heaves like that are usually reserved for the end of the shot clock. But for Haliburton and the Pacers, it was the only way to get a clean look.
OKC treated the blue-colored paint like a shark-infested ocean. Any sign of life was swiftly met with a feeding frenzy of ferocious defenders, who either ripped the ball away or swatted it.
That forced Indiana to do its damage from the shore, as 15 of its 20 points came off of 3-pointers. The Pacers didn’t record any points in the paint.
Chet Holmgren has nine points on 4-for-5 shooting for the Thunder.
—Justin Martinez, Staff writer
You can’t see it at the arena, but at least the trophy is visible to those watching at home.
The Pacers will go with Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam and Myles Turner.
The Thunder will remain small to begin Game 2. Cason Wallace, who started 43 games during the regular season, will start in place of center Isaiah Hartenstein. It’s the second straight game where coach Mark Daigneault turned away from the starting lineup, featuring the Thunder’s pair of bigs, that he’s used for the duration of the playoffs leading into the Finals. In Game 1, Wallace finished with six points on 3-of-9 shooting, a minus-13. He closed the game down the stretch for OKC.
—Joel Lorenzi, Staff writer
Oklahoma weather could affect NBA Finals Game 2 broadcast
Per The Athletic’s Andrew Marchand:
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The Indiana Pacers find themselves in a now-familiar position as they head into Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Indiana has opened each of its postseason matchups with a Game 1 victory — three of those wins coming on the road. That pattern has given the Pacers plenty of experience in facing opponents determined to bounce back and even the series.
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle knows the OKC Thunder won’t go down quietly on Sunday.
“What I’ve learned over the years is that teams that play fast tend to have a good kind of foundation to be a good transition team,” Carlisle said. “ We always feel like we can be a lot better, and so I do think the game is going to be faster tonight. I think Oklahoma is going to be more aggressive and faster. So it will be a key tonight.”
—Jordan Davis, Staff writer
We’ll soon find out who Thunder coach Mark Daigneault elects to start in Game 2 after making a somewhat surprising move by replacing Isaiah Hartenstein in the starting lineup with Cason Wallace in Game 1.
Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein didn’t play one second together in Game 1 as Daigneault went away from the double-big lineup completely.
Daigneault was asked before Game 2 about the challenges of playing two bigs at the same time against the Pacers.
“What I would say is we have a lot of optionality, and when you have a lot of options and you choose one, you’re leaving others on the table,” Daigneault said. “I think we are pretty familiar with the archetypes of our lineups and what the trade-offs are, and one of the strengths of our team is we can deploy those at different times … I obviously opted to go away from that in Game 1. That’s not necessarily predictive of the rest of the series. That’s just where we started the series.”
—Joe Mussatto, Columnist
The referee crew for Game 2 of the NBA Finals:
What time is Thunder vs Pacers game today?
- Date: Sunday, June 8
- Time: 7 p.m. CT
- Where: Paycom Center in OKC
The Thunder vs Pacers game starts at 7 p.m. CT Sunday from Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
Where to watch Thunder vs Pacers Game 2 in NBA Finals
The Thunder vs Pacers game will be broadcast on ABC. It can be streamed on Fubo and ESPN+.
Thunder vs Pacers odds
Odds via BetMGM as of Saturday, June 7
Odds: Thunder by 10.5
Over/under: 228.5
Moneyline: OKC -625 | Indiana +450
Thunder vs Pacers predictions, expert picks for NBA Finals Game 2
Justin Martinez: OKC 117, Indiana 106
OKC led for all but 0.3 seconds of Game 1. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points, which marked the third-most points by a player throughout league history in an NBA Finals debut. And OKC forced Indiana to commit what tied for a season-high 25 turnovers. The Pacers found a way to steal that game, but I expect the Thunder to regain control of the series Sunday with a home win.
Oklahoma City has not won an NBA championship, but the Seattle Supersonics won the 1979 title. The franchise relocated to OKC before the 2008 season.
Indiana has not won an NBA championship, but the Pacers twice won the ABA championship (1972-73).
NBA Finals schedule: Thunder vs. Pacers
All times are Central
- Games: 76
- Points: 32.7 per game
- Rebounds: 5.0 per game
- Assists: 6.4 per game
- Steals: 1.7 per game
- Blocks: 1.0 per game
- Field-goal shooting: 51.9%
- 3-point shooting: 37.5%
- Free-throw shooting: 89.8%
- Games: 73
- Points: 18.6 per game
- Rebounds: 3.5 per game
- Assists: 9.2 per game
- Steals: 1.4 per game
- Blocks: 0.7 per game
- Field-goal shooting: 47.3%
- 3-point shooting: 38.8%
- Free-throw shooting: 85.1%
Thunder vs Pacers highlights in NBA Finals Game 2
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