Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder wanted an announcement efficiency in Sport 2 of the NBA Finals. After Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers pulled off certainly one of their signature comebacks in Sport 1, it felt like a close to necessity for the Thunder to win on Sunday and forestall that loss from snowballing right into a official gap.
Kings of the Bounceback
When you’ve been following the Thunder this season, you in all probability felt extra comfy than most relating to their capacity to win such a crucial bounceback sport. Oklahoma Metropolis is now 17-2 following a loss this season, 6-0 within the playoffs, and it has received these video games by a median of 17 factors per sport.
“We simply used the chance to get higher,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “We have executed a very good job of that every one yr, and final sport was no totally different. Tonight is identical factor. We did some issues good tonight, we did some issues unhealthy, and we have to have the ability to get higher and prepare for sport three.
There’s Ranges To This
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 factors on 11-of-21 taking pictures, allotting eight assists and grabbing 4 steals. He outperformed his famous person counterpart Tyrese Haliburton for the second consecutive sport, as Haliburton was once more held under 20 factors in what was a disappointing 17-point, six-assist sport of hide-and-seek from the Sport 1 hero. Haliburton has scored simply 34 factors in whole in the course of the collection, whereas Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 factors per sport.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the @okcthunder has scored 72 factors by means of the primary two video games of the #NBAFinals introduced by @YouTubeTV.
That’s the most factors ever by a participant in his first two profession NBA Finals video games.
The earlier excessive was 71 by Allen Iverson (2001). pic.twitter.com/3qHRM0kuck
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) June 9, 2025
Haliburton’s heroics all through the postseason have earned him a official seat on the desk in terms of famous person conversations, however SGA’s constant sonning of him by means of the primary two video games (except for the devil-magic Sport 1 winner) has confirmed that there are nonetheless tiers to those talks. Yeah, meaning Haliburton nonetheless has some steps on the ladder to achieve the SGAs and Jokics of the league.
“They’re kinda displaying like a comfortable blitz, generally a full blitz,” Haliburton mentioned. “They’re giving me totally different appears to be like. I’ve bought to do a greater job of simply determining the place I could be higher. In that sport within the second half, whenever you’re down by a lot, you may select to simply take the sport for what it’s and be executed, or you may attempt to proceed to study various things.
“I feel by means of the course of the collection and already by means of these first two video games, I am studying the place my spots are, the place I could be higher. We’ll take the nice and the unhealthy, watch movie, and see we you may enhance going into the following sport.”
Stat Sheet
Along with 20 factors from key function participant Alex Caruso, the Thunder additionally bought a great addition from Aaron Wiggins within the type of 18 factors on 6-of-11 taking pictures (5-of-8 from 3-point vary). 17 gamers on the Thunder touched the courtroom on Sunday, which is presumably a contemporary NBA Finals report or perhaps even only a fashionable NBA report generally. Contemplating the truth that you may barely discover correct scoring totals from numerous factors within the league’s early historical past, really nailing this truth down would require entry to historic databases that I don’t at the moment have and even know to exist.
Because of the sport’s blowout nature, the Pacers had 15 of their gamers obtain motion within the sport. Benedict Mathurin and TJ McConnell mixed for 25 factors, whereas the whole thing of the Pacers’ beginning lineup was held under 20 factors for the second sport in a row. Sure, meaning the Pacers are but to supply a 20-point scorer on this yr’s NBA Finals. That’s not a sustainable sample for a collection towards any group, a lot much less a 68-win group that’s recognized to have a suffocating defensive presence that has clearly already snuffed Indiana out.
The Pacers are but to have a 20-point scorer by means of the primary two video games of the NBA Finals. Looks like they’ll be going the way in which of the ‘01 76ers versus the ‘04 Pistons by way of heavy underdogs who pulled off Sport 1 upsets.
— Will Despart (@WillDespart) June 9, 2025
The Prognosis
Given the way in which Sport 2 went, it’s getting onerous to image this collection getting previous the five-game mark. As superb as Indiana’s Sport 1 comeback was, the truth is that it trailed for all however 0.3 seconds in Sport 1 and solely held just a few transient one-possession leads within the first quarter of Sport 2.
“Basketball is a sport of ups and downs, the season is filled with ups and downs, a collection is filled with ups and downs,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “It is the group that may keep level-headed and get higher all through the experiences that is going to come back out on prime. That is our purpose, get higher by means of each expertise. We did that final sport, we have to repeat for Sport 3.”
We’ll see what occurs with the collection shifting to Indiana for Sport 3, however I’ve critical trigger for pause relating to the Pacers’ probabilities in a single sport of this collection transferring ahead. Vegas agrees, as Oklahoma Metropolis is now a consensus -525 to win the collection regardless of dropping Sport 1.
