Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder wanted a press release 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 stop that loss from snowballing right into a respectable gap.
Kings of the Bounceback
In case you’ve been following the Thunder this season, you in all probability felt extra comfy than most concerning their means to win such a essential bounceback recreation. Oklahoma Metropolis is now 17-2 following a loss this season, 6-0 within the playoffs, and it has gained these video games by a mean of 17 factors per recreation.
“We simply used the chance to get higher,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “We have executed a extremely good job of that each one 12 months, and final recreation was no completely different. Tonight is similar 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 recreation three.
There’s Ranges To This
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 factors on 11-of-21 taking pictures, shelling out eight assists and grabbing 4 steals. He outperformed his celebrity counterpart Tyrese Haliburton for the second consecutive recreation, as Haliburton was once more held beneath 20 factors in what was a disappointing 17-point, six-assist recreation of hide-and-seek from the Sport 1 hero. Haliburton has scored simply 34 factors in complete throughout the collection, whereas Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 factors per recreation.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the @okcthunder has scored 72 factors by way 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 respectable seat on the desk relating to celebrity conversations, however SGA’s constant sonning of him by way of the primary two video games (apart from the devil-magic Sport 1 winner) has confirmed that there are nonetheless tiers to those talks. Yeah, which means Haliburton nonetheless has some steps on the ladder to succeed in the SGAs and Jokics of the league.
“They’re kinda displaying like a delicate blitz, generally a full blitz,” Haliburton mentioned. “They’re giving me completely different seems. I’ve received to do a greater job of simply determining the place I might be higher. In that recreation within the second half, once you’re down by a lot, you’ll be able to select to simply take the sport for what it’s and be executed, or you’ll be able to attempt to proceed to study various things.
“I believe by way of the course of the collection and already by way of these first two video games, I am studying the place my spots are, the place I might be higher. We’ll take the nice and the unhealthy, watch movie, and see we you’ll be able to enhance going into the following recreation.”
Stat Sheet
Along with 20 factors from key function participant Alex Caruso, the Thunder additionally received 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 court docket on Sunday, which is presumably a contemporary NBA Finals file or possibly even only a trendy NBA file generally. Contemplating the truth that you’ll be able to barely discover correct scoring totals from numerous factors within the league’s early historical past, actually nailing this reality down would require entry to historic databases that I don’t at present have and even know to exist.
Because of the sport’s blowout nature, the Pacers had 15 of their gamers obtain motion within the recreation. Benedict Mathurin and TJ McConnell mixed for 25 factors, whereas the whole lot of the Pacers’ beginning lineup was held beneath 20 factors for the second recreation in a row. Sure, which means the Pacers are but to supply a 20-point scorer on this 12 months’s NBA Finals. That’s not a sustainable sample for a collection towards any staff, a lot much less a 68-win staff 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 way of the primary two video games of the NBA Finals. Looks like they’ll be going the best way of the ‘01 76ers versus the ‘04 Pistons when it comes to heavy underdogs who pulled off Sport 1 upsets.
— Will Despart (@WillDespart) June 9, 2025
The Prognosis
Given the best way Sport 2 went, it’s getting exhausting to image this collection getting previous the five-game mark. As wonderful as Indiana’s Sport 1 comeback was, the fact is that it trailed for all however 0.3 seconds in Sport 1 and solely held a number of transient one-possession leads within the first quarter of Sport 2.
“Basketball is a recreation of ups and downs, the season is stuffed with ups and downs, a collection is stuffed with ups and downs,” Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned. “It is the staff that may keep level-headed and get higher all through the experiences that is going to come back out on prime. That is our objective, get higher by way of each expertise. We did that final recreation, we have to repeat for Sport 3.”
We’ll see what occurs with the collection shifting to Indiana for Sport 3, however I’ve severe trigger for pause concerning the Pacers’ possibilities in a single recreation of this collection shifting ahead. Vegas agrees, as Oklahoma Metropolis is now a consensus -525 to win the collection regardless of dropping Sport 1.
