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Oklahoma Thunders tied the series with Indiana Pacers 1-1 after convincing 123-107 win on Monday morning.
MVP of the NBA league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderdominated the match with 34 points, eight assists, five rebounds and four steals. It was his 12th match of this year's play-off where SGA scored more than 30 points. SGA scored his 3,000 points in this season in the first quarter and later during the game he surpassed Jalen Brunson, a guard from New York Knick,s as the best scorer in the play-off series.
The Thunders kept the foot on the gas from the beginning until the end of the match, giving no hope to visitors. Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder went on a 19-2 run in the 2nd quarter and never looked back in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
This has been Oklahoma City’s formula all season: Lose one game, win in the next.
A defensive maverick Alex Caruso added 20 off the bench while Jalen Williams scored 19, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren added 15 for the Thunder.
“We did some things good tonight. We did some things bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve got to be able to get better and be ready for Game 3.”
On the other hand, Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 for Indiana, Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 for the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013 to not have a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the finals.
The Thunders scored many baskets from the transition and if the Pacers think to win the Game 3, they have to work on that segment and slow down the pace.
The Game 3 is on Wednesday at Indianapolis, in what will be the first finals game in that city in 25 years.
“A bad first half, obviously, was a big problem,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “And we just played poorly. A little better in the second half. But you can’t be a team that’s reactive and expect to be successful or have consistency.”