Cnn
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Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder equalized the NBA final by launching the Pacers of Indiana, aspiring to a 123-107 victory which won part of the bad taste left by the Pacers’ Dramatic victory in the opening match of the series.
The Thunder separated from the Pacers in the second quarter with one of the prolonged races of the team, the kind of sequence that made Okc the best NBA team In the regular season and saw them direct the league in the points differential.
Directed by the MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Stellar Performance and a strong performance by goalkeeper Alex Caruso on the bench, Oklahoma City made a categorical statement with the victory of the eruption.
For SGA, the performance of 34 points and eight assistants was a solid follow -up of its 38 points in an effort losing Thursday. The seventh year player of Kentucky made his debut in an impressive way in the final, hardly seeming to have a pain throughout the playoffs because he dominated in each series.
After the match, Gilgeous-Alexander told ABC that the high performance of match 2 was to go from match 1.
“Basketball is a game of ups and downs, the season is full of ups and downs, a series is full of ups and downs. This is the team that can stay at the head and improve throughout the experiences and they will go out in the lead,” he said.
He added: “We just took the opportunity to get better. We did a very good job this year, the last game was not different. Tonight is the same thing; we did things well tonight, we did bad things. We must be able to get better and we prepare for match 3.”
The Specter of Match 1 was suspended during the first quarter when Oklahoma City seemed to press a little more than they were at the early stages of opening the series. The Thunder committed four reversals when they looked nervous in the first minutes, although they finally settled to finish the quarter with a six -point lead.
This momentum took place in the second quarter while the Thunder extended its advance at 15 points in the first five minutes, forcing the Indiana to take a dead time to try to blur the momentum. The exclamation mark was a Dunk of Chet Holmgren, who was trying to erase the taste for poor performance in the opening of the series -the 7 -foot 1 inch player and the second year finished match 1 with six points and a note of -13 more.
The Pacers were unable to change the atmosphere with The Time Out and the advance was 23 a few minutes later when the Thunder made a race of 19-2 in the second quarter. The Pacers pulled only 33% from the field while the Thunder pulled 55.6%. The crowd dressed in the blue of the gypsy arena was brought to their feet after Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has succeeded in a reverse lay-up which caused the Pacers Rick Carlisle to be died to try to gather his troops.
Andrew Nebhard struck a bucket to stop the Thunder Run, but the damage had been caused. The huge Thunder’s race meant that the Pacers were looking at once again to make an improbable return if they wanted to return to Indianapolis with a 2-0 series advance.
The Pacers were able to cut their heads slightly at halftime, but the Thunder – led by the 15 points of Gilgeous -Alexander – still led by 18. The stifling defense of the Thunder was again in the first half in the first half, holding the pacers at 34.9% of shooting – 31.8% from behind the arc – and forcing nine reversals. They dominated Indiana in painting, marking 26 compared to the Pacers 12.
The Pacers made a quick race of 8-2 in the first stadiums in the third quarter to cut in mind, relying on Miles Turner and Pascal Siakam to bring them back in the game. Tyrese Haliburton, the hero of Match 1, was a non-factor in the first half and in the third quarter-with seven minutes and a half to play in the third quarter, Haliburton only collected 3 points, assists and three rebounds.
But the strong game of Gilgeous-Alexander and the balanced OKC offensive kept the pacers remotely. Unlike match 1, when the Pacers pushed the game with a series of points in the third quarter, the Thunder continued to go to the MVP and he delivered, finishing the quarter with 27 points. Jalen Williams of Thunder, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins and Holmgren also finished the third quarter in doubles.
Unlike Thursday, the Thunder refused to remove the foot from the gas pedal while the advance increased by 20 after at the start of the fourth quarter. The Pacers continued to take care of the ball much better than last week when they had 25 reversals, but did not find a coherent shooting contact and were dominated by thunder on the boards.
The most disappointing performance of a Pace may have been Haliburton’s lamentable glow. The leader of the Pacers was held in check by the Thunder during the clashes of the regular season of the two teams this year and for almost the whole match 1 of Thursday. He erased all frustration Thursday with the clutch shooting which won the first match of the final and crowned another extraordinary return from Indiana, but his other point, his 14 points, 10 reeals, the six -year performances would have been another to forget.
Before entering a rhythm in the fourth quarter, when the Thunder has always held an advance of more than 20 points and refused to let the Indiana get closer, Haliburton was suffocated. As he went up two -digit in the Point Chronicle, Oklahoma City was far from a striking range. He finished with 17 points, including 12 of those who arrive in the fourth quarter.
It was a testimony of Luguentz Dort, the man responsible for keeping Haliburton for much of the night and helped to force the starry back at five reversals.
“With them, that’s where it starts,” Gilgeous-Alexander told ABC of the Pacers offensive. “They are an offense with high power; they play quickly and score a lot of points. If you do not get a stop, you will end up running the whole game and they can fight you in this way.”
The series is now traveling to Indianapolis for matches 3 and 4 later in the week. The Pacers will welcome the Thunder at 8:30 p.m. Wednesday in Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The convincing victory will not change the mentality of the Thunder on break before Wednesday’s match.
“You can’t get comfortable. You have to focus on the little things, get back, prepare for the match plan and, finally, I’m going to look like a recorded record, but improving for the next game and the next opportunity,” he told ABC.
