THE Oklahoma City Thunder Souffled the first match of the NBA final after having held an important advance on the Pacers of Indiana. In Match 2, they made sure that there was no rehearsal, completely dominating their opponents in a victory of 123-107 which led the series to 1-1.
In match 1, the Thunder had a 12-point lead at halftime and a 15-point lead in the fourth quarter Before losing against the pacers Gracious a basket of Tyrese Haliburton in the last second. Sunday evening, they took control of the match very early, but this time, they did not let their advantage go.
“This is not just not panicked,” said Jalen Williams of Thunder’s ability of his team to come back from their defeat in match 1. “We are still talking about winning the days between the two (games), then going back and watching the film, and realizing that everything is not as bad or as good as it seems in the time.”
The result may not have been a surprise: the Thunder was 17-2 after a defeat this season and has not yet lost consecutive matches in the qualifying series this season. And the two teams would have recognized that Oklahoma City controlled most of Match 1, to vacillate late under a wave led by Haliburton. In match 2, however, the Thunder has performed a much more complete performance, affirming control at all phases. Their aggressive defensive rotations disturbed the pace of the Indiana, preventing the type of rating points which had allowed the return of the Pacers to the opening.
“(Our defense) is where it starts,” said Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Thunder after the match. “They are a very powerful attack and if you do not stop stops, you end up running all night and they can fight you in this way.”
For the second consecutive match, Gilgeous-Alexander was the top scorer in the match, with 34 points, but the reigning Nba MVP also had excellent support on the bench, notably Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins, who scored 20 and 18 points respectively.
Haliburton was the top scorer of the Pacers with 17 points. This means that no Indiana player managed 20 points in a match in this series, a tribute to the defense of the Thunder as much as any breach on the part of the Pacers.
“A bad first half, of course, was a big problem,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “And we just played badly. A little better in the second half. But you cannot be a reactive team that expected you to succeed or have consistency.”
The best seven series goes to Indiana for match 3 Wednesday evening.
