Pivotal Game 4!?

The OKC Thunder have prevailed through Game 4 in another Finals classic! Just when you
thought Game 3 was electric, this game might’ve topped that. What looked like the Pacers
game, turned into a great clutch performance by OKC’s defense, and the offense of Jalen “J-
Dub” Williams and Shai “SGA” Gilgeous-Alexander.

Coming off an unusual performance for SGA in Game 3, he needed to be aggressive and
deliver in this one. For the first 3 quarters, you can see how well Andrew Nembhard played
defense, you have to give him his props. It was giving me flashbacks of Matthew Dellavedova in
the 2015 finals while guarding 4-time champion Stephen Curry. SGA was working for every
single bucket, it was very aggravating for the MVP. There was tons of physicality throughout this
one, with the refs being lenient and letting the players play. J-Dub understood the assignment
and was very aggressive from start to finish. Williams ability to get downhill allowed him to get to
the charity stripe for 11 ft’s. There were at least 2 plays where J-Dub fell hard on the floor and
got right back, with broadcaster Richard Jefferson expressing how amazing it is to be young,
you just shake off the bump and continue competing. Lu Dort and Alex Caruso also deserve
recognition. Their defensive intensity was strong for their performance, it translated with Dort
hitting some 3’s and Caruso scoring 20 off the bench. The contribution of Thunder big, Chet
Holmgren, helped a lot too while tweaking his ankle early in the first quarter. Overall a gritty
performance by the Thunder.

Digging into the other side, Pascal Siakam is showing why he is a former NBA champion in
2019 with the Toronto Raptors. He finished with an all around performance of 20 points, 8
rebounds, 5 assists, with 5 steals! Siakam was one of the only Pacer players with a positive +/-,
and that’s taking into account OKC trailed for a good part of this game. His game is a lot more
polished up to this point of his career. Tyrese Haliburton, also known as “The Moment” or what I
like to call the “Haliban” had a nice showing as well. His offensive wizardry kept Indiana afloat.
The difference in how the offense is run when Haliburton is on the floor versus when he’s not is
a vast difference. It’s much more fluid and he was finding guys open, also his team was playing
well off him, moving the ball well. The Pacers won the assist category against the Thunder: 21-11 One of the main reasons? The Thunder didn’t capitalize on shots. They shot 3-16 on threes,
Indiana shot 36 threes….

One of the things Indiana did well compared to OKC for the first 3 quarters was how they played
in their zone. The Thunder had 13 turnovers, most of them coming in the first 3 quarters. Also
with how much Indiana likes to push the pace, could’ve been the reason for the Thunder to not
make open shots or find a rhythm. Now, Indiana finished with 15 turnovers, which is one of the
reasons they lost this game. For what you would think is Indiana’s sweet spot, the 4th quarter,
turned into OKC territory. J-Dub hit a tough middy to cut the lead to 7 going into the 4th, that
gave them a little bit of room to spark a run. It was just an all out war it seemed the entire game.
Both teams started to dislike one another. Obi Toppin and Lu Dort both committed flagrant fouls
during this game. Which brings me to say, Obi Toppin played incredibly. He should’ve been the
guy to close the game instead of Aaron Nesmith or Bennedict Mathurin.

The hero of Game 3 for the Pacers, Bennedict Mathurin, turned out to be the villain in the 4th.
All it took was just one minute of basketball to miss three key free throws, and give up two silly
fouls while the Thunder were in the bonus. It was a 4 point game with 23 seconds left. You
would think this is where Indiana pulls off another last minute win. Once Mathurin got to the line
to cut it to a 2-point lead, he would miss both ft’s. He didn’t really have anything going because
he was on the bench for a lot of this game, which led me to think once Nesmith fouled out,
Toppin would sub in for him. After Mathurin misses both ft’s, he would commit a foul away from
the ball to put the Thunder at the line. Fortunately Mathurin got to shoot 2 more ft’s the next
possession off a Thunder turnover. Mathurin missed another one at the line but made the next
one. At this point if he had made all his ft’s and didn’t commit a foul, the game could’ve been at
the worst a 1 point Thunder lead. To say this entire game is Mathurin’s fault as to why Indiana
lost is a stretch, but you can argue he hurt their chances.

Nonetheless we get guaranteed at least 6 games of this awesome series. Going back to OKC
now Monday for Game 5, will the Pacers strike and pull off a must win, or will the Thunder
capitalize off this win and use the momentum to win Game 5. I wish I could give you my
prediction. All I can say is I just hope this series goes to 7 games.