Melissa Laurin
Fox Sports NBA Writer
The NBA Finals are here, with the seed in West 1st place Oklahoma City Thunder And the East 4th Seed Indiana Pacers At the end of the much-anticipated series, we square it in hopes of lifting our first Larry O’Brien Trophy.
This is the Pacers’ first final since 2000. Lakers In 6 games. The Thunder played their final final in 2012 and lost to LeBron James and Miami Heat With five games.
This is what stands out from Game 2 on Sunday and what we expect from Game 3 on Wednesday.
Game 2: Thunder 123, Pacers 107
What stood out for the lightning: The Thunder learned lessons from Game 1 and played all 48 minutes of Game 2 after blowing a 15-point fourth quarter lead in the final opener. Thunder outperformed the Pacers 33-21 in the second quarter, leading by 23 points and came in with a 19-point lead in the fourth quarter, maintaining a significant advantage through the final buzzer. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander performed more than 30 points in the championship round, finishing with 34 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steels. However, this time, he had more help as Thunder’s Remerves outperformed Pacers’ Bench, 48-34. Thunder’s highest rated defense suffocated Pacer’s attack. Four Thunder players scored at least 18 points, but none of the Pacers scored more than 17 points.
What stood out for the Pacers: The Pacers were outscored with points 43-35, 42-34. Tyreese Halliburton had only 17 points, but only three points in the first half in a 5-5 shooting from the field. The Pacers looked like a kind of thing against the Thunder team who was surprised in Game 1, and in Game 2 they were able to step into the gas at both ends of the court.
Tyreese Halliburton had a game high five turnover in Game 2 (Photo: Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)
What to expect in Game 3: For the Pacers, Halliburton and the Company appear more aggressively in Game 3. A star player on a pacer cannot finish with two field goals (7) than with a turnover (5). The pacer needs to slap the board and figure out how to find the lane against the Thunder’s flock defense. As for lightning, they need to try and replicate this wall-to-wall effort in Game 3. The Thunder did an incredible job of acquiring multiple players, including Reserve Alex Caruso. Alex Caruso shines on both ends of the court with excellent defense, and was the team’s second leading scorer with 20 points, making four three-pointers.
Game 1: Pacers 111, Thunder 110
What stood out for the lightning: Oklahoma City learned a very important lesson in Game 1 in the final. no. Lead. teeth. safety. Against. . Pacer. Until now. Pacer, who made multiple historic comebacks this postseason, once again pulled away from the unlikely one, raiding from a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit, stole the first lead of the game with 0.3 seconds left after Tyre’s Halliburton scored a 21-foot pull-up jumper to surprise the sold-out crowd at the Paycom Center. This was Thunder’s ultimate wake-up call, which held control for over 47 minutes, lagging behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 38-point performance. But Halliburton, who named himself this postseason with three buzzer barters and a go-ahead bucket heading into the finals, has made the Thunder the latest casualty.
What stood out for the Pacers: Halliburton’s late game heroes have already become playoff lore, but if he and his team aren’t in that position, that’s great. The Pacers had a whopping 25 sales and only seven for Thunder. They also have fewer 16 field goal attempts than the Thunder. For most of the game, the Pacers struggled to produce many attacks against the swarming Thunder defense. The Thunder only led up to 15 points, but until the fourth quarter, when the Comeback Kings tried their best, their lead appeared to be twice as big for the majority of the game.
Tyreese Halliburton rounded out yet another unlikely postseason comeback for the Pacers. (Photo by William Parnell/Getty Images)
What to expect in Game 2: In the case of Lightning, they obviously realized they need to play all 48 minutes with this Pacers team. Not once stop. They cannot allow the pacers to go to the heaters later in the game. For example, when you went on a 12-2 fourth quarter run to cut your 15-point deficit to just four points. If the pacer is within a prominent distance, the other team is in trouble. As for the Pacers, Halliburton has once again become a playoff hero, but he only scored 14 points. He needs to be far more aggressively aggressive for the Pacer to avoid having to resort to buzzer beaters. Meanwhile, the Pacers did an amazing job dominating the board. There was a 56-39 advantage. If there are fewer turnovers and Halliburton can move faster, he could be in a different position in Game 2.
Melissa Laurin is NBA Fox Sports writer. She previously covered the league of sports illustration, Ross Angeles Times, Bay Area News Group, San Antonio Express News. Follow her on Twitter @Melissarolin.
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