How about that for a Game 1? Tyrese Haliburton once again showed us why basketball and sports in general are in such a great place. The spectacular shot crushed Oklahoma City, who led for almost the entirety of the evening.
This is why readjustments back to their regular rotation and offensive schemes will reset this Thunder squad and give them the early lead in route to tying this series up. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren remain the x-factors for Oklahoma City, whose lives are now on the line in Game 2 on Saturday night.
In Game 1, we went two for three with Andrew Nembhard and Cason Wallace hitting a handful of threes, while Jalen Williams couldn’t get going from the field until it was way too late. A few big, missed shots at the end of the game took the wind out of JDub and OKC as they watched Haliburton rise up for the game-winner.
With Shai shooting 30 shots last game, I expect him to become more of a playmaker and for the Thunder to play the brand of basketball that won them 80 games during the regular and postseason.
Sharing the basketball is key, and Jalen Williams will be the beneficiary of this in Game 2. After the Thunder’s last two losses, Williams dropped 24 and 34 points, respectively.
Chet Holmgren played how many minutes last night? One of the best young bigs in the entire NBA played just 24 minutes last night as Oklahoma City went away from their traditional two-big lineup.
This ended up costing them in the end, allowing Siakam and Indiana to out-rebound them by 17 boards. Because of this, expect more Chet minutes and opportunities for rebounds on both ends of the floor on Saturday night.
Chet has hit this mark in 7 of 17 games during this postseason run, but with the pace of the Pacers and OKC sharing the basketball more in Game 2, it’s a perfect recipe for success here.
Oklahoma City has to be stunned after Haliburton's game winner on Thursday night. With the correct adjustments, they should be able to take this Game 2, but regardless of Saturday night’s winner, I expect the Thunder to come out of the gate red hot on both ends of the floor.
SGA will learn from the loss, and most likely, the ball movement will look much better, especially in transition, where Indiana didn’t let their two dozen turnovers hurt them too often. They have hit this spread mark in four of the last six games.