Mateo’s Hoop Diary: The Thunder evened the Finals with a commanding performance in Game 2

The Thunder exacted retribution in Game 2, emphatically putting down the Pacers. Coach Rick Carlisle inadvertently predicted the story of the night on Saturday, saying that every team’s pattern is to come out more aggressively after a loss. The Thunder were first to 50-50 balls, their bench scored 48 digits, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander rained a surplus of jumpers and layups, and Tyrese Haliburton was gun-shy, getting aggressive way too late. 

Coach Mark Daigneault said, “It would be easy to just say that one thing looked better tonight, but that would be oversimplifying. I think we were just a little bit better in a lot of different areas of execution, pace, organization, decision making in the paint…”

The Thunder deployed the same starting lineup from Game 1 that used Cason Wallace instead of Isaiah Hartenstein to match Indiana’s speed. Chet Holmgren’s outside jumpers and two rim attacks, plus the Thunder’s suffocating squeeze, separated them at 26-20 by the end of the first quarter. They followed up with another prepotent frame, extending their lead to 23 as Gilgeous-Alexander filleted the baseline with a reverse layup after an ATO play as coach Rick Carlisle recoiled and called a timeout.  

Ten straight points by Indiana followed on Pascal Siakam’s two rim attacks on the right side, Aaron Nesmith’s transition corner triple and Andrew Nembhard’s pick-6. Yet the Thunder retained an 18-point lead into intermission on hard drives from SGA and Jalen Willaims, plus Alex Caruso’s transition triple.

At halftime, Caruso and Aaron Wiggins had eight points apiece off the Thunder’s bench. Williams said, “The last game, they had a lot of guys in double figures. That’s what makes them dangerous, the same way we have Aaron Wiggins and guys that don’t play that can come in at any moment…”

The Pacers couldn’t get closer than within 13 points  in the third in spite of Nesmith’s three 3-point bombs. The Pacers were held to 25% shooting in the lane, Tyrese Haliburton was rendered a release valve for most of the period, and their only prosperous run was negated with SGA’s three jumpers at mid and short range plus the Thunder’s 13 freebies.

The hosts opened the fourth quarter ahead by 19 points. Wiggins drained two 3-pointers, and SGA scored twice in the lane before OKC’s main figures were subbed out with a few minutes left. Additionally, Haliburton’s scoring burst was like a boxer finding a second wind after 30 straight minutes of getting picked apart.

The Thunder won 123-107. They contained the Pacers’ transition attack to 75 points per 100 plays, good enough for the seventh percentile, per Cleaning the Glass. Furthermore, SGA eclipsed Allen Iverson (71) for the most points (72) by a player in their first two Finals games, per NBA communications.

Game 3 is Indiana on Wednesday.