SI

Thunder Hold Off Pacers’ Comeback Effort to Move One Win Away From Championship

Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the way as the Thunder put one hand on an NBA title.

Tyler Lauletta

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams scored 40 points in his team's Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams scored 40 points in his team's Game 5 win over the Indiana Pacers. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
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The Oklahoma City Thunder put one hand on the Larry O’Brien Trophy on Monday night, beating the Indiana Pacers 120–109 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals to take a 3–2 lead in the series. It’s the first time in the postseason that the Pacers have trailed in a series, and their first time losing back-to-back games dating all the way back to March.

It was a rocky first half for the Pacers, with Tyrese Haliburton, who has been dealing with a leg injury, held scoreless in the first half for the first time in his playoff career. The Thunder carried an impressive 59–45 lead into halftime, and appeared to be in total control.

But like they have time and time again this postseason, the Pacers fought back, putting together several runs in the third quarter with the help of surprise hero T.J. McConnell to cut into the Thunder lead. While they would close the gap to as few as two points in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma City never let Indiana tie the game up, and quickly responded with a run of their own to put the game out of reach.

Leading the way for the Thunder in Game 5 was Jalen Williams—the Robin to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Batman throughout the regular season. Williams led all scorers with 40 points, with SGA following right behind him with 31 points on the night.

With the win, the Thunder are now just one win away from their first championship in this iteration of franchise history. The Seattle Supersonics won the 1979 NBA championship.

Game 6 is set for Thursday night in Indiana, with the Pacers needing to defend home court to force a decisive Game 7 on Sunday.

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Tyler Lauletta
TYLER LAULETTA

Tyler Lauletta is a staff writer for the Breaking and Trending News Team/team at Sports Illustrated. Before joining SI, he covered sports for nearly a decade at Business Insider, and helped design and launch the OffBall newsletter. He is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia, and remains an Eagles and Phillies sicko. When not watching or blogging about sports, Tyler can be found scratching his dog behind the ears.

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