All season, this is Oklahoma City’s formula: Lose one game and respond in the next game.
That's exactly what the Thunder did in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.
Hamilton, Ontario, local Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points, Alex Caruso added 20 points to the bench, and the Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 123-107 on Sunday night to equalize those finals.
“We did a great job tonight. We did something bad,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We have to be able to get better and be ready for game 3.”
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Tyrese Haliburton scored 17 points for Indiana, removing 15 points in Game 1, a fourth-quarter deficit, but never pushed on Sunday. Myles Turner scored 16 and Pascal Siakam added 15 shots to the Pacers, the first team since Miami in 2013, without a 20-point scorer in the first two games of the final.
The third game is Wednesday in Indianapolis, which will be the first final of that city in 25 years.
But the real milestone for the MVP was a few hours later, when he and most of the Thunder won the finals for the first time.
In the second quarter, he turned the six-point game into a 23-point Thunder with a 19-2 record. This seems to have swung a few times – the Pacers immediately retorted 10-0, 52-39, Indiana is under 13 again after Andrew Nembhard's layup scored 7:09 in the third inning – but the Thunder's lead has never been seriously doubted.
Since the noise levels of buildings are usually over 100 dB – for comparison, the Chain Saw is 110 dB, the Thunder did what they did throughout the season. They lost, this time in Game 1 with a loss of 111-110 and blown away with their response.
Including the NBA Cup Championship (not counting on any standings), when the Thunder now lost 18-2. Of these 18 wins, 12 were in double digits.
