BBNBA: Indiana outpaces SGA and Thunder to take 2-1 Finals lead

Like a horde of storm chasers, the Indiana Pacers relentlessly pursued the Thunder in Game 3 of the NBA Finals until they were victorious in their mission. The Pacers revved up the intensity for all 48 minutes, and it led to a 116-107 win and a 2-1 series lead. It was a back-and-forth game until late in the 4th quarter when the Oklahoma City players, including SGA, simply ran out of gas.

From the opening tip, Indiana picked up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 94 feet and double-teamed him on nearly every opportunity. The defensive intensity seemed to have taken a toll on the league MVP. In the 4th quarter, SGA had just three points, one rebound, zero assists, and a minus 11 in the plus-minus column, a very unclutch performance for one of the best scorers in the NBA.

He finished the game with 24 points, but on a relatively inefficient 20 shots. Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t even the highest scoring Canadian on the floor, as Bennedict Mathurin came off the bench to lead Indiana with 27 points.

SGA did hit one positive scoring milestone, however. He passed Kevin Durant for the most points in a single playoff run in OKC franchise history. He is at 571 and counting, but I’m sure he would trade that away in a second for an NBA Championship. To achieve that, though, he needs more help from his support players.

In Game 2, Aaron Wiggins and Alex Caruso combined for 38 points, but had just eight in Game 3, and all of those came from Caruso. Former Wildcat, Cason Wallace had seven points, which is fine since he is more of a defensive specialist, but the Thunder need to find a way to become less predictable. 43 out of their 73 shots (59 percent) of their field goal attempts came from either SGA, Jalen Williams, or Chet Holmgren.

They will have a chance to regroup and even the series on Friday. The green flag drops for Game 4 in Indianapolis at 8:30 on ABC.