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If the lesson of these NBA qualifiers is the speed with which fortune can change, the last example is Oklahoma City Thunder.
Three days after the Thunder appeared apparently outside of offensive options, tired and headed for a deficit of 3-1 in the best of the seven NBA finals, they are only a victory to claim a NBA championship.
Invoking the same offensive heroic and the defensive tenacity that saved their season in the last quarter of the match on Friday 4, the Thunder Monday opened a two-digit lead to start match 5 on their home field, then retained the attempted Return from Indiana to win 120-109 and lead the 3-2 series.
Oklahoma City can close the final and win the first franchise championship since its move in 2008, from the 6 game game Thursday in Indianapolis.
This is the first time since March that Indiana has lost consecutive matches and the first time at any time during the qualifying series that he dragged into a series. It was done by its 23 reversals that Oklahoma City transformed 32 points.
“It’s the match,” said Carlisle.
That, and the Thunder Jalen Williams wing. In a career performance, the third year All-Star scored 11 of its 40 points in the fourth quarter. Nine of its 14 baskets were marked or inside the feet on the edge, its assault continuously striking holes in a defense of the Indiana which, a few days earlier, had continuously frustrated Oklahoma City.
“He was on gas all night,” said Thunder coach Mark Daignault. “Applied a ton of pressure.”
Williams and the Co-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander also combined to take 26 free throws, at 30 attempts by the entire Indiana team.
The Pacers, after having lagged behind 16 points at the start of the quarter, were down two with 8:11 to do in regulation, preparing the scene, however what looked like Another improbable return from the road to the playoff series full of them. This would have been among the most amazing, because Little had worked in favor of the Pacers all night – with nothing as damaging as the ineffectiveness of the star goalkeeper Tyrese Haliburton, who played with a throbbing injury and ended without a goal on the ground, missing all six goal attempts. Haliburton finished with four points, seven rebounds and six assists.
“It is not 100%, it’s quite clear,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “But I don’t think he will miss the next match. We were concerned at halftime, and he insisted to play, and I thought he had done a lot of good things in the second period.”
In the middle of the first quarter, Indiana had already committed six reversals and dragged by 10. It was not the only worrying sign for the Pacers; In the decreasing seconds of the first quarter, Oklahoma City had already made more than 3 points (four) than in the whole match 4, and Haliburton, who would have played by a waterproofing in a calf since match 2, left the match to return to the locker room for treatment.
While leaving the tunnel, far from the court, the hopes of the Indiana to win seemed to withdraw with him. When Haliburton finally returned almost six minutes later, carrying a splint around his right leg on the bench, Indiana was still down 10 years. While the Pacers missed free throws and shots on the edge, Oklahoma City took front by up to 18 points late in the first half and 14 to half.
The gap between the teams was the product of many factors, but it was more obvious in the comfort levels of their respective star guards, with Gilgeous-Alexander marking 13 points before half-time to zero for Haliburton-the first time he had not managed to mark during the first half in 36 matches of eliminatory series in career. He scored his first points with 7 minutes to do in the third trimester.
Gilgeous -Alexander finished with 31 points, including 10 assists – notable since he had gathered zero in match 4, while Oklahoma City made a tactical change to limit his opportunities to initiate the offensive of his team as a means of keeping it fourth for the fourth. This worked: the gust of Gilgeous-Alexander points at the end of match 4 equalized the series back to Oklahoma City on Monday.
With its assortment of two -digit returns this qualifying series, Indiana was the last team to be intimidated by a two -digit deficit. And when he had pulled nine points halfway through the third quarter, then two at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the control of Oklahoma City became tenuous and the exuberance of the crowd at home calmed down.
However, in the next three minutes, Indiana committed four turnarounds and Oklahoma City each marked a sequence that quickly doubled the advance of the Thunder.
“This quickly, it has disappeared,” said Pascal Siakam of Indiana, who had 28 points, but also six reversals.
