INDIANAPOLIS — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told anyone who would listen earlier in these 2025 NBA Finals: Yes, he’s the one with the Most Valuable Player trophy and the matinee idol billing, but the Thunder are far from a solo act.
“No one-man show achieves what I’m trying to achieve with this game … those guys are the reason why we’re as good of a team as we are,” he said following Oklahoma City’s series-leveling Game 2 win. “I just add to it.”
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Gilgeous-Alexander added plenty on Friday: a game-high 35 points, headlined by an all-time-clutch, postseason-career-high 15-point fourth quarter, to propel the Thunder past the Pacers to a series-evening — and possibly season-saving — 111-104 win at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
But surviving a physical, nasty, fever-pitched Game 4 to send this best-of-seven series back to Oklahoma City all knotted up at two games apiece took much, much more than just a handful of final-frame buckets by the MVP.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Alex Caruso defends Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton during the second half of Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday, June 13, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
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“We had a lot of guys make winning plays that can kind of be invisible to the untrained eye,” said Thunder big man Chet Holmgren, who scored 14 points and pulled down 15 rebounds in 37 hard-fought minutes. “It’s not showing up necessarily in the stat sheet. It’s not like a highlight that’s going to be played over and over. It’s not one single instance.”
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It didn’t take one single instance; it took everything that everyone had to offer. And two nights after Indiana’s bench tilted the series in its favor, Oklahoma City reminded the basketball-watching world that it’s got a hell of a lot to offer.
Jalen Williams certainly felt like he had a lot more to offer. He scored a team-high 26 points in OKC’s Game 3 loss, but point totals don’t necessarily tell the whole story of a performance.
“I don’t think Dub played his best game last game,” ace reserve Alex Caruso said. “I don’t think he would say that either. I kind of…
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