Game 1 of the NBA Finals was uncharacteristic in a lot of ways for the Oklahoma City Thunder. They lost, for one thing, which is something they’ve rarely done this year, but it’s the way the Indiana Pacers stole the game that really went against what we’ve come to expect from this team.
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The Thunder are nearly invincible at home (35-6 in the regular season and 8-1 heading in the playoffs heading into this series), and they almost never give up big leads. In fact, they’re historically good at closing teams out when they get ahead, as they set an NBA record this year by recording 40 wins of 15 points or more.
After OKC struck back to take Game 2 and even the series, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst pointed out on Get Up how they won by getting back to what they do best, and he used a coaching legend to make his point.
“They played bigger,” Windhorst said. “In the first game, they really tried the smaller lineups, tried to match the way the Pacers play. That’s not who the Thunder are. The Thunder can play big. The Chet Holmgren-Isaiah Hartenstein [pairing] is such an effective duo. Those guys, when they’re out there together, were devastating.”
OKC played right into Indiana’s hands in Game 1 by going away from their two-big look. Holmgren and Hartenstein combined for only 41 minutes, but Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault fixed things in Game 2 by playing them together more often, and this time, they combined to play 50 minutes.
Windy continued, “They were -17 in the rebounds in Game 1. They were +8 in Game 2. That’s a 25-rebound differential. That calls to mind the Pat Riley creed, ‘No rebounds, no rings.’ Well they rebounded last night, and that and a more balanced game from Shai turned the whole situation around.”
Pat Riley has nine rings, so he knows what he’s talking about. He won one as a player, one as an assistant, five as a head coach, and two as a front office executive. Most of his teams featured guys willing to do the dirty work of boxing out and rebounding, such as Kurt Rambis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the Lakers and Shaquille O’Neal and Udonis Haslem on the Heat.
The only truly effective size Indiana has on its roster is Myles Turner, so the Thunder can and should wear him out with the combo of Holmgren and Hartenstein. Thomas Bryant saw minutes in Game 2 for exactly that reason. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s command of the offense and a turnover-happy perimeter defense should do the rest.
Every postseason series is like an extended chess match. The Thunder adjusted after Game 1, and now the Pacers will try to respond when the series shifts to Indiana for Game 3. First priority needs to be finding a way to get Tyrese Haliburton going early.
Haliburton has been nearly invisible in both first halves so far, and though he provided yet another magic moment by hitting the game-winner to open the series, the Pacers need him for more than just the fourth quarter if they want any chance at all to complete their storybook run.
The Pacers also need to limit their turnovers and defend without fouling, both of which are easier said than done against OKC. They only lost the turnover battle by one in Game 2, but the game still wasn’t close once the rebounding edge flipped.
Unless the Pacers absolutely light it up from 3-point range, it’s hard to see how they can hang with a team as dominant as the Thunder. Similar thoughts were shared about their series with the Cavs and the Knicks though, and we all know how that turned out. The Pacers have proven that they can’t be counted out.
