By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The Oklahoma City Thunder didn’t let their second chance at home slip away and scored a wire-to-wire victory over the Indiana Pacers, 123-107, to equalize their NBA Finals series at 1-1 on June 9, 2025.
Heading to Game 2, the Western Conference Finals kings felt deflated, but they immediately shrugged off their doubts when they returned to practice in preparation for their quest to tie the NBA Finals series.
As per their head coach Mark Daigneault, “It is all mental. It is all in the mind.”
Despite letting their double-digit cushion vanish in Game 1 while absorbing a stunning loss, Oklahoma made sure no late drama would unfold at the Paycom Center after protecting their lead from start to finish.
The Pacers held a brief three-point lead in the opening quarter, but a demoralizing five-point swing by Chet Holmgren in the dying seconds of the opener flipped the switch with Oklahoma back in the driver’s seat by six points, 26-20.
After that sequence, the next three quarters looked like a blur as the Thunder defense put Indiana in handcuffs at the start of the second frame while capitalizing on those created steals to pile up the breakaway layups.
Despite made baskets from the Pacers’ bench mob, Oklahoma’s well-oiled offensive machine didn’t run out of gas and continued to torch the visiting Indiana squad, steering them to the biggest lead of the ball game at 23 points in the third.
Tyrese Haliburton attempted to weave his magic after coming alive in the fourth but the huge counter-run made by the Thunder ballooned their advantage back to 20 points after the Pacers trimmed it to just 13.
Baskets were drained from everywhere on the floor as the trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Jaylen Williams iced the game to help Oklahoma seal the deal and take the Game 2 dub.
After dropping 40 bombs in the first game, SGA continued to dominate the Indiana gaps and top-scored the Thunder with an efficient 34-point outing built from 11/21 shooting from the field.
Aside from his offensive prowess, the reigning Most Valuable Player also stuffed the stat sheets with an all-around effort of eight assists, five rebounds, and four steals.
Backstopping SGA was Alex Caruso, who aside from his defensive tenacity balled out on the other end, delivering 20 points derived from four drained three-pointers.
Holmgren, who only had six points in Game 1, his worst performance through the first three rounds in the playoffs, bounced back with 15 points and six boards.
On the other hand, no single player from the Pacers reached the 20-point mark, as Haliburton, their Game 1 savior, only contributed 17 points while Pascal Siakam added 15 markers.
