The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 111-104 in Game 4 of the NBA Finals at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on Friday night. The Thunder seemed in trouble when the Pacers took a 10-point lead late in the third quarter, but they managed to turn things around, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander explained how in his postgame interview.
“We finally strung together some stops,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We were able to get stops. [We] weren’t taking the ball out of the basket. And their pressure wasn’t the same, because of that, we were able to get out and play our game. It always starts with stops for us. We got to figure out a way to string them together for a 48-minute game, but we did enough to get the W tonight.”
The Thunder did manage to slow down that red-hot Pacers offense in the fourth quarter. The hosts had 87 points through the first three quarters but managed to score just 17 points in the fourth.
The Thunder’s offense came to life thanks to all those stops, as they scored 31 points in the period. A lot of those came from Gilgeous-Alexander, who had 15 points in the fourth. The MVP had not gotten off to the greatest of starts in this game, but delivered when his team needed him the most.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points (12-24 FG), three rebounds, three steals, and one block against the Pacers. It was the three-time All-Star’s third 30-point game in these Finals.
Thanks, largely, to Gilgeous-Alexander, the fourth quarter of Game 4 proved to be the complete opposite of Game 3. The Pacers outscored the Thunder 32-18 in the final period that night to come away with the win, but the script was flipped here.
You wouldn’t have seen that coming with how great the Pacers have been in the closing stages of games in this postseason. This offense that had proven to be so difficult to contain just faltered down the stretch, though.
The Pacers made just one field goal in the final five minutes and scored just one point in the final three. While they did get some open looks, you have to give the Thunder a lot of credit for holding them to 5-18 shooting from the field in the fourth.
The Finals are now tied at 2-2, and you wonder how costly this loss might turn out to be for the Pacers. They would have been in complete control had they won here and taken a 3-1 lead, but the Thunder have now regained home-court advantage and are in the ascendancy.
While the Thunder are the favorites now, they won’t be getting too carried away. Gilgeous-Alexander showed respect to the Pacers postgame as he spoke on what it will take to win this series.
“It’s a dog fight every time you step on the floor,” Gilgeous-Alexander stated. “On both ends of the floor, they make you work, and we like to make teams work. So, whoever imposes their will the best this series, will come out on top, and that’s our goal.”
Game 5 will be at the Paycom Center on Monday at 8:30 p.m. ET. Another win there would put the Thunder in the driver’s seat, and they’ll be looking to Gilgeous-Alexander to lead them to victory once again.
