The Oklahoma City Thunder narrowly edged out the Indiana Pacers with a 111-104 win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. While normally a cause for celebration, given that the Thunder displayed incredible resilience in unfavorable circumstances, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seemed unconvinced by his team’s victory. While discussing the performance during a press conference, the Thunder star said:
“Whatever it takes to win has always been our mindset. It’s all that really matters with us. Now, it’s harder to win with the way we played last game, over the course of time. And we’ve got to correct that if we want to come out on top.”
“So yeah, we’re grateful and thankful that we did enough to get a win. But we’re not trying to rely on the way we played last game. We need to be better, and we’re going to be better.”
The Thunder may have ended the game with a convincing seven-point lead, but the game was anything but comfortable for them.
Facing a 2-1 deficit heading into the matchup, OKC found their backs against the wall while playing in Indiana. To their credit, this young Thunder team has shown an incredible ability to battle through adversity.
While staying within striking distance for the better part of the first half, Oklahoma mounted its charge in the second, featuring a stellar defensive performance in the fourth quarter.
Considering how threatening the Pacers have been in the fourth quarter, the Thunder did a magnificent job of restricting their offense, allowing only 17 points to be scored.
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander went to work on the offensive end. On the back of the offensive momentum created by Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, the Thunder star went on an individual scoring run of 15 points in the final frame, sealing the win for his team with a pair of clutch free throws.
The 25-year-old star ended the game with a stellar 35 points, adding three rebounds and three assists to his overall list of contributions. He received solid support from Williams, whose consistency has been a vital element in dictating success for the team in the Finals. He recorded 27 points on the night to go with seven rebounds and three assists.
While this is a very promising sight for the Thunder, the comments made by Gilgeous-Alexander are not to be overlooked. OKC made a lot of mistakes on Friday.
They shoot poorly from the three-point line, going an abysmal 3-16 from beyond the arc, an uncharacteristic performance in every sense. The team’s playmaking also stagnated as they recorded only 11 assists for the game, the fewest in the shot-clock era.
Given such drastic shortcomings, there is some value to the sentiment shared by the Thunder star – they were fortunate enough to come away with a win. But this also sets the precedent to be better for the next one.
With the series headed to Oklahoma City for Game 5, the Thunder will look to establish themselves again and take control of the series for the first time on Monday at 8:30 pm ET.
