OKLAHOMA CITY — Jalen Williams stared down another furious second-half rally from the Indiana Pacers during Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night, refusing to blink while bringing the Oklahoma City Thunder within one victory of its first NBA championship.
The all-star forward scored 24 of his postseason career-high 40 points in the second half, keying a 10-0 run midway through the fourth quarter to finish off a 120-109 victory in front of a deafening crowd at Paycom Center. With the win, Oklahoma City takes a 3-2 series lead into Game 6 in Indianapolis on Thursday.
Williams, who has spent his three-year career riding shotgun to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, took the wheel when it mattered most in Game 5. After Oklahoma City built an 18-point lead in the second quarter, Indiana pulled back within two points early in the fourth on a three-pointer from Pascal Siakam. But Williams immediately answered with a three-pointer of his own to stabilize the young Thunder, before adding a banked-in jumper and a driving layup in the decisive stretch. He finished 14 for 25 from the field and added six rebounds and four assists in 35 minutes.
“[Williams] was really gutsy,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who posted 31 points and 10 assists. “He stepped into big plays. Every time we needed a shot, he made it. He wasn’t afraid. He was fearless. It makes a world of a difference when he’s that good, for sure.”
Following clunky showings in the two previous games, Oklahoma City took its first lead in the series by getting its offense back on track. The Thunder, which had struggled to move the ball and generate clean looks on the perimeter in Game 4, started strong by tallying 10 assists and hitting four three-pointers in the first quarter alone.
Thunder Coach Mark Daigneault helped open things up by moving Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s MVP, off the ball early so that he wouldn’t bear the brunt of the Pacers’ fullcourt pressure defense. Oklahoma City also made use of center Isaiah Hartenstein’s ability to pass from the elbow, running cutters behind Indiana’s defense to create open looks at the rim.
Once the Thunder’s inside-out attack was consistently collapsing the defense, its perimeter shooters finally had space to operate. Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace came off the bench to each hit three three-pointers in the first half, giving Oklahoma City a 59-45 lead at the break. The Thunder finished 14 for 32 (43.8 percent) from deep, outscoring the Pacers from beyond the arc for just the second time in the Finals.
“We shot 17 threes in Game 4,” Daigneault said. “That’s not really a [winning] recipe. It’s a by-product of offense that’s not where it needs to be. I thought we made some improvements tonight. [Wiggins] and Wallace gave us a major lift.”
The 24-year-old Williams took over after halftime, driving relentlessly through Indiana’s press to get to the rim and free throw line while using his vertical athleticism to finish over rim-protectors. After earning his first all-star and all-NBA selections this season, Williams became the youngest player to score at least 40 points in a Finals game since then-Thunder guard Russell Westbrook in 2012.
“It feels so much different than a regular season game,” Williams said. “I didn’t even really notice I had it going. I was just absorbed in the game so much I wasn’t really thinking about how many points I had. [The crowd] was extremely loud. It feels like the court is shaking while we’re here. [The fans] gave us the boost we needed. They were standing the entire game. It’s a special thing to be a part of Oklahoma.”
The Pacers played from behind all night as guard Tyrese Haliburton endured a forgettable, injury-plagued outing. The two-time all-star, who had been managing an unspecified “lower-leg thing” earlier in the series, came up limping and clutched his right calf after spilling to the court midway through the first quarter.
Haliburton wore a heavy wrap on his right leg while seated on the bench, and he looked a step slow against the Thunder’s defense all night. Pacers Coach Rick Carlisle said his coaching staff was “concerned” at halftime because Haliburton was “not 100 percent,” but he noted that the 25-year-old guard “insisted on playing.”
Oklahoma City exploited Haliburton’s limited mobility by aggressively switching in an effort to confine him to the perimeter. Haliburton finished with four points, tied for his lowest output of the postseason, while missing all six of his shot attempts.
“It’s the NBA Finals,” Haliburton said. “I’ve worked my whole life to be here. I wasn’t great tonight by any means. If I can walk, I want to play. If you lose [Game 6], the season’s over. Our backs are against the wall.”
The Pacers often looked disjointed on offense without Haliburton’s typical point guard mastery, and Siakam, who finished with a team-high 28 points to go with six rebounds and five assists, committed six turnovers while trying to pick up the slack.
“[The Thunder] gets away with a lot of reaching,” Siakam said. “It’s probably a testament to their defense, but they do get away with a lot. Some of those turnovers, I felt like they were fouls. But I’ve got to be better. I can’t have that many turnovers.”
Oklahoma City scored 32 points off 23 Indiana turnovers, cashing in transition opportunities for once during a series that has largely been devoid of fast-break scoring.
“That’s the game,” Carlisle said of his team’s ball control issues. “We’ve go to do a heck of a lot better there.”
With Haliburton ailing and the Thunder threatening a rare runaway victory in this nip-and-tuck series, Pacers reserve guard T.J. McConnell valiantly stepped up by scoring 13 of his 18 points in a third-quarter push. McConnell opened his run with a pair of pretty pull-up jumpers in the paint, then connected on a layup and a deep two. To cap his flourish, McConnell made a runner while getting fouled to help Indiana cut Oklahoma City’s lead to eight points by the end of the third quarter.
Yet Williams, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder came together to find enough answers down the stretch to push the Pacers to the brink of elimination: Wallace converted a steal into a breakaway dunk, Alex Caruso dove headfirst for a loose ball, and Lu Dort buried a dagger three-pointer during the frenzied final period.
Gilgeous-Alexander said Oklahoma City must sustain that closing energy to put away the Pacers for good on Thursday.
“We’ve got to try to stay there for as long as we can,” he said. “We’ve got to try to stay in that space, that momentum, on both ends of the floor for longer periods of time if we want to hoist this thing.”
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