Game 5 Win Has Thunder Closing In On Title  

Between Game 4 and Game 5, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst dropped a nugget that drew the attention of NBA fans. Windhorst relayed there were a handful of people in the league who believed Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams would be the Scottie Pippen of this era, a statement that received mixed reviews at best.

Living Up To The Billing

If Williams did anything in the Thunder’s 120-109 victory in Game 5, he lived up to that lofty Pippen comparison. The third-year guard out of Santa Clara scored 40 points on 14-of-25 shooting, making 3-of-5 attempts from 3-point range and 9-of-12 from the foul line. 

“My teammates instill a lot of confidence me to go out and be me,” Williams told ESPN postgame. “Mark (Daigneault’s) done a good job of telling me just be myself. I don’t have to be anything more and that’s given me a lot of confidence. He told me at the end of the third quarter when they were cutting into the lead that we can’t panic, given what we’ve seen from the Pacers throughout these playoffs.”

OKC now leads 3-2 with the series shifting pack to Indiana for Game 6 on Thursday (8:30 pm ET, ABC)

MVP Up For Grabs?

Williams has scored at least 25 points in three straight games and is averaging 31 points per game in that same stretch. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the surefire Finals MVP frontrunner entering Game 5, but there’s now a legitimate debate between the regular season MVP and his most reliant partner-in-crime in Williams. 

Speaking of the regular season MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander had an impressive game in his own right with 31 points and 10 assists on 9-of-21 shooting and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at least 30+ points in four of the five games in this NBA Finals and he’s averaging 32.4 points per game, which is exactly what Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant averaged against the Orlando Magic in the 2009 NBA Finals.

Pacers’ Struggles

If Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton found himself in any record books for his Game 5 performance, it was for the wrong reasons. Haliburton was held to just four points on 0-of-6 shooting (0-4 from 3-point range) after tweaking his calf early in the first half. 

Pascal Siakam scored 28 points to lead the Pacers in scoring for the third time in five NBA Finals games, while Haliburton was, of course, held to single digits for the fourth time in five games. To add insult to Haliburton’s injury, the player who found himself at the forefront of the Pacers’ stardom conversations has only led the team in scoring once through five games.

All-Time Defense 

It was yet another suffocating defensive performance for the Thunder, who forced 23 Indiana turnovers while only conceding 11. In addition, the Thunder outscored the Pacers 32-9 in points off turnovers. 

“We’re getting opportunities to repeat and grow through our experience,” Williams said. “That was honestly the same exact game as Game 1, to be totally honest. Learning through these Finals, that’s what makes the team good. I thought we were able to do that, and we were able to collectively get stops and win the game.”