OKLAHOMA CITY — Jalen Williams achieved a career playoff-high 40 points, with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander contributing 31 as the Oklahoma City Thunder moved to within one win of the title by defeating the Indiana Pacers 120-109 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.
This marked the 10th — and most significant — occasion on which the Thunder stars combined for over 70 points in a game. Williams shot 14 of 24 from the field, while Gilgeous-Alexander also provided 10 assists.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points for Indiana, which now trails the series 3-2 and will host Game 6 on Thursday night. TJ McConnell contributed 18 for the Pacers, who reduced an 18-point gap to four in the fourth quarter before watching the Thunder regain and maintain their lead.
And now, everything favors the Thunder.
Teams that win Game 5 of an NBA Finals that was tied at 2-2 have gone on to win the series 23 times in 31 previous opportunities, or 74%. And teams with a 3-2 lead in the finals have won 40 times in 49 previous opportunities, or 82%.
But Game 5 was not easy. Far from it.
Down by as many as 18 late in the second quarter, the Pacers — the comeback kings of these playoffs, with as many wins in this postseason from 15 points down or more (five) than the rest of the league has combined, including in Game 1 of this series — did what they do, chipping away. And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton reduced to basically playing decoy on offense because of a leg issue that he aggravated in the first quarter.
Led by McConnell, who scored 13 points in just under seven minutes of the third, the Pacers got within five late in that quarter.
Then, Siakam went to work — a pair of free throws with 9:19 left got Indiana within four, then a 3-pointer about a minute later made it 95-93. In the play-by-play era of the NBA, starting with the 1997 playoffs, teams with leads of 15 points or more in the finals were 80-9.
Make that 81-9 now, and the Thunder are one win away.
