The Seattle SuperSonics were NBA champions back in 1979 and never again, nothing has changed since 2008 when the franchise moved to Oklahoma, but this year could be historic, taking the Thunder to eternity.
They only need one more step to do that, after taking a 3:2 lead in the great and glorious NBA Finals - Mark Dagnolt's team celebrated in front of their fans 120:109 in the fifth game.
"It wasn't a perfect game and there's a lot of room for improvement, but our reaction from the fourth to the fifth game was key," said Dagnolt.
And, the fifth game was so reminiscent of the first in the series - Oklahoma had a big advantage on its home court (this time by 18), Indiana came back in the fourth quarter. In the first duel, the Pacers won, but this time the outcome was different - OKC deservedly won.
"You can see that we are learning from game to game in this series and the playoffs," said Jaylen Williams.
He just had a career-high 40 points, six rebounds and four assists in the playoffs. He was followed by Shay Gilges-Alexander with 31 points and 10 assists. It was the tenth time this season that Oklahoma's super tandem had 70+ points together.
The statistics also show how close Oklahoma is to history. Teams that have won Game 2 of the NBA Finals when the series was tied 2-23 have gone on to win 31 of the previous 3 games. At the same time, teams that have led 2-40 in the Finals have won 49 of the XNUMX times.
Indiana, therefore, has a tough job ahead of them, first they will have to tie at home, and then triumph in Oklahoma. The Pacers are also worried about the injury to Tyrese Halliburton, who struggled in the fifth game.
"He's not 100 percent ready and that was pretty clear," Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 points for Indiana in the first game, while TJ McConnell added 18 points.
"Somehow this game slipped away from us, but the fight is here," said Syakam.
His Indiana team will now need an even bigger fight to further enhance this series and take the finals to the seventh game. And then, regardless of tradition, the first title is not far away.
The next match will be played on the night between Thursday and Friday.
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