The Oklahoma City Thunder holds the ultimate hole card – Game 7 at home in the NBA Finals – and that might be enough.
But if we have learned nothing else from this series, it is this: Expect the unexpected. We began this exercise believing the 68-victory Thunder held advantages over Indiana in terms of star power, depth and defense. But none of that has proven out in a series that will now go the distance, courtesy of the Pacers’ 108-91 home rout Thursday.
The finale is slated for Sunday night. It is the 20th time in NBA history the Finals have gone to a Game 7. The home team has won 15 of the previous 19 Game 7s, though the last time this scenario unfolded – in 2016 – the LeBron James-led Cavaliers took out a 72-win Golden State team in its gym. Erased a 3-1 series deficit, in fact.
So nothing is assured.
As for that star power – yes, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been as advertised, and Jalen Williams has been a breakout player for OKC, notably with his 40-burger in Game 5. But Tyrese Haliburton delivered his decisive shot at the end of the series opener, signaling the wackiness that was to come, and Pascal Siakam is, with Joel Embiid’s checkered injury history, the NBA’s best available Cameroonian.
Seriously, though, is Siakam not the best player nobody ever talks about? He runs the court relentlessly, as he showed with his poster dunk on Williams Thursday, and when he sets up shop on the left side of the floor (especially the baseline), he’s money. Wonderful player.
(Side note about Haliburton: He played despite his calf injury Thursday, and was good enough: 14 points, five assists, 5-for-12 shooting in 23 minutes The Pacers can get by with that version of him. The Game 5 version, not so much.)
And while the Thunder’s defense appeared to be impregnable heading into this series, the Pacers have been able to solve it by playing fast and hitting it from all angles. Eight players are averaging in double figures over six games, and McConnell has been such a game-changer that ABC analyst Doris Burke was moved to utter this sentence Thursday, when looking ahead to Game 7: “You have to find a way to slow down T.J. McConnell.”
I’ll take “Things I Didn’t Expect to Hear” for $400, Alex.
McConnell, the former Sixer, has changed the tenor of games again and again with his energy and feistiness. He provided 12 points, nine rebounds, six assists and four steals in 24 minutes Thursday, and per Stat Muse he is the first sub in NBA history to generate over 60 points, 25 assists and 15 rebounds in the Finals. No reason to believe he won’t be a factor in Game 7 as well. Same for fellow reserve Obi Toppin.
And that seemingly endless OKC bench? Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace have been wildly inconsistent, and even the uber-reliable Alex Caruso had a clunker Thursday night, going scoreless in 22 minutes. The Thunder was outscored by 33 points during his time on the floor, though that wasn’t the game’s worst plus-minus; Williams was minus-40. Standard disclaimer: Plus-minus is an imperfect stat, but in this case it shows what kind of night it was for the Thunder.
Let’s also remember that per ABC/ESPN, the Thunder is the second-youngest team to ever play in the Finals, averaging 25.4 years per man. Only the 1977 Trail Blazers were younger, at 25.0, were younger. Those Blazers, led by Bill Walton, took out the Sixers in six games after dropping the first two. Can this OKC team likewise finish the job?
It’s an open question. Yeah, they have the hole card, and that might matter. But the Pacers have continually pulled cards out of their sleeves, throughout this series. No reason to believe it can’t happen again.