Between Recreation 4 and Recreation 5, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst dropped a nugget that drew the eye of NBA followers. Windhorst relayed there have been a handful of individuals within the league who believed Oklahoma Metropolis’s Jalen Williams can be the Scottie Pippen of this period, an announcement that acquired combined critiques at finest.
Dwelling Up To The Billing
If Williams did something within the Thunder’s 120-109 victory in Recreation 5, he lived as much as that lofty Pippen comparability. The third-year guard out of Santa Clara scored 40 factors on 14-of-25 capturing, making 3-of-5 makes an attempt from 3-point vary and 9-of-12 from the foul line.
“My teammates instill lots of confidence me to exit and be me,” Williams advised ESPN postgame. “Mark (Daigneault’s) finished a superb job of telling me simply be myself. I haven’t got to be something extra and that is given me lots of confidence. He advised me on the finish of the third quarter once they had been slicing into the lead that we will not panic, given what we have seen from the Pacers all through these playoffs.”
OKC now leads 3-2 with the sequence shifting pack to Indiana for Recreation 6 on Thursday (8:30 pm ET, ABC)
MVP Up For Grabs?
Williams has scored at the least 25 factors in three straight video games and is averaging 31 factors per recreation in that very same stretch. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the surefire Finals MVP frontrunner getting into Recreation 5, however there’s now a reliable debate between the common season MVP and his most reliant partner-in-crime in Williams.
Talking of the common season MVP, Gilgeous-Alexander had a formidable recreation in his personal proper with 31 factors and 10 assists on 9-of-21 capturing and 13-of-14 from the free-throw line. Gilgeous-Alexander has scored at the least 30+ factors in 4 of the 5 video games on this NBA Finals and he’s averaging 32.4 factors per recreation, which is precisely what Lakers’ legend Kobe Bryant averaged towards the Orlando Magic within the 2009 NBA Finals.
Pacers’ Struggles
If Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton discovered himself in any document books for his Recreation 5 efficiency, it was for the mistaken causes. Haliburton was held to simply 4 factors on 0-of-6 capturing (0-4 from 3-point vary) after tweaking his calf early within the first half.
Pascal Siakam scored 28 factors to steer the Pacers in scoring for the third time in 5 NBA Finals video games, whereas Haliburton was, after all, held to single digits for the fourth time in 5 video games. So as to add insult to Haliburton’s damage, the participant who discovered himself on the forefront of the Pacers’ stardom conversations has solely led the staff in scoring as soon as via 5 video games.
All-Time Protection
It was one more suffocating defensive efficiency for the Thunder, who compelled 23 Indiana turnovers whereas solely conceding 11. As well as, the Thunder outscored the Pacers 32-9 in factors off turnovers.
“We’re getting alternatives to repeat and develop via our expertise,” Williams mentioned. “That was actually the identical precise recreation as Recreation 1, to be completely trustworthy. Studying via these Finals, that is what makes the staff good. I believed we had been in a position to do this, and we had been in a position to collectively get stops and win the sport.”
