Jalen Williams, Win Offahoma City Thunder 1 from the title

Oklahoma City – Game 5 began to look like Game 1 again. Thunder Oklahoma City, at home, led the big. Indiana Pacers came back in the fourth quarter.

Pacers won that.

This time, Thunder made a different end of the 3-2 advantage in the NBA final was their gift.

Jalen Williams scored 40 of the highest points in the highest career, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 and Thunder moved one victory from the title by defeating Pacers 120-109 on Monday night.

“We learn,” said Williams, the best playoff was 34 points.

It was the 10th time – and so far the biggest – the stars – the thunder stars were combined with more than 70 points in one match. Williams are 14 of 24 from the field, and Gilgeous-Alexander added 10 assists.

“It’s not a perfect game at all and there is a lot of space for growth,” said Thunder Mark Daigneault coach. “But our improvement from Game 4 to Game 5 is very important.”

Pascal Siakam has 28 points for Indiana, who now follows the 3-2 series and will host Game 6 on Thursday night. TJ McConnell added 18 for Pacers, who won a deficit of 18 points to two in the fourth quarter-then watched Thunder interesting again forever.

“This is a kind of missing from us,” Siakam said. “But the fight was there.”

That, but now everything supports Guntur.

The team that won the game 5 from the NBA final tied 2-2 has won 23 times in 31 opportunities (74%). And the team with a 3-2 advantage in the final has won 40 times in 49 opportunities (82%).

But Game 5 is not easy. Far from that.

Down at the last 18 in the second quarter, Pacers – Raja Comeback from this playoff, with as many victories as possible in this postseason from 15 points and more (five) than that have been combined by other leagues, including in game 1 from this series – doing what they do, cut. And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton which basically decreased to be bait -a bait due to violations due to leg problems that were exacerbated in the first quarter.

“He is not 100%,” said Pacers coach Rick Carlisle. “This is quite clear.”

Led by McConnell, who scored 13 points in less than seven minutes from the third, Pacers got in the last five in the quarter.

Then Siakam went to work. A pair of free throwing with 9:19 remaining in getting Indiana in four, and 3-pointer about a minute later making it 95-93. In the Play-By-Play NBA era, starting with a 1997 playoff, a team with 15 or more points in the final was 80-9.

Make it 81-9 now, and Thunder is a victory away from giving Oklahoma City the first NBA title.

“To be honest, it is a game that is exactly the same as Game 1,” Williams said. “Learning through this final, that’s what makes the team good.”

One more victory, and his team will be greatly certified.

Initially published: June 16, 2025 at 11:26 pm