Keep track of Game 5 of the 2025 NBA Finals, as both the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder look to take control with the series tied 2-2.
The Oklahoma City Thunder (68-14), the top seed in the Western Conference, and the No. 4 Eastern Conference seed Indiana Pacers (50-32) enter game 5 tied at 2-2. In a seven-game NBA Finals series tied 2-2 to say Game 5 is important in an understatement.
The winner of Game 5 in this scenario is 23-8 in the last 31 instances in which the series was tied 2-2.
FINAL: Thunder 120, Pacers 109
Key plays at key opportunities ruled the day for the Thunder, who now sit one win away from Oklahoma City’s first NBA championship. A sterling scoring showing from Jalen Williams led the way while Gilgeous-Alexander lived up to his MVP reputation on both sides of the ball. Indiana, kept alive in Game 5 through a dominant third quarter from McConnell, will get one more home in Indianapolis but only time will tell the status of franchise face Haliburton, who clearly wasn’t the same after enduring some leg pain early in the showdown.
4th Quarter: Thunder 120, Pacers 109
23.2—After Furphy’s unsuccessful and-one, the game appropriately ends on an Indiana turnover, as Caruso steals on from Mathurin. The clock runs out, and the Thunder is one win away from NBA immortality. (120-109 OKC)
1:50—Down 13 after Nesmith emphatically puts back a Toppin miss, Indiana goes for a challenge as Siakam is accused of touching a ball before it went out of bounds. The challenge is unsuccessful, leading Indiana to more or less surrender: reserves Mathurin, Sheppard, Thomas Bryant, and Johnny Furphy all enter. (120-107 OKC)
3:23—McConnell re-enters in between Toppin free throws. Toppin hits one of two (118-105 OKC)
3:40—After Dort and Nesmith exchange three, Williams drives against the latter and earns his 39th and 40th points via fadeaway (118-104 OKC)
4:53—After Gilgeous-Alexander free throws, Siakam stops the Indiana bleeding with a drive (113-99 OKC)
5:35—Caruso intercepts a Nesmith pass and it leads to free throws for Williams. He hits one. (111-97 OKC)
5:48—A banked drive for Williams leads to another Indiana timeout with time growing short (110-97 OKC)
6:14—The Thunder re-establish their double-figure lead with a Williams drive on Nembhard and a three-point play for Gilgeous-Alexander (108-97 OKC)
6:48—Haliburton once again scores at the line after Holmgren holds him on the way to the basket (103-97 OKC)
7:09—The lead goes back up to eight when Dort counters Turner free throws with a corner three (103-95 OKC)
7:47—Oklahoma City immediately restores the good lead with a Williams three and Wallace turning his steal of Nembhard into a fastbreak dunk. Timeout Pacers. (100-93 OKC)
8:30—Siakam sinks a three after getting an offensive rebound. The lead down to two after Williams hit only one of two at the line (95-93 OKC)
9:19—On Williams’ fourth foul, Siakam hits two from the line. Four-point game after Wiggins hit free throws and Bradley hit one from Haliburton. (94-90 OKC)
10:14—Siakam steals the inbounds pass and takes its for an uncontested dunk (92-86 OKC)
10:19—The ball goes out of bounds on a Holmgren miss and possession is awarded to Indiana. Oklahoma City challenges. The challenge is successful, as Haliburton is ruled last to touch it.
10:39—Siakam scores on a drive after the timeout (92-84 OKC)
10:50—Gilgeous-Alexander’s double is followed by a McConnell turnover for traveling and a Wiggins three to push the lead back to 10. Timeout Pacers. McConnell sits for Nesmith after the timeout (92-82 OKC)
11:40—Siakam hits a corner three … off a helper from McConnell (87-82 OKC)
3rd Quarter: Thunder 87, Pacers 79
0.0—After getting a stop following a McConnell steal, Gilgeous-Alexander banks another two with three seconds left before interfering on a Mathurin buzzer-beater.
32.8—Consecutive doubles for Gilgeous-Alexander (the first couple earned via Nesmith foul) are followed by a successful three-point play for McConnell (85-79 OKC)
1:43—Yet another McConnell double, this one on a fastbreak after a Nesmith steal, amidst an exchange of doubles, cuts it down to five (81-76 OKC)
3:35—Williams stops the bleed with a free throw but Toppin scores off an assist—from McConnell (76-70 OKC)
3:55—McConnell scores again, spinning past Williams to narrow the gap to seven (75-68 OKC)
4:32—McConnell tallies again, pushing the deficit down to nine (75-66 OKC)
4:58—After a stop on the defensive end, McConnell makes up for the foul with a double (75-64 OKC)
5:23—Pacers call timeout after another turnover, this off a McConnell foul.
5:33—Free throws and a drive from Williams already give him 10 for the period and re-establish the double-figure lead (75-62 OKC)
6:23—A Toppin three in the corner finally gets the deficit down to a single digit. (71-62 OKC)
7:07—Haliburton finally gets on the board when he gets to the line on a Holmgren foul. Two from him and Turner once again shrink the gap to 11. (70-59 OKC)
8:14—Out of the timeout, Williams sinks a three off the feed from Gilgeous-Alexander (70-55 OKC)
8:28—A Siakam tally from Haliburton leads an Oklahoma City timeout (67-55 OKC)
9:04—Williams’ successful three-point play pushes the lead back up (67-53 OKC)
9:52—After Siakam free throws, Indiana sandwiches a Dort three with triples from Nesmith and Turner, narrowing the gap to 11 (64-53 OKC)
11:27—Gilgeous-Alexander’s crossover opens second half scoring (61-45 OKC)
12:00—Haliburton is on the floor to start the third quarter
Halftime: Thunder 59, Pacers 45
Oklahoma City gets gritty in the early going, holding Indiana to just over 33 percent from the field in the early going. Particularly surprising is the early effort of Hartenstein, who proves to be a sterling facilitator with four assists and three offensive rebounds while Gilgeous-Alexander earned some solid defensive shutdowns despite being credited with only one block. Jalen Williams handled scoring with 16 points while the Thunder also re-discovered its three-point game: the Oklahomans were 8-of-17 in the first half, six alone sunk by reserves Wallace and Wiggins. Only Siakam reached double figures for the Pacers, who endured a scoreless half from Haliburton as he dealt with a slight leg ailment. It’s the first time that Haliburton has gone scoreless in any playoff half. Per Shams Charania of ESPN, Haliburton is dealing with calf tightness.
2nd Quarter: Thunder 59, Pacers 45
8.2—Mathurin puts back a Haliburton miss to close out scoring in the first half (59-45 OKC)
41.9—Wallace, now with a trio of triples, extends the lead after Bradley free throws briefly cut it to 13 (59-43 OKC)
2:10—Oklahoma City briefly goes up 18 but Nembhard earns a successful three-point play on a Caruso infraction (56-41 OKC)
3:35—After blacks from Gilgeous-Alexander and Holmgren, Williams sinks a three off a feed from the former for a new largest lead (52-36 OKC)
4:28—In between Williams free throws, timeout for a bleeding player (Siakam). Williams hits both on a Turner foul (49-36 OKC)
5:22—Hartenstein comes up somewhat limping after a foul tangle-up with Turner. Holmgren comes in for him while Turner sinks two free throws (47-34 OKC)
5:32—Gilgeous-Alexander simultaneously gives the Thunder its largest lead of the half and puts himself in double figures with a midrange double (47-32 OKC)
7:14—Oklahoma City swipes momentum back with consecutive doubles for Williams, the latter earned on Caruso’s interception of Sheppard and includes a foul on Haliburton. Timeout Indiana, Williams sinks the freebie after.(45-32 OKC)
8:10—A Nesmith three leads to a quick timeout call for Oklahoma City (40-32 OKC)
8:27—In between Gilgeous-Alexander free throws, Haliburton returns, replacing Siakam (40-29 OKC)
8:41—Depth stars Wiggins and TJ McConnell each sink threes (38-29 OKC)
9:24—While Siakam takes free throws, Haliburton returns to the Pacer bench after a brief trip to the locker to get his knee looked at. Siakam hits both (35-26 OKC)
10:47—Oklahoma City opens second period scoring with a Wiggins three, moving the lead to 13. (35-22 OKC)
1st Quarter: Thunder 32, Pacers 22
1.1—Holmgren rejects Mathurin’s drive as time expires on the first period
21.1—Mathurin narrows the gap with a three but Wallace immediately re-establishes the 10-point lead. (32-22 OKC)
1:51—Indiana loses its seventh turnover on a Bradley offensive foul. Williams comes up slightly limping and goes to the OKC bench. Gilgeous-Alexander comes back in for him (29-19 OKC)
2:36—Cason Wallace’s first three of the Finals gives OKC three on the night after getting just three in the whole game last time around (29-17 OKC)
3:20—Aaron Wiggins sinks Oklahoma City’s second three to shoot the lead back up to nine (26-17 OKC)
3:50—Indiana starts to work its way back into the game with free throws. Timeout Oklahoma City in between Bennedict Mathurin singles. He sinks the both, including the latter after the timeout (23-17 OKC)
4:58—Tony Bradley checks into the game, his first showing on the floor since May 29.
5:35—Obi Toppin is charged with a backcourt violation. Indiana has five turnovers before Oklahoma City has registered its first.
6:27—Off a feed from Ben Sheppard, Turner finally stops the bleeding with an and-one. He misses the freebie (22-14 OKC)
6:46—Shortly after his entry, Alex Caruso turns a Dort interception into two and the first double-figure lead of the day (22-12 OKC)
7:08—After stopping the Pacers on the other end after the timeout, Gilgeous-Alexander goes coast-to-coast for two more. Pacers coach Rick Carlisle is called for a technical foul as he argued for a foul call on the other end. Gilgeous-Alexander hits the freebie (20-12 OKC)
7:45—A driving double for Gilgeous-Alexander extends the OKC run to six and forces a Pacer timeout (17-12 OKC)
8:25—After assisting on a Williams layup, Hartenstein’s robbery of Siakam leads to two more for the same scorer. (15-12 OKC)
9:16—After a Turner layup, Holmgren and Nesmith exchange threes (12-11 IND)
9:59—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores the first free throws of the night after a Nembhard foul (7-6 IND)
10:09—The first three of the night is sunk by Siakam off the feed from Tyrese Haliburton (7-4 IND)
10:22—Pascal Siakam and Chet Holmgren exchange doubles (4-4)
11:03—Andrew Nembhard opens scoring for Indiana on the other end (2-2)
11:20—A thunderous Thunder dunk, this one for Isaiah Hartenstein, opens scoring off a feed from Jalen Williams (2-0 OKC)
11:30—Aaron Nesmith, having fouled out of the last two games, gets hits first foul while chasing a loose ball against Luguentz Dort.
12:00—Myles Turner wins the tip from Chet Holmgren, and Game 5 is underway.
Pregame
Starting Lineups
THUNDER:Â Luguentz Dort, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, Jalen WilliamsPACERS:Â Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner
Injuries
THUNDER:Â Nikola Topic (Out, left knee)PACERS:Â Isaiah Jackson (Out, Achilles tendon), Jarace Walker (Out, Ankle)
Line: OKC -9.5O/U: 223.5
Officials: Crew Chief John Goble, Referee Marc Davis, Umpire James Williams (alternate: Ben Taylor)
Geoff Magliocchetti is on X @GeoffJMags
