Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder needed a statement performance in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. After Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers pulled off one of their signature comebacks in Game 1, it felt like a near necessity for the Thunder to win on Sunday and prevent that loss from snowballing into a legitimate hole.
Kings of the Bounceback
If you’ve been following the Thunder this season, you probably felt more comfortable than most regarding their ability to win such a critical bounceback game. Oklahoma City is now 17-2 following a loss this season, 6-0 in the playoffs, and it has won those games by an average of 17 points per game.
“We just used the opportunity to get better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We’ve done a really good job of that all year, and last game was no different. Tonight is the same thing. We did some things good tonight, we did some things bad, and we’ve got to be able to get better and get ready for game three.
There’s Levels To This
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 34 points on 11-of-21 shooting, dishing out eight assists and grabbing four steals. He outperformed his superstar counterpart Tyrese Haliburton for the second consecutive game, as Haliburton was again held below 20 points in what was a disappointing 17-point, six-assist game of hide-and-seek from the Game 1 hero. Haliburton has scored just 34 points in total during the series, while Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 36 points per game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of the @okcthunder has scored 72 points through the first two games of the #NBAFinals presented by @YouTubeTV.
That is the most points ever by a player in his first two career NBA Finals games.
The previous high was 71 by Allen Iverson (2001). pic.twitter.com/3qHRM0kuck
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) June 9, 2025
Haliburton’s heroics throughout the postseason have earned him a legitimate seat at the table when it comes to superstar conversations, but SGA’s consistent sonning of him through the first two games (aside from the devil-magic Game 1 winner) has proven that there are still tiers to these talks. Yeah, that means Haliburton still has some steps on the ladder to reach the SGAs and Jokics of the league.
“They’re kinda showing like a soft blitz, sometimes a full blitz,” Haliburton said. “They’re giving me different looks. I’ve got to do a better job of just figuring out where I can be better. In that game in the second half, when you’re down by so much, you can choose to just take the game for what it is and be done, or you can try to continue to learn different things.
“I think through the course of the series and already through these first two games, I’m learning where my spots are, where I can be better. We’ll take the good and the bad, watch film, and see we you can improve going into the next game.”
Stat Sheet
In addition to 20 points from key role player Alex Caruso, the Thunder also got a welcome boost from Aaron Wiggins in the form of 18 points on 6-of-11 shooting (5-of-8 from 3-point range). 17 players on the Thunder touched the court on Sunday, which is presumably a modern NBA Finals record or maybe even just a modern NBA record in general. Considering the fact that you can barely find accurate scoring totals from various points in the league’s early history, truly nailing this fact down will require access to historical databases that I do not currently have or even know to exist.
As a result of the game’s blowout nature, the Pacers had 15 of their players receive action in the game. Benedict Mathurin and TJ McConnell combined for 25 points, while the entirety of the Pacers’ starting lineup was held below 20 points for the second game in a row. Yes, that means the Pacers are yet to produce a 20-point scorer in this year’s NBA Finals. That’s not a sustainable pattern for a series against any team, much less a 68-win team that’s known to have a suffocating defensive presence that has clearly already snuffed Indiana out.
The Pacers are yet to have a 20-point scorer through the first two games of the NBA Finals. Seems like they’ll be going the way of the ‘01 76ers as opposed to the ‘04 Pistons in terms of heavy underdogs who pulled off Game 1 upsets.
— Will Despart (@WillDespart) June 9, 2025
The Prognosis
Given the way Game 2 went, it is getting hard to picture this series getting past the five-game mark. As amazing as Indiana’s Game 1 comeback was, the reality is that it trailed for all but 0.3 seconds in Game 1 and only held a few brief one-possession leads in the first quarter of Game 2.
“Basketball is a game of ups and downs, the season is full of ups and downs, a series is full of ups and downs,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s the team that can stay level-headed and get better throughout the experiences that’s going to come out on top. That’s our goal, get better through every experience. We did that last game, we’ve got to repeat for Game 3.”
We’ll see what happens with the series shifting to Indiana for Game 3, but I have serious cause for pause regarding the Pacers’ chances in a single game of this series moving forward. Vegas agrees, as Oklahoma City is now a consensus -525 to win the series despite dropping Game 1.
