OKC dominates

It is not a good plan for winning games, but it has become Indiana’s habit throughout the playoffs.This time, there was no miracle come-from-behind win for the Pacers as OKC effectively put on the clamps and kept Indiana struggling to find their pace.

Game 1 hero Tyrese Haliburton faded and only had 5 points after three quarters.  His total output of 17 points came too little, too late.

For two games, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander played like how league MVPs should play.   And yes, Chet Holmgren, who was almost a non-factor in Game 1, made impactful offensive and defensive plays and finished with 15 points.

Factor in for the OKC win the efforts of Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins who had 20 and 18 points respectively.   Both had a combined 9 of 16 from the 3-point area and they scored more points than anyone else on Indiana’s roster.   Wiggins, who played for 9 minutes and had 3 points in Game 1, was a surprise contributor.

The Thunder’s swarming defense had Indiana struggling to get open looks.  OKC’s depth allowed coach Mark Daigneault to play big guys Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein at the same time.

The OKC Thunder was the better team in the last game, and they will take that momentum with them for Game 3 in Indiana tomorrow.  Surely, coach Rick Carlisle will have made some adjustments and their main guns of Haliburton, Myles Turner and Pascal Siakam should have loaded on firepower so as not to disappoint fans at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

Home court advantage in the Finals most definitely has an advantage.  Excluding this year’s Thunder-Pacers finale, 55 of the 77 teams with the homecourt edge in the NBA Finals went on to win the championship.   59 of the 77 teams that started the series in their home arena won Game 1.

Home court advantage has the same effect on Game 7s in the Finals as does Game 1s.  There were 19 Game 7s in NBA Finals history with the home team coming out on top 15 times.  The only teams to ever win a Finals Game 7 on the road were the Cleveland Cavaliers (2016), Washington Bullets (1978) and the Boston Celtics (1969,1974).