INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indiana stole Game 1. Oklahoma City bounced back in Game 2. Indiana showed its resiliency in Game 3.
And now, it’s Game 4 on Friday night — where either the Pacers will move one win from a title, or the Thunder will turn this NBA Finals into a best-of-three to decide which team will hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy sometime in the next few days.
Indiana leads the best-of-seven 2-1. The Thunder changed their lineup for Friday, putting Isaiah Hartenstein back in the opening five and having Cason Wallace come off the bench.
Wallace started the first three games of the finals.
For whatever reason, the Game 4 winner tends to end up winning the finals: It has worked out that way in 15 of the last 19 seasons, though it certainly wasn’t the case last year when Dallas beat Boston by 38 points for its lone victory in that matchup.
Oklahoma City has the two leading scorers in the series: NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 32 points per game, and Jalen Williams is averaging 20.7 per game.
Indiana is doing it with balance: The Pacers have seven players averaging double figures, with Pascal Siakam (18.3) and Tyrese Haliburton (17.7) leading the way.
Saturday will be a travel day. The teams will practice in Oklahoma City on Sunday, then play Game 5 there on Monday night.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Read the full article here
