Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lives up to MVP status as Game 2 win boosts Thunder's Finals odds

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Jun 9, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

The Indiana Pacers had a chance to do to the Oklahoma City Thunder what they did to the New York Knicks.

After pulling off a historic comeback victory in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, the Pacers entered Sunday night’s Game 2 looking to steal another win on the road.

But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had other ideas.

Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s MVP, lived up to that billing with 34 points, five rebounds, eight assists and four steals in his Thunder’s 123-107 win at Paycom Center in a significant swing for Oklahoma City’s Finals odds.

“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander said afterward. “I don’t think I’ve tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”

Gilgeous-Alexander shot 11 of 21 (52.4%) from the field and made 11 of his 12 free throw attempts.

He scored 19 points in the second half as the Thunder kept the quick-strike Pacers at arm’s length, preventing the kind of furious run that Indiana rode to its 111-110 victory in Game 1.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 38 points in Game 1, but he shot just 14 of 30 (46.7%) and missed a jumper with 11 seconds remaining – right before Tyrese Haliburton drilled his game-winner on Indiana’s ensuing possession.

With 72 points, Gilgeous-Alexander now holds the record for the most in a player’s first two Finals games, eclipsing the 71 that Allen Iverson scored for the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001.

“Unsurprising at this point. It’s just kind of what he does,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Gilgeous-Alexander. “He just continues to progress and improve and rise to every occasion that he puts himself in and that we put ourselves in.”

After leading the NBA with 68 wins in the regular season, the Thunder entered the Finals as heavy favorites over Indiana, the East’s No. 4 seed.

But Oklahoma City’s shocking loss in Game 1 — a game in which it led by 15 points in the fourth quarter — made Game 2 something of a must-win.

Teams to fall behind 0-2 in the Finals are 5-32 (13.5%) in those series. No team in NBA history has lost Games 1 and 2 of a Finals at home and gone on to win the series.

But the teams to split the first two Finals games at their home arena, as Oklahoma City did, have won 27 of the previous 39 series, or 69.2%.

“Shai, you can mark down 34 points before they even get on the plane tomorrow for the next game,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “The guy’s going to score. We’ve got to find ways to make it as tough as possible on him.”

Added Pacers center Myles Turner: “He’s MVP for a reason.”

The underdog Pacers won a similarly improbable Game 1 in the Eastern Conference finals, rallying back from a 17-point fourth-quarter deficit — and a nine-point deficit in the final minute – to beat the Knicks in overtime at Madison Square Garden.

Indiana beat the Knicks at the Garden in Game 2, too, and went on to win the series in six games.

But the Thunder bounced back after their Game 1 meltdown, putting them in a much better position as the series shifts to Indiana for Game 3 on Wednesday night.

For that, they can thank Gilgeous-Alexander, who now has 11 games with at least 30 points and five assists in these playoffs — tying him with Michael Jordan and LeBron James for the most such performances in a single postseason.

“I would trade the points for two Ws, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But this is where our feet are. This is where we are. You can’t go back in the past. You can only make the future better, so that’s what I’m focused on.”

____