Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 15 of his 35 points in the final 4:38, capping OKC's rally from a 10-point deficit in Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Pacers made all the right plays, had Oklahoma City on the ropes, prepared to finish the job, and then the dark clouds appeared from nowhere and Indy fell victim to this atmospheric shift in the forecast: A Thunderstorm.
It’s up to history to say that the fourth-quarter flip of Game 4 was when the series was won, but it was definitely when the Pacers were shook. Their lead evaporated, their confidence plunged and the hopeful air inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse left the building in a hurry as OKC prevailed 111-104.
The Thunder dismissed any thought of falling behind 3-1 in this series with a mighty takeover, just when OKC looked feeble. They had trailed for much of the contest, making only three 3-pointers, yet found a way to survive. After outscoring the Pacers 31-17 in the fourth, the 2025 NBA Finals are a 2-2 draw with momentum, at least temporarily, belonging to OKC.
This was the game where the Thunder, at least at the finish, resembled the team that dominated the season, won 68 games, had the Kia MVP and played the NBA’s best defense. And it all came in a rush, right when OKC needed a refresher the most.
So Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the usual suspects — Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams mostly — claimed a game they almost had to win, or else face a situation that would’ve erased any and all room for error in this series.
“This was an uphill game against a great team,” OKC coach Mark Daigneault said. “I thought we gutted it out on a night where we didn’t have a lot going.”
Here are five takeaways from OKC’s rally to put this series in knots:
1. Shai catches breath, finishes job
The dire situation facing the Thunder in the fourth quarter — down seven points at the start — begged for a hero. And in that situation, the nominee is an obvious one. But could Shai improve on his previous fourth quarter, when he managed only one basket at the finish of Game 3?
He looked gassed a few nights earlier because the Pacers’ defense forced him to burn excessive energy. And Indy’s defense was just as turned up Friday as, once again, Shai labored. Andrew Nembhard was relentless, picking him up from 94 feet, attacking his dribble and denying him the ball at times.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 15 fourth-quarter points this time and clearly was a difference-maker, though not without some controversy.
First: Shai appeared to escape penalty when he used his right arm to fend off Aaron Nesmith, then shuffled his feet before launching a baseline jumper that gave OKC a 104-103 lead.
Second: He took eight free throws in the last four minutes of the game — after attempting two in the first 44 — and benefited from a few whistles that drew ire from the Pacers.
But he was masterful in what was his most important quarter of the series. He also added a block and a steal. In the final few minutes he hit a 3-pointer and, after a Holmgren block, returned with that mid-range fadeaway over Nesmith to give OKC the lead for good.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carries the Thunder home in Game 4 with 15 of his 35 points in the 4th quarter.
“I just tried to be aggressive,” he said. “I knew what it would have looked like if we lost tonight. I didn’t want to go out not swinging. I didn’t want to go out not doing everything I could do in my power, in my control to try to win the game.”
He added: “I relish those moments, love the moments, good or bad. When I was a kid shooting at my driveway, I’d count down the clock for those moments. Now I get to live it.”
When the Thunder needed an MVP performance, Shai lived up to the award. He didn’t get flustered; he wasn’t rattled when he managed just 12 first-half points against Indy’s aggressive defense. His 35 points halted a scoring dip that saw him go from 38 to 34 and then 24 over the previous three games.
“For him to be able to flip the switch like that and get the rhythm he got just speaks to how great of a player he is,” Daigneault said.
2. Tyrese called for magic, got busy signal
Indiana was down just a few points with the ball in the hands of Tyrese Haliburton. In this postseason, there have been fewer sights more inspiring. The player who won games in each round with buckets in the final moments was positioned to keep that flow … flowing.
Not this time. With 1:43 left he air-balled a 3-pointer down two points, then couldn’t get another shot off until the game was out of reach.
Perhaps it’s asking too much for Haliburton to constantly bail out the Pacers. If anything, Indiana could’ve used Pascal Siakam to assume the role, especially with Haliburton being hounded by double-teams. Siakam, however, had nothing — no points and a turnover in the fourth quarter.
Haliburton couldn’t help generate much from any of his teammates; he had no assists in the quarter as the Pacers totaled just one.
“I have to do a better job of keeping pace in the game,” he said. “That’s on me. I’ve got to get us playing faster down the stretch.”
3. Caruso comes through again
Alex Caruso's championship experience shines through late in Game 4, as he turns in a 20-point performance for the Thunder.
Let’s get the nitpicking out of the way first: Alex Caruso’s inbounds passing needs work. He was picked off by T.J. McConnell in Game 3, and those errors energized Indiana. Then another poor pass almost created issues with 22 seconds left in Game 4.
That said, Caruso delivered a stellar performance with 20 points off the bench, his second such output in this series, and added five steals which more than offset his errors.
“I don’t think I played my best game Game 3,” he said. “My mentality and my focus wasn’t sharp enough for being in the NBA Finals to my liking. I wanted to make sure that I came out here and I made sure I had a concentrated effort to play as hard as I could and to make as many plays to help the team win.”
Whenever the Thunder needed a hoop, Caruso was around to deliver, and his defense helped change the game in the fourth quarter.
He drew big praise from Shai: “He’s a winner. He does whatever it takes on any given night, whether it’s making shots, whether it’s deflections, a steal, a block, whether it’s a rebound … he has a championship ring for a reason. It’s no coincidence. Big-time teammate. Big-time winner. If you want to win basketball games, you have a guy like that on your team.”
4. Mathurin had a moment he’d rather forget
Life comes at you fast in any playoff series, where one game can be completely different from the next. Just ask Pacers guard Bennedict Mathurin, who quickly went from being the toast of the series to crumbling in the clutch.
In Game 3, he had a game-high 27 points in 22 minutes off the bench and heard applause. This time, he entered the game with 44 seconds left and the Pacers down two. He did impact the outcome — although completely differently this time.
In those final seconds, he missed three of four free throws and committed not one, but two off-ball fouls on inbounds passes, which resulted in a pair of free throws by SGA.
The math: A five-point swing in 44 seconds as the Pacers lost by seven.
It wasn’t just Mathurin who faltered down the stretch. Myles Turner seemed afraid to shoot and kept deferring to teammates with the shot clock winding down, creating forced shots. In the fourth he had two fouls, one turnover, no blocks and no field goals.
Both players were heavily involved in the Game 3 win. But again, in the playoffs, there’s no automatic carryover from one night to the next. Each game has its own identity — and heroes.
5. OKC is seemingly in control
Charles Barkley promises to get tattoo inked if Thunder win title.
Or at least it appears that way. The Thunder just regained home-court advantage and perhaps flushed all of its sketchy play in these two games in Indy, managing to win one of them.
Jalen Williams, with 27 points, is back into a groove. Holmgren finished strong, notched a double-double and came up massive on the boards and defensively in the moment of truth. And Shai just took the best defense Indiana can possibly throw at him and more than survived.
He thrived when it counted.
“When you’re on the road like that, it’s just you,” Daigneault said. “Those guys did a great job staying in it because that was a hard game, a hard game for us. Just to hang in there, just kind of showed who we are.”
OKC passed a test in the conference semifinals against a stubborn Nuggets team that took the Thunder to seven games, and now this. For a young team like OKC, these experiences are actually valuable.
They test the soul.
“We’ve been in tough situations before,” Holmgren said. “Every single time, we’ve come together. That doesn’t mean that we got to win the game that night when we did see adversity. No matter what happens, good or bad, pretty or ugly, we’re always going to stick together.”
The problem for OKC: the Pacers are their Eastern Conference cousins in that regard. At some point in this series, one of these persistent teams will finally falter. The next two games will tell.
* * *
Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Warner Bros. Discovery.
