Starting 5, June 9: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads Thunder to Game 2 victory
takes over Game 2.
to even the NBA Finals.
June 9, 2025
SGA sparks an emphatic OKC win to even the series at home
The Thunder’s depth delivers in another bounce-back victory
How OKC’s relentless pressure broke Indy’s offensive rhythm
All-access inside a raucous Paycom Center for Game 2
Inside Magic’s iconic junior, junior skyhook and why he’ll never forget it
Up to Indy…
, the NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV shifts to Indiana for Game 3 on Wednesday (8:30 ET, ABC).
Catch up on some of the top stories from around the NBA world after last night’s Game 2.
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entered Sunday with an NBA-best 16-2 record following losses this season, including a 4-0 mark in the Playoffs.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 33.5 ppg.
at home — something no team has ever overcome in Finals history — the Kia NBA MVP answered again.
In another all-around clinic, SGA dropped 34 points on 11-of-21 shooting (52.4%), along with eight dimes, four steals and one block, igniting an emphatic OKC win in Game 2 to even the series 1-1. | Recap
In a game that history said OKC couldn’t afford to lose, its star remained steady. Never rattled. Never rushed. And now he’s reaching heights never seen before.
From winning the scoring crown and Kia MVP to leading OKC to a franchise-record 68 wins and its first Finals trip in 13 years, Sunday was just the latest stage for Shai’s unshakeable brilliance to steer the Thunder forward.
– it’s his timing.
– playing against a team with a play-by-play era record five 15+ point comebacks this postseason – it was Shai who sparked OKC’s surge before slamming the door shut.
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hasn’t been a question.
for this group, but when they do fall, they regularly rise back up.
Game 2 needing victory to dodge a 2-0 hole in the NBA Finals and a winless stretch at home.
that potential crisis averted.
met the moment, but players around him had moments of their own on a night where OKC’s offense regained form.
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ended in double figures. Five accounted for a steal. Eight grabbed three or more rebounds.
OKC’s 19-2 2nd Q blitz took a tight one and turned it into a 23-pt lead.
to be insurance aplenty as the team never trailed again.
15 and Jalen Williams’ 19 rounded out a dominant performance. Both improved upon their 6 and 17-point efforts, respectively, from Game 1.
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only two teams have averaged 115+ points per game and 28+ assists per game over the first three rounds of the Playoffs – the 2018-19 Warriors and the 2024-25 Pacers.
the Pacers haven’t yet met either metric in either game.
Indy’s historic offense has run into a historic defense – one that’s wreaked havoc all postseason and is doing it again in the Finals.
Relentless activity – and connectivity – from top to bottom.
In Game 2, Cason Wallace posted the best plus-minus (+12) of OKC’s starting five with hustle like this – flying from a halfcourt trap, over to check Haliburton and then getting the steal beneath the rim.
the Pacers owned the second-best OffRtg this postseason (117.7), while ranking first in field goal percentage (49.7) and assists (28.1)
against OKC, all three of those numbers have decreased, while Indy’s turnover average has jumped from 12.7 to 20.0.
Containing Haliburton, the orchestrator of Indy’s offense, by blitzing ball screens and rotating a steady stream of defenders to wear him down.
Alex Caruso has the quickness to deny Haliburton’s initial drive. After working back around a screen, Haliburton gets a step on SGA, but runs into a wall of defenders. Shai then recovers for the steal.
Wallace was another regular shadow on Haliburton, who gets the switch here but is immediately met by Hartenstein well beyond the 3-point line. Once Haliburton gets into range, Wallace flips back – denying the shot and forcing it out of his hands.
Haliburton led Indy with 17 points, but was held to six assists and five turnovers – his lowest assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2) since Oct. 27.
marks Indy’s first time being held under 112 points in back-to-back games all postseason.
The OKC faithful rumbled. And the arena shook.
ended in stunned silence inside the Paycom Center, the building was buzzing all night in Game 2 – starting with an electric scene moments before tip-off.
started long before the ball was in the air. Go behind the scenes with our all-access team and Player Correspondent Jaime Jaquez Jr. of the Miami Heat and witness the full Finals experience.
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After SGA and Haliburton met at center court to choose the game ball, Game 2 was off and running.
- Haliburton earned a 1st-quarter “Bang” from Mike Breen – a make-up call after his Game 1 winner went without one: “I owe him that one so I had to do it early.”
- Kai Cenat was mic’d up while sitting courtside and couldn’t get enough of OKC’s end-to-end action
- After evening the series, Shai made sure to catch up with his Kai postgame
- Alex Caruso told Jacquez postgame. “Every time we have been challenged … we’ve kind of risen to the occasion.”
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needs a hook.
the Finals got one that still echoes through basketball history.
Lakers vs. Celtics — the last Bird vs. Magic duel on the biggest stage.
with seven seconds left and the Boston Garden on its feet, Magic Johnson took an inbounds pass from Michael Cooper, pump-faked to freeze Kevin McHale, then drove into a forest of defenders.
McHale recovered. But Magic had the answer, floating the signature move of his teammate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — the sky hook — just over their outstretched arms and into the net with two ticks left.
Magic dubbed it “the real junior, junior, junior sky hook,” noting that unlike Kareem’s, his had to come from closer in.
didn’t stick — but the shot did.
reliving the iconic moments years later:
was for Kareem. A couple years before I made a mistake trying to look for him and let the clock run out … so I was going to make sure that didn’t happen…
and McHale jumped out on me. I said, ‘If I got a big man on me, I’m gonna fake the shot.’ … And that’s what happened. I got one step on him and the only shot I could get off was the hook…
… and I got it just over them and – it went in. And we just went crazy…
for me because people first didn’t think I could perform the way I could under pressure. They had never seen me hit ‘the big shot.’ So it showed not only myself but other people…
“But also our team – coming all the way back from 16 in Boston Garden. That was the game we had to win … and we got it. So it was special for me, personally … You never forget moments like that. You really cherish them. You just – keep ‘em.”
L.A. went on to win the series in six, marking the fourth of Magic’s five NBA titles.
