Game 4 Observations from the NBA Finals: Thunder vs. Pacers

The swing that could define the Finals

Photo by Dylan Buell / Getty Images

Wow. This was only Game 4 of these amazing Finals, but the intensity and late-game swing felt like a decisive Game 7.

The Pacers were the aggressors for most of the game. The Thunder and their MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, seemed off their rhythm and rattled for most of the game. The script was playing in Indiana’s favor as they entered the final five minutes with a two-point lead. OKC was on the ropes.

Only for the script to completely flip in the final minutes.

A combination of Indiana looking hesitant, tired, or maybe even a bit scared to take what could have been a decisive 3-1 lead, SGA finally breaking loose and taking over when it mattered most, along with some classic Scott Foster "The Extender" type of calls, swung the game in OKC’s favor — and potentially the series.

I’ll never count out the Pacers, they’ve shown too much during this run, but missing the chance to go up 3-1 and now having to play two of the potentially remaining three games in OKC is the kind of moment their fanbase might remember for a long time.

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Today’s notes:

1. The flipped script

2. The adjustment(s). And the MVP takeover.

3. The final push (🎞️VIDEO)

4. The joy and pain of Alex Caruso (🎞️VIDEO)

5. Other quick random notes

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1–The flipped script

For three quarters, the Pacers were once again the aggressors. They were in the Thunder’s and SGA’s face. They pressed 94 feet, made the hustle plays, and won most of the 50-50 balls. They played their ball-moving, fast-paced half-court offense, while the Thunder looked rattled and off their game.

Then in the fourth quarter, it all flipped. The Thunder played much more aggressively, made the hustle plays, grabbed huge offensive rebounds, and found a clutch formula for scoring (more on that in the next points). Meanwhile, the Pacers, a team that had been dominating these tight moments throughout the playoffs, looked like the moment was finally too big. The movement and pace were gone, replaced by late isolation heroics and a string of airballs or short shots. Pascal Siakam, who torched mismatches for three quarters, was forgotten or lost. The hero of Game 3, and an 87 percent free-throw shooter in the playoffs, Bennedict Mathurin, missed three key free throws in the final minute.

2-The adjustment(s). And the MVP takeover.

The pressure Andrew Nembhard and the Pacers applied in Game 3 against the MVP forced Mark Daigneault into another set of adjustments.

Isaiah Hartenstein was back in the starting lineup. Jalen Williams took over as the high-usage, primary ball-handler and driver — he had higher usage, more touches, and more drives throughout the first three quarters. SGA’s rest stints came quicker and more frequently. Yet despite all the tweaks, SGA and OKC’s offense still looked out of sync, struggling to generate good shots outside of Williams’ drives. Their three-point frequency has fallen off in this series, SGA finished the game without an assist, and no Thunder player recorded more than three.

Then, with four minutes left, Daigneault pulled his last ace. The Thunder spammed the action with Williams as the ball-handler and SGA as the screener, with everyone else spaced at the baseline. (You can see a great video breakdown by my brilliant fellow analyst Steph Noh here.). This allowed SGA to get off Nembhard (who, like in Game 3, put on another defensive ball pressure clinic) and switch onto Aaron Nesmith, another aggressive but much less disciplined defender. Gilgeous-Alexander took over, mostly by taking full advantage of Nesmith’s overzealousness. His 15 points in the final five minutes of Game 4 are the most by any player in the last five minutes of a Finals game since 1971. An impressive MVP kind of performance, delivered in the biggest moment when it was needed most.

3–The final push (🎞️VIDEO)

I mentioned Scott Foster in my intro, and he’ll probably be a big reason why officiating will be just as much of a talking point as OKC’s unbelievable resilience after this game.

OKC had a free-throw rate of 44 free throws per 100 field goal attempts in this game, their highest mark in any game this season, both in the regular season and playoffs.

Four Factors, Game 4 (source: Cleaning the Glass)

Eight of SGA’s 10 free throws came in the final five minutes. But among all the foul calls, the most controversial moment was actually a non-call that happened with 2:25 left, with the Pacers up by one. Gilgeous-Alexander had Nesmith isolated on the wing, drove, and created space for a baseline jumper with his now-patented push-off move. What will probaly make the refereeing conspiracy talk even louder is the fact that the move happened just a couple of feet away, right in front of Foster.

To be fair, this non-call on SGA’s push-offs has been pretty consistent all season despite the NBA Video Rulebook clearly stating that an offensive player may not push off their legal defender in any way). I remember mentioning to one of my coaching friends earlier in the playoffs how, in my opinion, it’s one of the strangest moves allowed in today’s game. And how I can’t imagine that kind of move being allowed so consistently for bigger players like Giannis, LeBron, Luka, or Paolo Banchero. Like it or not, the move — and the no-call — was at the center of what could end up being a defining moment of the Finals.

4-The joy and pain of Alex Caruso