Oklahoma City wins at Indianapolis and returns to the series

The Oklahoma City Thunder, once on the brink of collapse, finally upset the Indiana Pacers 111-104 to tie the game at 2-2 in the NBA Finals on Friday in Indianapolis. The undecided Finals will travel to Oklahoma for Act V on Monday, before returning to Indiana on Thursday for Act VI, where one of the two teams will have the opportunity to win their first title.

While the energy, teamwork, and brilliant plays all seemed to be on the side of the Pacers and their noisy crowd, the Thunder were able to take it all in, right up against the ropes. "We showed all our will, we fought to stay in the game in the third quarter, that was the key. They had the wind at our backs, we were playing poorly. It would have been easy to give up," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said at a press conference.

OKC responded strongly in the final moments, winning the final quarter 31-17, led by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Rather clumsy at the start (12 out of 24 shooting), having difficulty getting rid of his defenders, targeted on the contrary from the other side of the court and for a long time unable to draw fouls, the Canadian did what is expected of great players: raise his level in the final moments, when the final seemed to escape the Thunder.

"SGA" scored 13 points in the final four minutes, from long range, mid-range, and on the free throw line (10 of 10) after forcing Aaron Nesmith into two consecutive very costly fouls.

"We finally made some defensive stops, and their pressure eased thanks to that. We were able to develop our game. Everything always starts with stops for us," Gilgeous-Alexander commented to the broadcaster, describing the match as a "dogfight."

Daigneault praised his leader's "attitude," which he said was "always the same, whether we're three points ahead, 30 points behind, or whether he's having dinner on a Wednesday night, he's always the same. He's incredible, he had to go to the deep end, we had a hard time freeing him up, but he showed who he is again tonight."

The Pacers seemed to have done everything right at home, however, showing dominance and looking ready to lead 3-1 to give themselves a good chance of once again upsetting the favorite in their series, after having surpassed the Cleveland Cavaliers and then the New York Knicks in the previous rounds.

Tyrese Haliburton (18 points, 7 assists) got the crowd roaring with a shot from the logo for the first time in the first quarter, before showing great accuracy in distributing the game.

Several of his acrobatic lay-ups or powerful dunks from Obi Toppin delighted the crowd and made a storm blow over the OKC players.

But Indiana missed its final minutes, scoring its final basket of the game with 3:20 left. "Our offense started to stagnate. We couldn't get rebounds anymore, it became difficult to get into a rhythm," said coach Rick Carlisle.