Latest / Bleacher Report / GameTime Crew Reaction to Thunder Game 5 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals

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GameTime Crew Reaction to Thunder Game 5 Win vs. Pacers _ 2025 NBA Finals · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: And you know, I want to go back to something
• 0:01
  Speaker 1: we were talking to him about, and that's the points
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: off turnovers. You see the number, it's astronomical in this game,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: thirty two points off those twenty three turnovers.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: Force Brendan.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: When you see that in an NBA Finals game against
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a team that has an all star point guard and
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: a backup point guard who handles the ball really well, well,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it's really impressive.
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: It just tells you the level of defense that Okac
• 0:24
  Speaker 3: plays on a nightly basis. And it's from all over
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: the court. It's relentless pressure on the ball. It's active
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: hands when you're in traffic. It's guys on the weak
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: side actively going for steals. Oh and let's not forget
• 0:36
  Speaker 3: they have shot blocking at the rim, and their bigs
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: can play in space as well. This is one of
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: the most complete defensive teams I've seen. And I was
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: talking to a friend of mine, they said, what do
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: you think about this series? I said, I can tell
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: you this for sure, okay C's defense is good enough
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: to win them two games, and then from that point
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: on the other guys that have to step up in
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: this defense. So far in this series, at times has
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: just been absolutely stifling, and Tonights had no answers to.
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: The pressure, and they crumbled.
• 1:02
  Speaker 5: One thing I noticed was that they knew the OKAC
• 1:05
  Speaker 5: knew that they wanted to go at Siakam, that they
• 1:08
  Speaker 5: wanted Siakam to have a good game for Check and
• 1:11
  Speaker 5: the rest of that OKAC team to take that challenge
• 1:14
  Speaker 5: on and get six turnovers from him, to kind of
• 1:16
  Speaker 5: limit his his looks and make things tough.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: They know is how good he can.
• 1:20
  Speaker 5: Be, and if he doesn't play well, it's gonna be
• 1:23
  Speaker 5: a little bit easier to beat the Vacers. But man,
• 1:25
  Speaker 5: every single time somebody had to make a decision other
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: other than Tyrese Haliburton, it just seemed like they were
• 1:32
  Speaker 5: under duress.
• 1:32
  Speaker 6: Now they can do.
• 1:33
  Speaker 5: This for forty eight minutes one more time, obviously they
• 1:36
  Speaker 5: gonna win a chip. But I was so impressed today
• 1:38
  Speaker 5: with everyone coming off the bench.
• 1:40
  Speaker 6: Everyone's starting, you know.
• 1:41
  Speaker 5: And even though some of these numbers don't jump out
• 1:43
  Speaker 5: at you, the numbers that I see are when they
• 1:46
  Speaker 5: were going out there and defending and getting turnovers.
• 1:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it's defense for me.
• 1:49
  Speaker 7: And I think to sum it up is when you
• 1:51
  Speaker 7: have guys that get forty and thirty one for your
• 1:54
  Speaker 7: two best players and they are not defensive league links.
• 1:57
  Speaker 7: I mean you look at Shake Gills's out exactly, he
• 1:59
  Speaker 7: had four blocks. Jalen Williams taking on the channel challenge
• 2:03
  Speaker 7: like Channing talked about with Pascal Siakam. That sends a
• 2:07
  Speaker 7: message to everybody else that two of your best players
• 2:10
  Speaker 7: are two of your hardest workers on the defensive end.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Net Submitty.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: There's another thing that was a theme after the last
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: win for the Thunder, and that was the lack of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: three point attempts, the lack of.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Three point makes.
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: Just three three pointers made their last win, and this
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: one they came out and had four mad threes in
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: the first quarter, fourteen in the game, So a different
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: approach that worked well.
• 2:30
  Speaker 7: Still well, No, we talked about what Brendan and Channing
• 2:32
  Speaker 7: talked about at the beginning of this pregame. It was
• 2:34
  Speaker 7: two feet in the paint, yep, four feet in the paint, ete,
• 2:37
  Speaker 7: feet and paint, and then guys are spraying it out
• 2:40
  Speaker 7: and no one was rotating with a sense of urgency.
• 2:43
  Speaker 7: For me, from the pacers, they were knocking down threes,
• 2:45
  Speaker 7: but these were some easy looks. There was not a
• 2:48
  Speaker 7: lot of contested threes from the Pacers, especially in the
• 2:50
  Speaker 7: first half.
• 2:51
  Speaker 5: No, and to me, you look at kateson Wallace. Aaron
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: Wiggins came in and absolutely came with a huge spark.
• 2:58
  Speaker 6: Right here.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: Just look at this touching the paint, kicking out. That's
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: wide open. In the NBA Finals again, you're just looking
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: attack the rack, attack the rack. Now you get a
• 3:06
  Speaker 5: double team and kicking out for a wide open three.
• 3:09
  Speaker 4: Right here, that is so open.
• 3:11
  Speaker 6: Again, it's just what they.
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: Know is gonna win against his tough Pacers defense. They
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: set a good screen, get your MVP into the paint,
• 3:18
  Speaker 5: you get a wide open shot.
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: And listen, that's a lot of that just comes down
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: to what you really want to do as far as
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: just not even just in the NBA Finals, just in
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: today's game of basketball. You want to get into the paint,
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: create a problem, and once you throw that ball to
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: the perimeter, if you make that one extra pass, most
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: of the time that guy will be wide open because
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: if you get into the paint, two guys have to
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: guard you, and now those other guys on the weak side,
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: they're trying to chase down the ball, and that ball
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: is always fashion than the always fashion than the guy
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: that's trying to chase it.
• 3:45
  Speaker 7: What a question I have is ninety four feet picking
• 3:48
  Speaker 7: up for this entire series? Other pacers getting tired because
• 3:51
  Speaker 7: the rotations out to God's shooting threes just wasn't there
• 3:55
  Speaker 7: like it had been in the previous games.
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: And Tyrese Halliburton, you gotta look at him and go, Okay,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the first time in his career that he was held
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: scoreless in the first half of a playoff game, first
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: time in his thirty six career playoff games that.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: He didn't make a field goal.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Clearly he is not right, Schmidty when you see him
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: coming out there and still trying to be able to
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: contribute but not being able to How serious do you
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: think this injury is.
• 4:19
  Speaker 7: I don't know how serious it is, but it was
• 4:21
  Speaker 7: serious enough where he just wasn't himself. And I'm talking
• 4:24
  Speaker 7: about a guy wasn't He plays with a lot of
• 4:26
  Speaker 7: speed and a lot of motion.
• 4:28
  Speaker 6: He just didn't have it.
• 4:29
  Speaker 7: After this, I was worried when we were watching Was
• 4:31
  Speaker 7: it his knee, was his ankle?
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: Was it achilles?
• 4:34
  Speaker 7: It was obviously a combination of something that was his calf.
• 4:37
  Speaker 7: They're saying he wasn't himself I love that he came
• 4:39
  Speaker 7: out and played hard, but he wasn't himself trying.
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: In my opinion, I.
• 4:43
  Speaker 6: Just think he is the head of the snake here.
• 4:45
  Speaker 5: I think even though he was out there, one thing
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: I noticed, okay, he wasn't even going at it on defense.
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: Now I understand that he's hurt. Everyone knows he's hurt.
• 4:52
  Speaker 5: He doesn't have that left and right movement. He really
• 4:54
  Speaker 5: didn't have it at the beginning of the game. So
• 4:56
  Speaker 5: is this a lingering injury. Hopefully he has enough time
• 5:00
  Speaker 5: right now, stays up twenty four hours, it gets it
• 5:03
  Speaker 5: fixed as best as possible. This is a one game series,
• 5:06
  Speaker 5: and for me, he has to be aggressive. He can't
• 5:09
  Speaker 5: just be a passer out there. They need his shooting,
• 5:13
  Speaker 5: they need his scoring and his floor spacing in this
• 5:15
  Speaker 5: leadership checking.
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: I agree with you.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: I was actually surprised that Okac didn't go at haller Burton,
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: especially to start the second half, whether it's in the
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: mid picking roll or running him off baseline screens, just
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: to see if he was okay. They probably will look
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: to do that in the beginning of Game six. And
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: then at the same time, haller Burton was in a
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: situation where he probably wouldn't have played the second half
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: if this wasn't the NBA Finals. You saw him over
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: there at halftime. He was tapping his leg and trying
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: to move and he just didn't look right would Me
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: and Smithy were talking. We were like, hey man, he
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: don't look like he's.
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: Really ready to go out there.
• 5:48
  Speaker 6: Yeah, it really didn't want.
• 5:49
  Speaker 3: He was in his mind. He was trying to make
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: a decision can I do this? And when you're in
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: that type of situation this late in the year, that's
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: just flat out Unfortunately, it's a quick turnaround. He's gonna
• 5:59
  Speaker 3: have to try to be ready by Thursday. I know
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: he's gonna go out there, But at what percentage of
• 6:03
  Speaker 3: the regular Tyre's Halliburton are we gonna get?
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: I honestly do not know.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Loud City living up to that name here in game
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: five and ok C Tyres Halliburton not right, Shay Gilgris.
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: Alexander just another one of his nights. Chet holmgen driving
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: early the reverse getting that defall.
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: This show was incredible because when you look right here, like,
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: how does he even really see the rim? Great contest
• 6:27
  Speaker 3: by Miles Turner, better finished by the big though, and.
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: It was good ball movement early for the thunder Smitty.
• 6:32
  Speaker 7: It was so you can see right here, Harpstein does
• 6:34
  Speaker 7: a nice job as a playmaker and boy j willis
• 6:37
  Speaker 7: why he was jumping an extra inch on his vertical tonight.
• 6:40
  Speaker 2: And then the threes also dropping.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: They hit four of them in the first quarter, took
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: a ten point lead, and this is what we're talking about.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Tyre's Halliburton Smitty.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: In these plays in particular, you could tell just didn't happen.
• 6:53
  Speaker 7: It didn't look right and you can tell the way
• 6:54
  Speaker 7: it got up and unfortunate for him, he has struggled
• 6:58
  Speaker 7: because of the injury. I thought, you know, he took
• 7:00
  Speaker 7: some shots and even though at the begin he wasn't aggressive,
• 7:02
  Speaker 7: but at halftime I didn't think, just like Brendan we
• 7:05
  Speaker 7: were watching, he was gonna be able to be effective
• 7:07
  Speaker 7: in the second half.
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: Aaron Wiggins just one point in the last two games,
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: had fourteen in this one.
• 7:13
  Speaker 5: Shannon Ben anytime you can go deep to your bench
• 7:16
  Speaker 5: and they give you productive minutes on both ends of
• 7:18
  Speaker 5: the floor, it's just another piece that's going to help
• 7:21
  Speaker 5: you win the game.
• 7:21
  Speaker 6: And he came in, got them spacing.
• 7:23
  Speaker 5: Getting them energy and give their starters a good break.
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: Watch this play the defense inside the denial, they're just
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: all over it with blocks in steals. You ready for
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: those numbers, Brendan, check it out.
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: Give them to a man.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: It looks crazy.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Fifteen steals in twelve blocks for thunder that's incredible.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: And then when you figure in they're also knocking down
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: their threes in this game, that was just a recipe
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: for disaster for the Indiana Pacers.
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: We moved to the second half.
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: Pascal Siakam, you know he struggled in the fourth quarters.
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: Here he gets it going to start the second half, but.
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: It was TJ time.
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: In the third he had thirteen points, was responsible for
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: eighteen scoring in assistant Where do you go to school, Channing?
• 8:06
  Speaker 5: You know the University of Arizona put that boy on
• 8:10
  Speaker 5: a spending cycle.
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: Well, the u of A.
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: He was getting an A on the report card in
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: that third quarter. O, TJ, that's what.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: TJ made it a six point game.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Andrew Nimhar No, Pascal Siakam getting the offensive.
• 8:25
  Speaker 6: Rebound right here you are.
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: He had twelve points in the first four minutes of
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. Then SGA, that's beautiful, that's what you're
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: talking about swing.
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: Swing, That's what the game is all about.
• 8:36
  Speaker 3: Two feet in the paint and when the next guy
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: gets it, be unselfish to make the extra pass.
• 8:41
  Speaker 7: We gotta talk about these turnovers. Twenty two for the
• 8:44
  Speaker 7: paces for thirty two points.
• 8:46
  Speaker 6: I just don't think they felt comfortable at all this game.
• 8:48
  Speaker 5: And okay, see just such a good job of playing
• 8:51
  Speaker 5: inside the lanes and putting their players with or dribbling
• 8:55
  Speaker 5: the ball under duress.
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: So a new playoff career high for Jalen Williams.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Special thanks again to them stopping by the set. But
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: this is seam unstoppable flow.
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: That he had. This was nasty.
• 9:09
  Speaker 7: You're talking about get to your spot then, ha ha ooh.
• 9:13
  Speaker 4: Looking like a young Steve Smith exactly.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: Good defense, better offense, and Jay Dubb had one of
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: those nights.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: One twenty to one on nine.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: We should also note that the Indiana Pacers fourteen to
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: zero when they scored one ten in the playoffs, oh
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: to seven when they're beneath one ten, scored one on
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: nine in this one.
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: He guess, and.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Coming of age right in front of our eyes.
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: Remember at the Oklahoma City Thunder, the youngest team to
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: reach the NBA Finals since the Blazers in nineteen seventy seven.
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: You see the last two games to three point shooting obviously,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: but the assist smidty in games four and one they
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: combined to have twenty four assists. Tonight they had twenty
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: four assists and it was clear they had ten of
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: those in the first quarter, that the ball was going
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: to be distributed, that that was a point of emphasis
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: in the game plan.
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: It really paid off.
• 10:04
  Speaker 7: I think like you said, Chris, but I think first
• 10:06
  Speaker 7: on the offensive end, they were playing with Forrest getting downhill.
• 10:09
  Speaker 7: And then I think also for them is they put
• 10:11
  Speaker 7: defensive pressure on the Pacers and they got out to
• 10:13
  Speaker 7: get some fast freak points. But they are sharing it
• 10:16
  Speaker 7: because they just played the right way, and that's led
• 10:18
  Speaker 7: by their MVP. A guy can go out to get
• 10:21
  Speaker 7: thirty one points and still get your tennis assists in
• 10:24
  Speaker 7: block four shots. He sets the tone for them and
• 10:26
  Speaker 7: he did it all night and their entire team was
• 10:28
  Speaker 7: in tag.
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: Moodie also look at what SGA was able to do
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: as far as getting to the free throw line. Didn't
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: get to the free throw line as much the last game.
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: This game got there fourteen times, and it really comes
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: down to him and J Doub set the tempo.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: They understood the importance of this game.
• 10:42
  Speaker 3: They came out with the right focus, the right mindset,
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: and their teammates acted accordingly. They followed their lead and
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: then on the defensive end, this team was just too
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: much for the Pacers.
• 10:50
  Speaker 6: Go ahead, no channing.
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: You know, when you are looking at Isaiah Hartenstein right
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: as a big we were talking about the dribble handoffs
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and what he brings to the table, and you see
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: as the series progresses he's becoming more involved, helping to
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: distribute with this offense.
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: Man, the physicality he can mood in puppies. He's an
• 11:08
  Speaker 5: underrated passer.
• 11:09
  Speaker 6: You know.
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: Obviously he didn't give you a lot like scoring wise today,
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: but like the extra opportunities, the tip balls, just being big,
• 11:17
  Speaker 5: you know, setting, He's one of the best screen setters
• 11:20
  Speaker 5: I've ever seen.
• 11:21
  Speaker 6: If SGA wants to.
• 11:22
  Speaker 5: Get a bucket, they're like, come on over here, Hartstein,
• 11:25
  Speaker 5: he gonna get you something. And to me, that physicality
• 11:28
  Speaker 5: for Indiana, it slows them down right, and I feel like,
• 11:32
  Speaker 5: and this is new. I thought today they really attack
• 11:36
  Speaker 5: Nee Smith. I thought they went at them both J
• 11:38
  Speaker 5: Dub and n SGA and they went at him in
• 11:41
  Speaker 5: a myriad of ways, whether a screen and roll because
• 11:44
  Speaker 5: the other guys don't want to switch, right, the other
• 11:46
  Speaker 5: guys don't want to switch with him. So for me,
• 11:48
  Speaker 5: they found that physicality in that front group. And also
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: it takes a little pressure off a chat that you know,
• 11:53
  Speaker 5: he don't have to card the big man like that
• 11:56
  Speaker 5: because he'd be getting tired sometimes.
• 11:58
  Speaker 6: Man, you gotta give you know, I'm scout using your
• 12:00
  Speaker 6: sat word, myriad of way I have been doing this.
• 12:06
  Speaker 6: I need to go.
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: Hey. So it's pretty good.
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: So Smithy, look, I look at the Pacers and who
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: they are, their identity and taking care of the basketball.
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: We talked about Halliburton five.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: To one assist the turnover raceyo the first three rounds
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in the playoffs. But here against the Thunder that's down
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: to two to one, which is still really good, right,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: but nineteen turnovers a game the Pacers are giving up
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: and that was down to twelve in the first three
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: rounds in the playoffs, a huge jump. You got to
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: give credit to the Thunder for forcing it.
• 12:38
  Speaker 7: It is I think we forget they were the best
• 12:40
  Speaker 7: team in the league defensive. They were number one defensive ratings.
• 12:43
  Speaker 7: I think also we all know Indiana has to play
• 12:45
  Speaker 7: with pace. They have to get up and down, they
• 12:47
  Speaker 7: have to knock down threes well defensively, Okay, see is
• 12:51
  Speaker 7: slowing them down. They're slowing themselves down with the turnovers.
• 12:54
  Speaker 7: And also sometimes you gotta look at it getting it
• 12:56
  Speaker 7: out of the net, you can't run. And then Channing
• 12:59
  Speaker 7: said it when you look at officer rebounding, you had
• 13:02
  Speaker 7: Hartenstein was six, You had other guys getting five with
• 13:05
  Speaker 7: Chad Holmgren, and also lou Doord had five officer rebounds.
• 13:08
  Speaker 7: That is slowing down the pictures because they got to
• 13:10
  Speaker 7: converge to get inside the block out and they can't
• 13:12
  Speaker 7: get out and run