Basketball, She Wrote
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out-clutches Pacers, as series changes with series of changes
🕑 Added 2025-06-15 20:42:34 +0000 UTCBy: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper
After leading by as many as 10 points in Game 4, the Pacers were outscored 31-17 in the fourth quarter. For a team that was previously 9-1 in clutch games throughout the playoffs, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander out-clutched the Pacers all by himself over the final five minutes, tallying 15 points to just seven for Indiana. Whereas the Pacers struggled to regain traction while screening Gilgeous-Alexander into action, Gilgeous-Alexander relentlessly searched for and found friction while operating as the screener to finagle more favorable match-ups in what led to a series of changes that changed the series from a potential 3-1 lead for the Pacers to a 2-2 split.
Joining me to discuss that, along with other trends and notables from Game 4, is once again Samson Folk.
Here are the relevant timestamps:
0:00 - Introductions
4:11 - Closing with Toppin or Turner?
6:05 - The art of the DHO & why it's needed against OKC's physicality (also, a brief aside on ref analysis)
12:08 - Turner being forced to play to areas that aren't necessarily his strengths while also not looking as though he was at full strength
14:53 - Impact of OKC's lineup changes and Toppin being defended by fives
20:43 - Missed opportunities for seals
24:11 - Brief aside on the broader potential to make use of the backboard as a means to feed the post against mismatches when fronted
26:05 - Doing the splits further from the basket (relatedly, Siakam only had eight touches in the fourth quarter, none of which were in the paint)
29:44 - Contrast between OKC running actions between their two best players, despite being guarded by Nembhard & Nesmith, whereas Siakam wasn't as involved in the fourth quarter while being defended by Jalen Williams
32:33 - Adjustment from OKC for SGA to screen for Williams, shedding Nembhard while baiting Nesmith into foul trouble (which is why Mathurin was in the closing lineup)
35:46 - Will the Pacers have Nesmith switch onto SGA again in Game 5? And, how might OKC counter if they don't?
42:30 - What the Pacers are looking for when Tyrese is isolating in combination with flare screens w/ late-game comparisons from past seasons
48:49 - What to watch for in Game 5 (Also, not everything has to be about which of these teams collapses on any given night! Both teams are actively trying to create and solve problems in real-time! The Finals are hard!)
1:00:37 - Banter about word pronunciations, naturally
1:02:35 - Exit survey on our joint time spent together in Indy + a huge thank you to all of the fans who came up to tell us how much they appreciate our coverage
1:09:01 - Goodbyes & apologies for the delay in our release for this episode
Comments
Trenton Burns
I missed this. I agree with you.
Trenton Burns
Could we not just have AA go underneath the screen set by SGA? Especially with how high those screens were being set. I’m not sure JDub is going to kill you from 3 if you cheat under.
