Basketball, She Wrote
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Thunder keep Pacers off-balance in lopsided Game 2 loss
🕑 Added 2025-06-09 20:16:26 +0000 UTCIndiana needs find a means to get downhill in order to avoid fighting another uphill battle in Game 3
By: Caitlin Cooper I @C2_Cooper
In what was a lopsided 123-107 loss for the Indiana Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton struggled to find space to be effective as a driver, and, in the reverse, Pascal Siakam had to drive in order to effectively find space. Meanwhile, just as Oklahoma City narrowed the court on defense, congregating here, there, and everywhere, the Thunder also elongated the court on offense, furling out a longer runway for the league's MVP, while also actively transforming obstacles into opportunities -- both with regard to their own star as well as the stars for Indiana.
Joining me to discuss what led to the Pacers constantly fighting an uphill battle in Game 2 and whether, in a Finals series between two teams from the plain states, they can find smoother terrain back home in Indiana is once again Samson Folk.
Here are the relevant timestamps:
0:00 - Introductions
2:17 - Manufacturing driving lanes for Haliburton and the need to play either early or late + film breakdown on "sideline" as a 5-out flare action with progressions to move the defense and play him into space
8:37 - Silver linings from the fourth quarter?
13:09 - OKC guarding Haliburton by forcing him to guard with RAM screens (Is there a way to pre-switch this? Is more zone a potential solve?)
18:58 - Pascal Siakam being shifted from the post to above the break
19:28 - OKC cross-matching Isaiah Hartenstein onto Aaron Nesmith in double-big lineups, resulting in the excesses of TJ-ball at the expense of Siakam
31:04 - The Pacers ran "C" for Siakam with Haliburton in the weak-side corner! (But, they didn't make the right passing read!)
33:14 - Stop throwing Siakam the ball in the direction of the help!
34:14 - OKC narrowing the court on defense and elongating the court on offense
36:37 - OKC logging their highest average distance from the hoop on ball-screens in any game this season in Game 2
41:16 - The importance of peeling in conjunction with next-ing
44:44 - Other ways the Thunder countered/manipulated Indiana's next-ing and aggressive nail help
52:53 - Reads existing on defense, too
55:38 - Banter about reading for points as kids, our favorite medals, high school box scores, and NBA player comps
1:06:30 - Thank you & Goodbye
Comments
Jameson Wentworth
Our trophy for reading growing up in Kokomo, Indiana was a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut (dine-in only)
Erik Christensen
Would love to see this morph into a Fever blog after the Finals are over and draft I suppose. Great wonky content
