Ex-Santa Clara Broncos star puts Oklahoma City Thunder on verge of NBA title

OKLAHOMA CITY Challenge of the NBA Finals on Monday night was starting to look like Meeting all over again Oklahoma City at home takes a huge lead Indiana comes roaring back in the fourth quarter Indiana won that one This time the Thunder crafted a different ending and a - lead in the NBA Finals was their reward Former Santa Clara Broncos great Jalen Williams had a career playoff-high points MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added and the Oklahoma City Thunder moved one win from a title by beating the Indiana Pacers - in Challenge of the Finals at Paycom Center We re learning announced Williams whose previous playoff best was It was the th and by far the biggest time the Thunder stars combined for more than points in a meeting Williams was of from the field and Gilgeous-Alexander added assists It wasn t a perfect battle at all and there s a lot of room for increase Thunder coach Mark Daigneault commented But our improvement from Encounter to Match was critical Pascal Siakam had points for Indiana which now trails the series - and will host Competition on Thursday night TJ McConnell added for the Pacers who whittled an -point deficit down to four in the fourth then watched the Thunder pull away again and for good It kind of went away from us Siakam mentioned But the fight was there It was but now everything favors the Thunder Teams that win Event of an NBA Finals that was tied at - have gone on to win the series times in previous opportunities or And teams with a - lead in the finals have won times in previous opportunities or Williams played three seasons at Santa Clara from - and was a two-time All-WCC guard In the last three games of the Finals Williams has scored a combined points a career-high But Event was not easy Far from it Down by as multiple as late in the second quarter the Pacers the comeback kings of these playoffs with as several wins in this postseason from points down or more five than the rest of the league has combined including in Competition of this series did what they do chipping away And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton reduced to basically playing decoy on offense because of a leg issue that he aggravated in the first quarter He s not Pacers coach Rick Carlisle commented It s pretty clear Led by McConnell who scored points in just under seven minutes of the third the Pacers got within five late in that quarter Related Articles Referee Scott Foster at the center of debate in NBA Finals Former Santa Clara star Williams overcomes shooting woes to help Thunder regain footing in NBA Finals In win Oklahoma City Thunder eclipses one Golden State Warriors record NBA Finals Thunder Gilgeous-Alexander own fourth quarter level series What lessons can Warriors learn from Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals Then Siakam went to work a pair of free throws with left got Indiana within four then a -pointer about a minute later made it - In the play-by-play era of the NBA starting with the playoffs teams with leads of points or more in the finals were - Make that - now and the Thunder are one win away That was honestly the same exact challenge as Challenge Williams explained Learning through these finals that s what makes a crew good One more win and his gang will be certified as great Please check back for updates to this story