Raúl Germán Bautista. – Oklahoma City Thunder receives tonight against the Indiana Pacers in Game 5 of the NBA Finals, with the series tied 2-2. The home team wants to take advantage of the local momentum to regain the lead and put themselves one win away from the title.
With the return to their court, the Thunder seeks to reaffirm their role as favorites and take control of this closely contested series. The team has shown solidity as a local throughout the postseason and trusts in repeating that performance today.
Jason Logan, senior analyst for Covers.com, considers that the Thunder starts as a favorite for this confrontation.
“The NBA Finals are now a best-of-three series between the Indiana Pacers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. If the Thunder wants to take advantage of their own court in Game 5 and put Indiana on the ropes, my predictions of Pacers vs. Thunder believe they need a complete effort, including a boost from the ‘super substitute’ Alex Caruso bench”, explained Logan.
The key for the Thunder, according to Logan’s analysis, will be the collective performance and especially the contribution of the second unit, with Caruso leading from the bench.
Marcelo Bousquet, of ESPN Digital, expressed that with the need to win the fourth game against Indiana Pacers to tie the series and regain the home advantage, the most valuable player of the season again demonstrated his lineage by becoming the game hero: 35 points with 12 of 24 in field shots, 10 of 10 in free throws, 3 steals and a block certify him.
“When the game had 5:03 minutes left to play and the Pacers were ahead 97-95, Shai took care of silencing the stadium. In that span, he scored 15 of the remaining 16 points and won the quarter to the entire rival team by 15-7. And he did it after having to withstand the suffocating and body-to-body marking that Andrew and Aaron Nesmith presented to him during the 40 minutes he was on the court”, he added.
He added: “His 35 points in Game 4 are his second-best scoring mark in these finals after the 38 he scored in the first. With the sole exception of the third game, where he “barely” reached 24, his marks have always exceeded the 30-unit mark.
In the finals, he has scored 131 of the 451 points of the OKC Thunder (29%) and his average per game is 32.7 per game.
His numbers for the last 5 minutes of the game and for the entire series are said to be easy. As easy as his ability to dress up as a hero and continue leading the illusion of Oklahoma City Thunder to win the title”.
Photo and video NBA.com
credits for the images of this post: n.com.do
