Nobody wearing Thunder blue on Wednesday night in Game 3 of these NBA Finals in any way made MJ think of the greatness or grit of Rafael Nadal. Instead, what this underground blogger saw was the Thunder get out-toughed, out-played, and out-coached on their way to a 116-107 road loss.
Some of the numbers from this Game 3 are just staggering considering the ‘faux’ toughness which has been bestowed on this Thunder team so far this post-season by the basketball media.
Indiana basically beat the Thunder at their own game. In your face defense, turning the Thunder over 19 times for 21 points, winning critical 50-50 balls, winning a bench point rout of 49-18, and of course, the coaching mismatch between Rick Carlisle and Mark Daigneault three games into these NBA Finals.
Coach D…dude, again, these are the NBA Finals and you’re coaching against the Hall of Famer Rick Carlisle. These aren’t the Edmond Girls’ Youth U8 Finals. Obviously…somewhere, somehow, MJ missed the fact Cason Wallace must have finished second to SGA in the regular season MVP voting. MJ must have missed all that during the beach trip hiatus.
What MJ also witnessed was Mark Daigneault doesn’t trust Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, and Isaiah Joe in a hostile road game situation. Combined the three played 16 minutes and scored a combined 6 points. In essense, Coach Daigneault only played seven players in this game. What I’m saying is seven guys played 224 of the 240 available minutes while Shai logged 42 tough minutes.
Conversely, the Hall of Famer turned this game around BY BELIEVING IN HIS BENCH and his rotation of ten players.
Some words of advice to Thunder Nation….these Pacers aren’t the crippled, razor-thin Denver Nuggets. These guys are deep, hungry, and like me, tired of hearing how great the Thunder are in relation to the reality Denver, Dallas, Minnesota, and the LA Lakers were all for various reasons not the teams we thought they might be heading into Western Conference post-season play.
Ben Mathurin’s 27 points and TJ McConnell’s abundant energy turned this game around in the second period despite the Thunder leading by five points entering the fourth period. The Pacers wore down the Thunder in the game’s final six minutes for a critical Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead which puts the Pacers within two games of an NBA championship.
Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam were huge as well as they elevated their games when it mattered most.
But here’s the thing, this is the exact scenario the Thunder found themselves in heading into that Game 4 in Denver when the Thunder did acutally show up for 48 minutes.
But these Pacers aren’t those Nuggets. And these Pacers don’t have to figure out why their GM suckered them with Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
These Pacers seem to be a completely different group of dudes who need to win a critical Game 4 on Friday night night to take a commanding 3-1 NBA Finals lead.
I can’t wait to cover it for okcthunderground.com. This is why you want your own NBA underground blog This is why.
Mike J
- My wife and I over the years saw the Beach Boys live at four different venues. I hope Brian Wilson finds the peace which he seemingly had struggled with during his life. I love this song.
- We’re all just searching for our own unique peace, dignity, and grace traveling our own journey. MJ