JDub, Hali's Injury and TJ McConnell

 Another really fun NBA finals game last night that saw the OKC Thunder take a 3-2 series lead with a chance to clinch it on Thursday in Indiana. The Thunder jumped on the Pacers early, took control, relinquished control, then got it back and stepped on their throats to secure this one. I had a good time watching and as we creep towards the end I'm starting to feel that bitter sweet feeling of knowing I'll see a champ crowned but sad the last NBA game of the year is coming up. Before we get there though, I have storylines to discuss!

JDub Masterclass 

Around my apartment I like to refer to NBA players as different kinds of odds you encounter in every day life. For example, I like to think of Jalen Green as a dice roll. You might roll a 6 and have him be the best player on the court, you might roll a 1 and have him be unplayable, it's a 1/6 shot. SGA is a Canadian bank deposit. Every day you can check and he's going to be there putting up the amount you expect. So much so that he can drop 31/10 and be the secondary story of this game because that's just an average day for Shai. It was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's 15th 30 point game this playoffs and in 97 games this season, regular season and playoffs combined, Shai has scored at least 30 64 times. He's actually scored 30 points in 2/3 games, this kind of consistency is something to behold. So you know what you're going to get from Shai every game, where does the Thunder's upside come from? I think at this stage of his career on offense Jalen Williams is a coin toss. Sometimes you'll get a bit of a dud where he's not aggressive or just missing shots, but sometimes you'll get a gem and it'll look like he's the Thunder's superstar. Last night was a masterpiece from JDub putting up 40 points on 25 shots and doing it from everywhere on the floor. He had a couple of bank shot floaters from weird angles that looked impossible, he used his footwork in the midrange for spin around jumpers or step backs when the defense wouldn't give him a lane and he knocked down 3s when the ball found him out there. When JDub is going, his game looks a lot like Kawhi Leonard's. Since he's spent all his career playing with a now MVP in SGA, people view JDub as a second option type of guy. I think a game like this shows that if he had his own team he'd be in superstar discussions as well. 

For OKC, that was pretty much the story of this one. You know you're going to get your 30 from Shai 2/3 games, if JDub puts on a show too then there's no beating this team. The Pacers did a good job of going on a run in the third quarter and early 4th but the momentum was squashed by Shai's clutch defense and JDub's insane shot making. I'm only being hyperbolic because I want this so badly for Shai, but if JDub and Shai stick together, there's no limit on the amount of championships they can win. JDub is now averaging 25.8 points per game in the finals. Shai is averaging 32.4. As a duo, 58.2 points per game would be good for the second most points per game in a finals series for a duo, only to Shaq and Kobe in 2001. They may not have the names for themselves yet, but something tells me by the end of this week that's going to change.

Tyrese Haliburton 

Early in this game it looked like Hali tweeked his calf, and that dictated the rest of this game. Hali had absolutely nothing going. He didn't seem to have his burst to be able to get to the rim or the confidence to shoot from deep. For most of this game he would get the ball on the perimeter and immediately pass to his teammate. He finished with 4 points on 0/6 shooting and was just a complete non-factor on both ends of the court. There's not much more to say here, but it is worth mentioning because if Hali doesn't show up the Pacers don't have a chance. There's 2 days off between games where you can hope Haliburton gets healthy again, but a lower leg injury is scary and not a good sign at all. If he is indeed injured, I don't think the Pacers will have enough juice in game 6. It would be a tragic way to end a legendary playoff run for Haliburton and the Pacers. I still think OKC would find a way to win this series regardless, but I would've loved to have seen it at full strength. Here's hoping we get at least 1 more great Haliburton game before the season concludes. 

TJ McConnell 

With Haliburton not giving them anything, the Pacers turned to backup TJ McConnell in the 3rd quarter to give them a spark, and spark them he did. TJ is one of my favorite players in the league. He's gotta be 5'11, not the fastest guy on the court and not a guy who's jumping out of the gym. If you passed him on the street you'd think he's just an average dude who's kept himself in good shape. What he does have is a bigger will to win than anyone else on the court at all times, and that's so fun to watch. TJ was relentless getting down hill and finishing at the basket through contact. He has this stupid little stop and pop jump shot that he likes to do from like 5 feet out and it always looks like it's a dumb shot but I rarely see him miss it. He's not a good shooter and defenses know all he wants to do is drive, yet he's able to drive over and over again and do it effectively. TJ McConnell helped cut the Thunder lead all the way down to 2 with 18 points in 22 minutes before he went to the bench for Haliburton again. I think that if emotions weren't involved, you definitely close that game with TJ McConnell over Haliburton. The only reason you don't do that is to not hurt your star player's feelings in a big finals game. The Pacers lost this one and so this TJ game might be forgotten, but at least it's immortalized here on Lohensports. 

Ok that's that! I felt more rambly than usual for this one so I hope it's coherent. Another 2 days off between games, who the heck knows what I'll come up with to write about tomorrow.