OKC

Oklahoma City Thunder and centre Chet Holmgren agree to contract extension worth up to a quarter of a billion dollars.

Chet Holmgren and the NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder agreed to a five-year rookie-maximum contract extension worth up to $250m, ESPN reported on Wednesday.

The contract is fully guaranteed and comes on the heels of Oklahoma City’s landmark contract with NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who agreed to a four-year, $285.4m super maximum contract extension through 2031 to become the league’s highest-paid player at more than $71m per season.

The 7-foot-1-inch (2.16m) Holmgren, 23, has been impactful when he’s on the court. Injuries limited him to 32 regular-season games after a hip injury last season. He also missed his rookie season with a foot injury.

With career averages of 16.1 points and 7.9 rebounds per game, Holmgren proved to be a critical piece for the team’s run to a title in 2025. He had eight double-double performances in 23 postseason games in 2025.

The second overall selection in the 2022 draft, Holmgren entered the NBA alongside Jalen Williams, the number 12 pick that year. Williams is also eligible for the rookie supermax extension. He’s entering the final season of a four-year rookie deal with a $6.6m base salary in 2025-26.

He’s also just the third player in history to make 150 three-pointers and 250 blocks through the first two NBA seasons.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have capped an extraordinary season by defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to win the franchise’s first title since relocating from Seattle in 2008.

The league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, led the scoring in front of a raucous home crowd at Oklahoma City’s Paycom Center, with 29 points and 12 assists in the deciding game on Sunday.

He was also crowned the best player of the Finals, marking the first time since Shaquille O’Neal in 2002 that the same player had won the scoring title, regular season and Finals MVP honours.

The Pacers suffered a huge blow early on when they lost their star point guard,  Tyrese Haliburton, midway through the first quarter with an Achilles injury and saw their title hopes dashed by a stifling Oklahoma City defence in the second half.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So many hours, so many moments, so many emotions, so many nights of disbelief, so many nights of belief.

“This group works hard. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this,” he added.

The championship capped an extraordinary run for the Thunder, who ended the regular season with a 68-14 record, good for the fifth-most wins in a single NBA season.

The Finals between two small-market teams were light on star power but delivered on thrills, as the surprise Eastern Conference champions Pacers pushed the best team in the league to the winner-take-all finale.

The Pacers got off on the right track as Haliburton drained his third three-pointer five minutes into the game, but the night took a terrible turn for Indiana when he slipped and fell two minutes later.

The two-time All Star was in tears as his team’s medical staff rushed to his side, and a hush fell over the building packed with Oklahoma City fans.

Haliburton was helped to the locker room but did not return, and while there was no official update from the team, a TV broadcast reported he had suffered an Achilles injury.

The resilient Pacers kept the game tight through a physical second quarter, putting up a terrific defensive effort to end the half up by one.

However, the Thunder soon took control with Gilgeous-Alexander, who went 0-5 behind the arc in the first half, lighting the fuse with a 25-foot three-point jump shot four minutes into the third quarter.

The Pacers were masters of the late comeback in the postseason, but without Haliburton, they were unable to claw back the deficit, with the Thunder opening the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run.

Youthful champions’ struggle

The Thunder’s youth was evident in their postgame celebration.

“No one knew how to open them,” Thunder centre Isaiah Hartenstein said of the post-game celebratory champagne bottles.

They learned soon enough, thanks to 31-year-old Alex Caruso, both the oldest player on the roster and the only player on the team who had previously won an NBA title.

“AC [Caruso] did a great job of giving us a tutorial,” Hartenstein said.

The Thunder youth came through with inconsistency at times.

“The whole run, I’ve tried to help the guys just be who we are, and that’s all we needed is to be who we are,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said.

The Pacers remain without an NBA title.

It could’ve been worse for the Pacers if not for point guard TJ McConnell, who scored 12 points in the third, hitting six of Indiana’s eight field goals in the frame.

Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers for the game with 24 points off the bench. Pascal Siakam and McConnell added 16 each.

The Thunder became the first team to score 100 or more points in an NBA Finals Game 7 since 1988, when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Detroit Pistons 108-105.

Caruso, who played on the Los Angeles Lakers’ 2020 title team, said he hoped his postgame tutorial would pay off again down the road.

“We’ll get some rest, rest, try to do it again next year,” Caruso said. “We’ll be better [at it] next year.”

The Indiana Pacers, rallying around injured star Tyrese Haliburton, crushed the Oklahoma City Thunder 108-91 to force a deciding Game 7 in the NBA Finals.

Haliburton, cleared to play with a right calf injury only a couple of hours before tipoff, scored 14 points with five assists and two steals in a solid contribution to a comprehensive team effort.

“We just wanted to protect home court,” Haliburton said on Thursday. “We didn’t want to see these guys celebrate a championship on our home floor.

“Backs against the wall, we just responded,” he added. “So many different guys chipped in, total team effort. I’m really proud of this group.”

Obi Toppin led the Pacers scoring with 20 points off the bench as Indiana’s reserves out-scored Oklahoma City’s bench 48-37.

Andrew Nembhard added 17 points and Pascal Siakam had 16 points and 13 rebounds as the Pacers, who had lost the last two games to stand on the brink of elimination, leveled the best-of-seven championship series at three games apiece.

Haliburton, who said he’d do everything he could to play after limping through most of Game 5, showed virtually no sign of his injury as the Pacers grabbed the game by the throat in the second quarter and never let go.

Indiana led by 22 points at halftime and by as many as 31 early in the fourth quarter.

“Well, we were going home if we didn’t come out and give everything we have and leave it all out on the floor,” said T.J. McConnell, who had 12 points, nine rebounds and six assists off the bench for Indiana.

“Obviously very happy, very proud, but we’ve got to flush it because we have another one on Sunday.”

Thunder searching for answers ahead of Game 7

NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led Oklahoma City with 21 points but had eight of the Thunder’s 21 turnovers.

Gilgeous-Alexander missed his lone three-point attempt while Jalen Williams – coming off a 40-point performance in game five – missed all four of his three-point attempts on the way to 16 points.

The Thunder, winners of a league-best 68 regular-season games – pulled their starters after falling behind by 30 going into the fourth quarter.

They’ll be searching for answers as the series heads back to Oklahoma City for the championship finale on Sunday – the first Game 7 in the NBA finals since 2016.

“The way I see it, we sucked tonight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We can learn the lessons and we have one game for everything, for everything we’ve worked for.”

The Thunder are seeking their first title since the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, having won it all in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics.

The Pacers, meanwhile, are in search of a first NBA title. They won American Basketball Association (ABA) titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973 before joining the NBA as part of the ABA-NBA merger in 1976.

Pacers ride wave of momentum

“You know, we’ve got one game,” Haliburton said. “All cards on the table. It’s going to be a lot of fun.”

For a few minutes, it looked like the Thunder might roll to the title.

The Pacers missed their first eight shots and fell into a quick eight-point hole. But they settled in to connect on six straight attempts and took the lead on a three-pointer from Nembhard midway through the first quarter.

Indiana piled on the pressure with a pair of three-pointers and a trey from Haliburton – his first basket of the night – pushing their lead to as many as nine points.

Up by three at the end of the first, the Pacers exploded in the second quarter, stepping up the aggression on both ends of the floor on the way to a 64-42 halftime lead.

With less than a minute to go in the first half Haliburton came up with a steal then found Siakam with a no-look pass for an emphatic dunk.

Siakam followed up with a turnaround jump shot at the halftime buzzer.

Toppin praised Haliburton as “a soldier,” but Haliburton said the victory was down to the team effort.

“It’s the Finals,” Haliburton said. “All of us got to give everything we have.”

Oklahoma have one hand on the trophy after a win 120-109 over Indiana, whose star player Haliburton struggled in Game 5.

Jalen Williams erupted for 40 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder held off the Indiana Pacers to score a 120-109 victory and move to within one win of clinching the NBA Finals.

An enthralling Game 5 battle in Oklahoma on Monday saw the Pacers climb out of an 18-point first-half hole to get within two points of the Thunder in the fourth quarter.

But just as Indiana threatened the latest in a series of trademark comebacks, the Thunder found an extra gear with Williams and NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander steering the team to a pivotal victory.

The win leaves the Thunder 3-2 up in the best-of-seven series, meaning they can seal the NBA crown with victory in Game 6 in Indianapolis on Thursday.

Williams finished with 40 points, six rebounds and four assists while Gilgeous-Alexander co-starred with 31 points and 10 assists, four blocks and two steals.

“My teammates instil a lot of confidence in me to go out and be me,” Williams said. “And [coach] Mark [Daigneault] has done a good job of telling me to just be myself.”

Williams said Oklahoma City’s experience in Game 1 – when they blew a 15-point fourth-quarter lead to lose – had helped them close out victory.

“Tonight was the exact same game as game one, to be honest,” Williams said. “Learning through these finals is what makes this team good and we were able to do that.”

Pascal Siakam led the Indiana charge with 28 points but the Pacers were left sweating on the health of star point guard Tyrese Haliburton after the loss.

Haliburton, whose fitness has been under a cloud since game two of the series, left the game in the first quarter with a right calf problem before returning later in the contest.

The Pacers talisman finished with just four points from a bitterly disappointing outing – all of them coming from free throws – as the Thunder’s vaunted defence clamped down on the Pacers.

“He’s not 100 percent, it’s pretty clear,” Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle said. “But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.

“We were concerned at half-time and he insisted on playing … but he’s not 100 percent. There’s a lot of guys in the series that aren’t.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s strong fourth quarter carries Oklahoma City Thunder to crucial road win over Indiana Pacers, levelling the best-of-seven finals series at 2-2.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Oklahoma City Thunder rallied for a gritty 111-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers that levelled the NBA Finals at two games apiece.

Frustrated for much of the game by Indiana’s relentless defence, NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Gilgeous-Alexander found a way to fight through on Friday.

He followed a 3-pointer with a pull-up jumper to give the Thunder their first lead since the first half with 2:23 remaining in the contest.

They wouldn’t trail again. Gilgeous-Alexander, who didn’t get to the free-throw line in the first half, added six free throws in the final 44 seconds.

“It’s a dog fight,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after another intense, physical battle between the two teams. “Every time you step on the floor, on both ends of the floor they make you work.”

Jalen Williams scored 27 points, Chet Holmgren added 14 points and 15 rebounds and Alex Caruso chipped in with 20 points off the bench for the Thunder.

Pascal Siakam scored 20 points to lead Indiana, adding eight rebounds, five assists and five steals.

Tyrese Haliburton scored 18 points, Obi Toppin added 17 off the bench and the Pacers led by 10 late in the third quarter.

But Oklahoma City – who dropped back-to-back games just twice this season and haven’t lost consecutive games in the playoffs – clamped down defensively in the fourth, determined not to fall in a 3-1 hole.

“We knew it when we woke up this morning – 3-1 is a lot different than 2-2 going back home,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “We played with desperation to the end of the game and that’s why we won.”

Gilgeous-Alexander said the Thunder must “maintain the same desperation” when they host Game 5 on Monday.

The Thunder are seeking their first title since the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008, having won it all in 1979 as the Seattle SuperSonics.

Close first half

The Pacers, chasing their first NBA title, struck first in another fast-paced opening quarter in front of their energised fans, making four of their first five shots and building a nine-point lead midway through the opening period.

Oklahoma hit back, putting together a 9-0 run to tie it, but the Pacers – with a strong defensive effort on Gilgeous-Alexander and four steals from Pascal Siakam – emerged from the first period with a 35-34 lead.

The back-and-forth battle continued in the second when Oklahoma City led by as many as six but could never pull away and Haliburton converted a three-point play – driving through traffic for a layup and making the free throw, his first of the series – to put Indiana up 60-57 at halftime.

By then, tensions had already ratcheted up. Toppin was assessed a flagrant foul for a check that sent Alex Caruso sprawling under the basket.

Thunder centre Isaiah Hartenstein confronted Toppin and both received technical fouls.

Oklahoma City’s Luguentz Dort was later assessed a flagrant foul for swiping an arm over Toppin’s head.

OKC rallies late

Toppin gave Indiana the first double-digit lead of the game with a dunk that put them up 86-76 late in the third.

But the Thunder dug deep, tying it up four times in the fourth quarter before Gilgeous-Alexander came through.

“You’re up seven at home you’ve got to dig in and find a way and we were not able to do it tonight,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “But give them credit. They kept attacking, kept attacking, and their defence was great down the stretch.”

Oklahoma City closed the game on a 12-1 scoring run, and Gilgeous-Alexander was the driving force.

“He’s unreal,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, although Caruso said nothing Gilgeous-Alexander does surprises him any more.

“I’ve seen him do it night after night,” Caruso said. “He doesn’t show a lot of emotion on the court, but he’s one of the most competitive guys in this league.”

It screamed watershed moment, the forever luckless Clippers outfoxing the eternally exalted Lakers for the services of not one, but two superstars.

The news stunned the NBA: In a matter of hours, the Clippers had traded for Paul George and signed Kawhi Leonard.

Six years later, the deal for George is considered tragically lopsided, the Clippers fleeced and forced to watch assets they surrendered lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to within three wins of an NBA championship.

The trade wouldn’t be looked upon harshly had the Clippers won a championship in the five seasons that George and Leonard played together. But the deepest the team advanced was the Western Conference finals in 2021.

George left as a free agent last offseason, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Leonard has played in only 266 of 472 games with the Clippers because of injuries. The Clippers paid George $195.9 million and have paid Leonard $194.6 million — with Leonard under contract for another two years and $100.3 million.

Meanwhile, one of the two players shipped to the Thunder along with five first-round draft picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has blossomed into the NBA‘s most valuable player. And the 2022 draft pick acquired from the Clippers was used to select Jalen Williams, a rising star who averaged 21.6 points a game this season.

Both are bargains. Gilgeous-Alexander — known as SGA — was paid just $13.5 million his first three seasons with the Thunder before signing a five-year, $173-million contract that will take him through the 2026-27 season. Williams has made $13.7 million in three seasons and will be paid $6.6 million next season, the last of his rookie contract.

And it’s a deal that just keeps giving — to the Thunder, who as a result of the trade get the Nos. 15 and 24 picks in this year’s draft and the Clippers’ first-round pick in 2026.

Asked to evaluate the deal moments after the Clippers defeated the Thunder in January 2024, George grudgingly acknowledged that the pendulum had swung toward Oklahoma City.

“I just think both sides won,” he said. “I did think it was quite a lot that the Clippers were willing to give up. … When that trade first happened, we knew Shai was going to be really, really good, but he’s special.”

George sighed and continued: “I guess in a way, Oklahoma won that trade with the picks and future MVP, but both sides won.”

The fact is, the Clippers couldn’t say no to the deal. Why? Because Leonard was a free agent coming off an NBA title with Toronto in which he was Finals MVP, and he was weighing offers from the Lakers and Raptors as well as the Clippers.

Signing Leonard was paramount, and he had given the Clippers something of an ultimatum: Trade for a star and I’m yours. Otherwise, it’s hello Lakers.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer needed to be convinced that giving up the slew of draft picks was a smart move. Leonard signing with the Lakers was an unthinkable outcome to Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and he jokingly told Ballmer the Clippers would need to relocate to Seattle if that happened.

“Steve Ballmer was nervous about the picks,” Rivers told The Times in 2019. “I said, ‘Steve, you keep saying six picks for Paul George is insane, but you’re saying it wrong. It’s not six for Paul; it’s six for Paul and Kawhi. So three for each. I would do that.’ You have to look at it in those terms.”

Knowing the Clippers desperately needed to consummate the deal, Thunder general manager Sam Presti demanded SGA — who was coming off an impressive rookie campaign — respected forward Danilo Gallinari and the draft picks.

Unforeseen was that SGA would rapidly rise from promising youngster to foundational piece to perhaps the best player in the NBA. He led the league in scoring this season with 32.7 points a game. He put up 34 points, eight assists and five rebounds in the Thunder’s win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 2 of the Finals on Sunday.

In Game 1, a stunning Pacers comeback was helped by two late missed shots by SGA. Still, he scored 38 points, and his 72 in his first two NBA Finals games is a league record.

“I’m being myself,” Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters. “I don’t think I tried to reinvent the wheel or step up to the plate with a different mindset. Just try to attack the game the right way. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far.”

Through 18 playoff games, SGA is averaging 30.4 points, 6.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.8 steals. Only Michael Jordan and LeBron James have recorded those numbers during a playoff run of 16 or more games.

None of this is a complete surprise. SGA provided the Clippers with opportunities to feel seller’s remorse soon after the trade. On Dec. 22, 2019, he scored 32 points with five assists and two steals in a 118–112 Thunder victory. Two years later almost to the day, he made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Thunder a 104–103 win.

Next is closing out the Finals and delivering a title to Oklahoma City — something that has proven elusive for the Clippers, the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.

“This is where we are, you can’t go back in the past,” SGA said. “You can only make the future better. That’s what I’m focused on.”

The Clippers can only do the same.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander learned a lesson to open the National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals.

“You can’t just throw the first punch,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the visiting Indiana Pacers on Sunday night. “You’ve got to throw all the punches all night.”

Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder threw plenty of haymakers, helping their side to a 123-107 victory to even the series 1-1 going into Wednesday’s Game 3 in Indianapolis.

That was a departure from Game 1 last Thursday, when the Thunder led by 15 in the fourth quarter before Indiana came back to win the game 111-110 on a basket in the final second.

Gilgeous-Alexander led the way on Sunday for Oklahoma City, scoring 34 with eight assists, five rebounds and four steals, and went 11-of-12 on free throws.

There were plenty of areas of improvement from Game 1 for Thunder coach Mark Daigneault to point out after the victory.

Oklahoma City had more success turning Indiana’s turnovers into points at the other end, got better production from Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, had nearly double the assists after posting a season-low 13 in Game 1, and got an offensive spark off the bench from Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins.

Daigneault said none of those alone was the difference-maker, but all came together for a much better result for his team.

“I think we were just a little bit better in a lot of areas,” Daigneault said.

The biggest stretch of the game came in the second quarter, when the Thunder ripped off a 19-2 run fuelled by their defence and Gilgeous-Alexander’s finishes on the other end.

To that point, Oklahoma City’s defence had not forced many turnovers, and it had not taken advantage of the few it had caused.

But during that big run, Gilgeous-Alexander scored seven of Oklahoma City’s last nine points – all off Pacers’ turnovers.

Indiana quickly answered with a 10-0 run to make it 52-39, but never got closer than that 13-point deficit.

The Thunder outscored the Pacers 26-12 in the paint in the first half and, for the series, now lead 88-68 in that category.

“They’re the best team in the league at keeping the ball out of there,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “It’s a tough task.”

In Game 1, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren combined to shoot just 8-of-28 from the floor, with Holmgren going just 2-for-9 with six points.

Holmgren looked much more settled early on in Game 2, hitting five consecutive shots after missing his first of the game.

While Williams was not overly efficient, scoring 19 points on 5-of-14 shooting, he did go 8-for-9 at the free throw line and added five assists.

Holmgren finished with 15 points, while Caruso added 20 and Wiggins 18 off the bench.

Tyrese Haliburton, the star of Game 1 after hitting the winning shot in the final second, led the Pacers with 17 points, though 12 of those came in the final quarter with the game fairly well in hand for Oklahoma City.

Over the first two games of the series, Haliburton is a combined 3-for-9 with nine points before half-time.

“I have to figure out how to be better at the beginning of games,” Haliburton said. “Kudos to them; they are a great defensive team.”

A big part of the Thunder’s defensive success against Haliburton has been thanks to Luguentz Dort. He has spent plenty of time guarding Haliburton but was on the opposite side of the floor for Haliburton’s Game 1 winner.

Dort finished with just three points, though Caruso gave him plenty of credit for the victory.

“He knows the role he needs to play for us to win the series and pick up that trophy at the end,” Caruso said.

Myles Turner added 16 for Indiana, while Pascal Siakam scored 15 points on 3-of-11 shooting.

There was never a doubt in Tyrese Haliburton’s mind.

The Indiana Pacers star has done it too often – especially in the 2025 playoffs – to not have confidence in the closing seconds.

Haliburton hit a 20-foot pull-up jumper in the final second on Thursday as the Pacers completed a stunning comeback for a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

It was the 25-year-old’s fourth big-time shot in the closing seconds during this year’s playoffs.

The Pacers hadn’t led in Thursday’s finals opener until Halliburton drained his latest clutch hoop with 0.3 seconds remaining.

“Ultimate confidence in himself,” Indiana’s Myles Turner said of Haliburton. “Some players will say they have it, but there are other players that show it … He wants to be the one to hit that shot. He doesn’t shy away from that moment.”

In Game 5 of the first round of the playoffs, Haliburton cut through the lane to hit a driving layup with 1.3 seconds left in overtime, giving the Pacers a win and ending the series against the Milwaukee Bucks.

In Game 2 of the second round, he hit a step-back 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds remaining to put Indiana up one and put the Cleveland Cavaliers into a 2-0 hole.

Then in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals, Haliburton hit another step-back shot that appeared to be the game-winner initially but was changed to a two that forced overtime against the New York Knicks. Indiana eventually won.

The Thursday shot merely continued the pattern.

Indiana trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter, and though the Pacers cut the deficit to one in the closing seconds, the Thunder had the ball in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hands with a chance to put the Pacers away.

However, Andrew Nembhard guarded the league’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) tenaciously, helping to force a missed fadeaway from Gilgeous-Alexander that opened the door for Haliburton’s heroics.

With 11 seconds left, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle trusted his team and didn’t take a timeout.

Haliburton worked his way down the court against Oklahoma City’s Cason Wallace, driving just inside the 3-point arc before pulling up for a shot that briefly rattled around the rim before dropping through.

“I had a pretty good idea,” Haliburton said when asked whether he knew the shot was good.

Indiana won despite turning the ball over 25 times in Game 1.

“It’s not the recipe to win,” Haliburton said. “We can’t turn the ball over that much … (but) come May and June, it doesn’t matter how you get ’em, just get ’em.”

The best-of-seven series resumes with Game 2 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Thunder to try level series in Game 2

“The series isn’t first to one, it’s first to four,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So we have four more games to get. They have three, and that’s just where we are.”

Game 1 was a gut punch for the Thunder, who led from the start and got 38 points from Gilgeous-Alexander.

Oklahoma City managed just 11 points off the Pacers’ giveaways, including just nine off Indiana’s 20 first-half turnovers.

The Pacers trailed by 15 early in the fourth quarter before chipping away at the deficit. Nembhard and Myles Turner each scored eight points in the period.

Indiana cut the deficit to one with 48.6 seconds remaining on Pascal Siakam’s putback following a missed 3-point attempt by Nembhard.

Siakam led the Pacers with 19 points and added 10 rebounds. Obi Toppin had 17 points off the bench, Turner scored 15 and Nembhard had 14. Haliburton finished with 14 points, 10 rebounds and six assists.

For Oklahoma City, Jalen Williams contributed 17 points on 6-of-19 shooting while Chet Holmgren was just 2 of 9 for six points.

The Thunder led 94-79 with 9:42 remaining, but Indiana wasn’t about to go away.

The Pacers ripped off a 15-4 run to stay within striking distance, and then they surged ahead late.

Oklahoma City hit just one field goal in the final four minutes, giving the Pacers the opening to come back.

“We played like we were trying to keep the lead instead of trying to extend it or be aggressive,” Williams said.

Oklahoma City Thunder closed out the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 5 and advanced to their first NBA Finals since 2012.

Even before the basket went in, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spread his arms wide in celebration.

Cason Wallace left his right arm high in the air, waiting for the ball to drop through the basket.

Soon enough, inevitably, it did.

Wallace’s corner 3-pointer at the buzzer was the exclamation point on a dominant first quarter for Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who rode the hot start to a 124-94 home win that ended the Western Conference finals in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 34 points, eight assists and seven rebounds as the Thunder closed out the best-of-seven series.

“I didn’t want to go back to Minnesota travel-wise and I wanted the fans to enjoy the moment with us,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

The Thunder are headed to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012 and the fifth time in franchise history. The first three appearances came when the club was based in Seattle.

Oklahoma City will host Game 1 of the finals against either the Indiana Pacers or the New York Knicks on June 5.

“Happy for this moment, but this isn’t our goal,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “This isn’t the end of our road.”

Wednesday’s outcome was evident early, as the Thunder buried the Timberwolves under the weight of a stifling defence and playmaking by Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren.

Oklahoma City put the game away quickly, leading by 17 after the first quarter and 33 at halftime.

The Timberwolves saw their season end in the Western Conference finals for the second consecutive year.

“I’m going to work my butt off this summer,” Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards said. “Nobody’s going to work harder than me this summer, I’ll tell you that much.”

Gilgeous-Alexander dished out five of his assists in the opening quarter as he again showed why he was selected as the NBA’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).

After the Timberwolves scored the game’s first hoop, Gilgeous-Alexander had a hand in all five Oklahoma City baskets during an 11-0 run that started the Thunder’s march towards the blowout.

In that stretch, Gilgeous-Alexander had four assists – three on Holmgren buckets – and drained a finger roll to start the separation.

On Monday, the Timberwolves started Game 4 red hot from the field but ultimately fell 128-126.

On Wednesday, Minnesota struggled on offence from the start, going just 1-for-11 from the field over the first five minutes.

Gilgeous-Alexander outscored Minnesota in the first quarter 12-9 and scored or assisted on 24 of the Thunder’s 26 first-quarter points.

Minnesota had more turnovers in the first half (14) than it did field goals (12). The Timberwolves finished with 21 turnovers.

Holmgren amassed 22 points and seven rebounds while Williams had 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists.

“These guys really make me feel like I’m a kid playing AAU basketball, like I’m 15 years old again,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s just fun. That’s what makes us really good. We have so much fun being out there together.”

Julius Randle led the Timberwolves with 24 points while Edwards scored 19 on 7-of-18 shooting.

“They dominated the game from the tip,” Edwards said. “Can’t do nothing but tip my hat to those guys. They came ready.”

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a career playoff-high 40 points to put Oklahoma City Thunder 3-1 up against Minnesota Timberwolves in the series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 40 points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished 10 assists as the Oklahoma City Thunder escaped with a 128-126 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals in Minneapolis.

Jalen Williams added 34 points on 13-for-24 shooting for Oklahoma City, which seized a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Chet Holmgren finished with 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting.

Gilgeous-Alexander sank 5 of 6 free throw attempts in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory on Monday night.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker scored 23 points off the bench to lead Minnesota. Jaden McDaniels contributed 22 points, and Donte DiVincenzo finished with 21 points off the bench.

The series will shift back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Wednesday night where the Thunder will have the opportunity to close out the series and progress to the NBA Finals.

Both teams battled in the final minutes as the Thunder staved off the Timberwolves’ comeback attempt.

Gilgeous-Alexander displayed his athleticism as he found Williams for a 3-pointer from the left wing to make it 116-109 with 3:34 remaining. The 1.98 metre (6ft 6in) guard was falling down on the play, and he slipped a pass between McDaniels’ legs to the open Williams.

The lead went back to seven when Williams hit another 3-pointer to put the Thunder on top 123-116 with 1:21 to go.

The Timberwolves clawed back thanks to McDaniels, who made a driving layup with 1:10 left and followed up with a 3-pointer with 23.1 seconds remaining. The latter hoop sliced the Thunder’s lead to 123-121.

Both teams exchanged free throws in the final seconds.

The Thunder led 128-125 when Anthony Edwards stepped to the free throw line with 3.5 seconds left. Edwards made the first attempt and missed the second attempt on purpose, but Gilgeous-Alexander chased down the rebound and fired a long pass out of bounds to stop the clock with 0.3 seconds to go.

Williams intercepted Julius Randle’s inbounds pass as time expired.

Oklahoma City led 90-85 at the end of the third quarter.

The Timberwolves went on an 8-0 run to cut their deficit to 77-76 with five minutes remaining in the third. DiVincenzo buried a 3-pointer from the left corner to punctuate the run.

The Thunder responded on the next possession when Gilgeous-Alexander knocked down a jump shot to give his team a 79-76 lead with 4:41 left in the quarter.

Minnesota trailed 65-57 at the half. Edwards had only four points before the break, and he finished the game with 16 points on 5-for-13 shooting. He made only 1-of-7 attempts from 3-point range.

Anthony Edwards scored 30 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves overwhelmed the Oklahoma City Thunder 143-101 to tighten their NBA playoff series.

Edwards added nine rebounds and six assists while shooting 12-of-17 from the floor and 5-of-8 from three-point range as the hosts Timberwolves pulled a game back to be 2-1 behind in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.

“I was super happy about the physicality and energy we brought,” Edwards said on Saturday. “Being down 2-0, it’s all about bringing energy, and we brought high energy.”

Julius Randle added 24 points for Minnesota, which set a club record for points in a playoff game in ripping the NBA regular-season win leaders and NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who managed only 14 points.

“We got punched in the mouth,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “You get punched, it’s about getting back up. It’s about responding. That’s what the next challenge is.”

The Thunder, who won the first two games at home, face Game 4 on Monday at Minneapolis and Game 5 on Wednesday at Oklahoma City.

“I know everyone is happy about this one, but we know OKC is going to come out and bring hella-energy and they are going to be ready to go and going to try to win game four and we’ve got to try and exceed their energy and get a win,” Edwards said.

“We’ll be ready.”

Minnesota’s victory was crucial because no team has ever recovered from a 3-0 deficit to win an NBA playoff series.

“We just didn’t bring it from an energy and focus standpoint,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “We just didn’t have it. They had the sense of urgency, knowing if they go down 3-0, it’s going to be pretty tough.

“They blitzed us pretty early, and we were never able to get back. We’ve got to start coming out with a sense of urgency.”

The Timberwolves set a club record for points in a playoff game and led by as much as 129-84 late in the fourth quarter.

“We do have to look at it and address the things that went awry for us,” said Timberwolves coach Mark Daigneault. “They really took it to us.

“They were just much more physical, much sharper, executed better, more forceful on offence. For the score to be what it was, they needed to outplay us in a lot of areas, and that’s what they did.”

Randle was benched late in game two and unhappy about it, but responded by taking out his frustrations on the Timberwolves.

“He knows not to take nothing too personal,” Edwards said of Randle. “I could see it in his eyes. He wanted his respect back, and he got it.”

Wolves dominate early

Minnesota seized a 72-41 half-time lead, with Edwards shooting 8-of-11 from the floor and producing 20 points and eight rebounds in the first half.

“We just weren’t able to bottle him up the way we had the first couple of games,” Daigneault said. “Credit him for the energy and force that he played with. He was really on it early.”

The Timberwolves led by as much as 68-33 in the first half and set a club record for playoff points in a half with 72. They scored 13 points off 10 forced turnovers in the first half, while the Thunder shot 12-of-40.

“The biggest thing is they came out and played with more force than we did,” Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren said. “Wherever they wanted to go, they got there. They didn’t let us stop them.”

Edwards scored 16 points in the first quarter, outproducing the Thunder as the Timberwolves seized their biggest lead of the series to that point at 34-14.

“Our intensity, from the first minute of the game, we set a tone,” Minnesota’s Rudy Gobert said.

“Everyone came out with the mindset to be physical. We did a good job staying with it consistently through the whole game.”

In the second half, Oklahoma City began with an 11-2 run, but the Timberwolves answered with a 10-0 spurt and went on to grab a 103-61 lead as the Thunder sent their starters to the bench late in the third quarter.

Led by 31 points by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder rally in second half to beat Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander overcame a slow start to score 31 points to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 114-88 home win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals.

It was Gilgeous-Alexander’s fourth consecutive game with 30 or more points and his eighth in 12 playoff games this season. He also added a game-high nine assists on Tuesday.

With seven minutes left in the fourth quarter, Gilgeous-Alexander iced the game with a spectacular play. The All-Star guard drove towards the basket and began falling, but not before flipping the ball toward the hoop as he went down.

The ball rolled around the rim briefly before dropping through, and Jaden McDaniels was called for the foul.

Gilgeous-Alexander finished off the three-point play to put the Thunder up by 14. He finished 10-of-27 from the floor and 0-of-4 from 3-point range, but he made 11-of-14 from the free-throw line.

Early on, the Timberwolves’ defence gave Gilgeous-Alexander fits, holding him to just 2-of-13 shooting in the first half.

Oklahoma City trailed by nine with a little more than a minute remaining in the first half before the Thunder closed on a 6-1 run to cut the deficit to four.

In the second half, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault moved Gilgeous-Alexander off the ball, and it helped the 1.98 metre (Six feet, six inch) guard find a rhythm.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 12 points in the third quarter as Oklahoma City outscored Minnesota 32-18.

While Gilgeous-Alexander turned up the pressure on offence, it was the Thunder’s defence that played the biggest role in the victory.

Overall, Oklahoma City scored 31 points on 19 Timberwolves’ turnovers. Minnesota managed only 10 points off the Thunder’s 15 giveaways.

Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams produced 19 points and eight rebounds, while Chet Holmgren added 15 points and seven boards.

The Thunder shot 50 percent from the field and 11-of-21 (52.4 percent) from beyond the arc while holding Minnesota to just 34.9 percent from the floor and 15-of-51 (29.4 percent) from 3-point range.

Julius Randle led Minnesota with 28 points, scoring 20 in the first half. After going 5-for-6 in the first half on 3-point tries, Randle didn’t attempt a shot from beyond the arc in the second half.

Timberwolves All-Star guard Anthony Edwards wound up with 18 points and nine rebounds. He attempted just one shot, a miss, while playing seven minutes in the fourth quarter.