OKLAHOMA CITY — About an hour after the final buzzer sounded in the Pacers’ 111–110 Game 1 win in the NBA Finals, Thunder players made the winding walk to the postgame interview room to try to explain what happened. Answers didn’t come easy. “Honestly,” Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said, “I’m not too sure.” Isaiah Hartenstein pointed the finger inward. “It sounds weird,” Hartenstein said, “it wasn’t like they won the game, but I feel like we lost the game.” Jalen Williams offered a blunt assessment: “I mean, it sucks. I don’t know.”
When Oklahoma City reviews the film of Game 1, it will find a lot to like. There were the 25 forced turnovers. The Thunder crushed Indiana in points in the paint (46–34) and outscored the Pacers in transition. They held double-digit leads for most of the game. And a lead for all but all of it. But they scored just 11 points off those 25 turnovers and forced just six in the second half. They were destroyed (43–29) on the glass. Indiana finished the game shooting in the high 40s from the floor (47.6%) and the three-point line (46.2%). Oklahoma City didn’t crack 40% in either.
“The common denominator is them,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “That’s a really good team. They’ve had so many games like that that have seemed improbable. They just play with a great spirit, they keep coming, they made plays, made shots. They deserved to win by a point.”
As Oklahoma City conducts its autopsy, any improvements will begin internally. Forcing turnovers is great—if you capitalize on them. The Thunder generated 19 turnovers in the first half, but scored just nine points off of them. They led by 12 at halftime. It easily could have been 30. “I didn’t think we converted a lot of advantageous situations,” Daigneault said. Just nine teams in NBA history have won after committing 25 turnovers. Even fewer have won when the opponent commits just seven.
“Maybe we could have been a little more aggressive getting to the rim with the ball in transition after some of those instead of trying to come up and run sets,” Alex Caruso said. “At the same time, that’s a positive note, we created so many turnovers. That’s something you can hang your hat on and maybe not get to that number every night, but it’s a positive note to show that we were swarming and having good defense.”
Cleaning up the paint is another priority. Oklahoma City lived in the paint in Game 1. The Thunder just couldn’t consistently score there. They shot 47.6% on attempts from inside five feet, per NBA.com. From five to nine feet, it dropped to 27.3%. “I thought we were a little sloppy on some gathers,” Daigneault said. “They got a piece of the ball on some of the plays. I thought there were some that we got probably jammed out there, we could’ve gotten to two feet or spread the ball back out. Some of them we didn’t finish, which is part of the game. We don’t have to be perfect, but we do have to learn from it.”
Oklahoma City shook up its starting lineup in Game 1, swapping out Hartenstein for Cason Wallace to better match up with the small-ish Pacers. Didn’t work. In the half court, Indiana smartly forced mismatches, punishing the Thunder with Pascal Siakam in the paint. The Pacers were more active than usual from the three-point line, grabbing a 21-point edge in threes made. Oklahoma City was particularly vulnerable in the corners: Indiana shot 10 of 16 from the corners, including a near flawless 8 of 10 from the left side.
“You have to eliminate the ones that we give up that are out of rotation where we don’t get there in time, or in early transition where we’re not matched up,” Caruso said. “I give them credit. They made big shots.”
Then, there is Gilgeous-Alexander. On the stat sheet, Gilgeous-Alexander’s Game 1 was solid: 38 points, five rebounds, five assists. Collected three steals as well. He was aggressive. Maybe too aggressive. He had 12 shots in the first quarter, most of them jumpers. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter but finished minus-9 for the period. Overall, he took 30 shots, tying his playoff high for attempts. With the game on the line, the MVP couldn’t shake Andrew Nembhard, his ex-Canada basketball teammate, who forced him into a fadeaway 15-footer.
OKC won’t panic. It has been here before. Like, literally. The Thunder lost Game 1 of the conference semifinals the same way, with Denver’s Aaron Gordon playing the role of Tyrese Haliburton. “Eerily similar,” Caruso said. They won the next game by 43. Asked about the similarities between the two situations, players leaned into the comparison.
“Both games, controlling the whole game,” Hartenstein lamented. “You hate to lose like that.”
Said Gilgeous-Alexander, “We lost Game 1. We’ve lost Game 1 before. On the other side of that, we came out a better team. That’s our goal. That’s our mentality, to try to learn a lesson from the loss, like we always do, and move forward and be better.”
Smarter, too. Oklahoma City knew Indiana would never quit. The Thunder watched the Pacers blitz the Bucks, stun the Cavaliers and win two games at Madison Square Garden against the Knicks. They knew the Pacers were capable of this. Now they have felt it. And they hope to never feel it again.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as What the Thunder Need to Fix in Game 2 of the NBA Finals.