The team only scored 3 three-pointers and was able to escape

It's hard to imagine that in 2025, a team will only make 17 three-pointers and only make three-pointers, but still win the game, or on a stage like the Finals, and the Thunder did it today.

Their three-point range was 1-of-12 at one point, and the Thunder are not without shooters, and many people can shoot three-pointers, but today they were inaccurate in their three-point range as a whole. The Thunder continued to shoot three-pointers, and they put the ball more inside and shot from mid-range. Of course, the premise of all this is another change of formation from Daigneault.

Bringing Harden back to the starting line-up is Daigneault's rejection of his active change of formation in the first three games, which is not easy. I've seen too many dead duck coaches who insist that their choice is okay even after being eliminated.

The biggest significance of Harden's start is that the Thunder regained the rebounding advantage, although Harden only has 6 rebounds, but with Harden on the court, Chet has much less pressure to grab rebounds. Chet had 15 rebounds and four frontcourt rebounds today, and his two second-offense goals in the final quarter were crucial.

The Thunder won the Pacers by 10 rebounds today, and even though Harden was heavily targeted for a while in the first quarter, Dagneault still gave Harden full trust. The twin-tower lineup of Harden and Chet on the field at the same time also gave Chet some breathing space and reserved physical energy for the final quarter.

Similarly, the Thunder adjusted Alexander's offensive tempo and stocked up on his final outbursts. In the first quarter, Alexander was basically in a state of paddling, and was replaced early, and only played 7 minutes in the first quarter, and Jayway began to lead the team to attack.

Alexander scored only four points in the first quarter, and Alexander scored eight points in each of the second and third quarters. Alexander is actually not very adapted to this offensive rhythm, he has always been full in the first three quarters before, and 30+ in the third quarter is very common.

Today when Alexander couldn't get the ball on the court, he was also confused for a while, and the Thunder also got into huge trouble due to their poor three-point touch. In the last 1 minute of the third quarter, the Thunder was stretched to 10 points by the Pacers, which was the most dangerous moment for the Thunder all season.

10 points down away and losing today would be 3-1 down, and only one team in history has come back from such a situation. The Thunder couldn't retreat any longer, and there was an abyss behind them, but fortunately, Jayway, Chet and Caruso stabilized the point difference in the final quarter and tied the game.

The game went to the decisive moment, and it was logically the situation that the Pacers wanted to see, as they were the players who would play the most crucial moments of the season, and Haliburton's magic played out over and over again. But today, the Pacers are facing a fully charged, energetic Alexander.

At 3:20, Haliburton scored a layup to give the Pacers a 103-99 lead over the Thunder, which became the Pacers' last athletic goal of the game. Subsequently, the Thunder played a wave of 12-1 reversal, and of those 12 points, Alexander scored 11 points alone.

Alexander hit the third three-pointer of the Thunder team, and then "pushed away" Smith to hit a mid-range jumper, which was widely circulated on the outside net after the game, of course, not because of how powerful, but because Alexander's behavior of elbowing first was suspected of an offensive foul.

Alexander scored five straight points to turn the deficit around, and then continued to walk to the free throw line. He drew Nesmith's sixth foul and was another turning point in the game, as the Pacers' pick up of Marceline was a disaster, with three consecutive missed free throws and two off-ball fouls to end the game.

In the Thunder's final 16 points, Alexander scored 15 points alone, including 8-of-8 free throws. But let's be honest, the last four free throws were tactical fouls by the Pacers. Alexander did get fouled on 6 of his 35 points and 10 free throws today.

Controversial decisions aside, Alexander did deserve more credit for his late performance as he played as an MVP and re-proved himself on key shots.

The Pacers still played well in the first three quarters today, and there were still all sorts of amazing players who stepped up to change the format of the game. Nesmith in the first half, Toppin in the third quarter, if the Pacers win today, they will be the wonder players again.

But there was a big problem with the Pacers' offense in the final quarter, Siakam, who scored 20 points and 5 steals in the first three quarters, played 8 minutes in the final quarter without a point, and even only made 1 shot, and completely disappeared on the court.

Siakam himself was the most consistent point of attack on the Pacers, and after he disappeared, the Pacers' offense was no longer magical. Haliburton missed two three-pointers in the final period, Nembhard and Turner missed all threes, and Matherine, who scored 27 points in the last game, missed free throws today.

The first three games were won by the side with the higher bench score, but today was an exception. The Pacers scored 36 points off the bench and Toppin alone had 17. The Thunder bench had just 27 points, but Caruso made up for it all.

Caruso scored 20 points today, and many times completed strong solutions when the Thunder's offense couldn't be opened, whether it was a breakthrough layup or a difficult mid-range shot, he didn't play like a role player at all, and he also hit one of the Thunder's three three-pointers.

In addition to his 20 points on the offensive end, Caruso even had five steals. In the last game, McConnell was the first player in the history of the Finals to come off the bench with 10 points + 5 assists + 5 steals, and today Caruso is the first player in the history of the Finals to come off the bench with 20 points + 5 steals.

The Thunder eventually relieved themselves and did not return home with a 1-3 deficit to regain home-court advantage. Their championship prospects were bleak when they were 10 points down in the third quarter, but the team's performance in the final quarter allowed them to escape, and the Finals were so unpredictable.

Now that the two sides are back on the same page, the Pacers will need to repeat the magic of G1 in the Finals if they want to regain the lead or even win the championship.