Young All-Star joins the exclusive club to put Thunder away from the NBA title

Jalen Williams had a career play-off-high 40 points, MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 and the Oklahoma City Thunder moved one victory of a title by beating the Indiana Pacers 120-109 in Game 5 of the NBA Finals.

It was the 10th – and by far the biggest – time that the Thunder stars combined more than 70 points in a game. Williams was 14 of 24 out of the field and Gilgous-Alexander added 10 assists.

Pascal Siakam had 28 points for Indiana, which now haunts 3-2 and organizes Game 6 on Thursday evening.

TJ McConnell added 18 for the Pacers, who in the fourth a shortage of 18 points in the fourth saw the Thunder moved away again and forever.

Williams, only 24 years old, joined an exclusive club with his 40-point game by only becoming the fifth player under 25 years of age to score 40 or more points in the NBA Finals, at Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant, Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal.

Teams that win Game 5 from an NBA Finals series bound at 2-2, have won the series 23 times in 31 earlier chances, or 74 percent.

And teams with a 3-2 lead in the final have won 40 times in 49 previous opportunities, or 82 percent.

But game 5 was not easy. Far from it.

Down with no less than 18 late in the second quarter, the Pacers-the Comeback kings of these play-offs, with so many victories in this post-season from 15 points or more (five) than the rest of the competition combined, including in game 1 of these series-dredged what they do, chip.

And they did it with Tyrese Haliburton reduced to the in principle playing Decoy about attack because of a leg problem that he worsened in the first quarter.

Under the leadership of McConnell, who scored 13 points in just under 7 minutes of the third, the Pacers arrived late in that quarter within five.

Then Siakam went to the work and a few free throws with 9:19 Left Got Indiana in four, then a 3-Pointer made 95-93 about a minute later. In the Play-by-Play era of the NBA, starting with the play-offs of 1997, teams with leads of 15 points or more were in the final 80-9.

Make that 81-9 now, and the Thunder has been removed one victory.

AP