Special night, special player, special Playoffs.
Tyrese Haliburton makes history as the Pacers take a pivotal Game 4 in Indy.
5 STORIES IN TODAY’S EDITION 🏀
‘May 28, 2025
Pacers Top Knicks: An unprecedented performance and a 3-1 Pacers lead
Closing Quarters: Indiana ended all four frames on a scoring run to win Game 4
OKC Offense: Thunder coming off their highest-scoring game of the series
Thunder Swarm: OKC’s blueprint to slowing down Anthony Edwards & Julius Randle
Win Or Go Home: How the Wolves look to rebound with their backs against the wall
BUT FIRST … ⏰
A trip to the Finals is up for grabs for the Thunder in Game 5…
Game 5 of the West Finals tips off tonight (8:30 ET, ESPN), with the Thunder one win away from their first Finals appearance in 13 years. On the other side, Ant and the Wolves will look to stave off elimination.
1. HALIBURTON’S HISTORIC NIGHT GIVES PACERS 3-1 SERIES LEAD IN EAST FINALS
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To push the Pacers one win shy of the NBA Finals, Tyrese Haliburton delivered a performance that was one of one.
Pacers 130, Knicks 121: In an all-around masterclass, Haliburton posted game-highs in points (32), rebounds (12), assists (15) and steals (4), while committing 0 turnovers, powering the Pacers past Jalen Brunson (31 pts, 5 ast) and the Knicks to take a 3-1 series lead. | Recap | 5 Takeaways
- Unprecedented: Haliburton is the first player in NBA history to record 30+ pts, 10+ reb, 15+ ast and 0 turnovers in a Playoff game since turnovers were first tracked in 1977-78
- Unmatched: Remove his turnovers and his stat line still stands alone, as no player has gone 30/10/15 with 2+ steals in a Playoff game since steals were first tracked in 1973-74
- Unrivaled: He’s also the first Pacer to record a 30-point triple-double in a Playoff game and the first player ever to go 30/10/15 in a Conference Finals game
Haliburton’s historic night began with a historic start – 15 pts, 5 reb and 6 ast in the 1st quarter – joining LeBron James as the only players to go 15/5/5 in any quarter of a Playoff game in the play-by-play era.
- Stacking Records: At the break, Haliburton had yet another historic stat line – 20 pts, 8 reb, 10 ast, 4 3s – numbers unmatched by any player in any half of a Playoff game in the PxP era
And in the 4th quarter, with the Knicks storming back from 15 points down, it was Haliburton who said good night.
- The Extender: With Indy on a 3+ minute field goal drought and the lead slipping, Haliburton stopped the bleeding with a smooth finger roll to restore a double-digit cushion
- The Answer: In clutch time with the Knicks down six and riding a 13-5 run, Haliburton responded again, driving in for another momentum-halting layup
- The Closer: With 46 ticks left and Indy up seven, Obi Toppin drilled a game-sealing 3 off an inbound pass from – guess who? Haliburton
- “It was important for me to come out here and just make plays,” said Haliburton on the win. “I was just trying to play my game.”
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Special Night, Special Player: In a league increasingly defined by ‘score-first’ guards, Haliburton continues to bend the game in the opposite direction – orchestrating, not overpowering, his way to all-time numbers.
- Dynamic Distribution: Wednesday marked the eighth time since turnovers were first tracked that there’s been a 30-point, 15-assist game with zero turnovers. Haliburton owns three of them
- Unseen Efficiency: He’s also the first player to average 18+ points, 5+ boards and 9+ assists while committing fewer than 2 turnovers through the first 14 games of a single Playoff run
And last night, with the Pacers chasing their first Finals berth since 2000, Haliburton’s fingerprints were everywhere – accounting for 51.5% of Indy’s points, over half its assists and over a third of its rebounds.
- Alone Again: In fact, since turnovers were first tracked, no player has ever led both teams in points, rebounds, assists and steals while committing zero turnovers in a Playoff game – until Haliburton on Wednesday
But perhaps no number captures Haliburton’s all-around impact more than this:
Even without his 32 points, his statline still stands alone, as no other player had ever recorded 15+ assists, 12+ rebounds, 4+ steals and 0 turnovers in an NBA game – regular season or Playoffs.
Haliburton did it to move his team five wins away from an NBA title.
2. CLOSING QUARTERS HELPS INDY EARN A CLOSE-OUT GAME
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The Pacers earned themselves a close-out game behind four keys – Haliburton’s masterpiece ⬆️, Pascal Siakam’s 2nd 30-piece in five days, a series-high 20 points from Bennedict Mathurin off the bench and the ability to close quarters.
Entering Game 4, the Knicks and Pacers were separated by a total of two points over three games. With every point crucial in a series defined by comebacks and clutch time, the Pacers outexecuted the Knicks in the closing minutes of each quarter of Game 4.
- 1st Quarter (12-5 run): After a Jalen Brunson 3-point play made it a one-point game with 3:43 left, Indy outscored NY 12-5 behind Siakam (5), Haliburton (3) and Mathurin, who scored four in the final minute to push the lead to eight
- 2nd Quarter (6-0 run): Another 3-point play by Brunson put NY up one with 1:45 left, but Indy responded with a 6-0 burst to end the half, starting with a pair of Aaron Nesmith free throws that ended up being the game’s final lead change
- 3rd Quarter (9-4 run): Indy led by as many as 12 in the 3rd before NY cut the lead to six on a Karl-Anthony Towns layup with 1:57 left. Behind Mathurin’s five points, the Pacers pushed the lead back to double-digits (+11) entering the 4th
- 4th Quarter (10-7 close): A Josh Hart putback capped a 12-5 NY run to make it a six-point game with 3:17 left. After a timeout, a 7-2 Indy burst made it an 11-point lead with 22 seconds to play – including a huge 3 by Obi Toppin with 46 ticks left – before the Mathurin sealed with win with free throws
- The Pacers were plus-21 over those four end-of-quarter runs, which spanned under 11 minutes of combined game time. For the other 37+ minutes, the Pacers were minus-12
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Mathurin scored 12 of his 20 points during these critical runs. That’s one more point than the 11 he had in the entire series entering Game 4. After missing all of Indy’s 2024 Playoff run due to injury, Mathurin made his impact in the biggest game of the year so far.
- Coach Carlisle on Mathurin: “I’ve just been encouraging him to stay ready, that we need him … Tonight, he was great, really gave us a huge lift and hit some really timely buckets, so I’m really proud of him.”
Siakam dropped his fourth 30+ point Playoff game with the Pacers and second in this series – as he and Haliburton both hit 30+ in the same game for the second time as teammates and the first time in the Playoffs.
And it put Indiana one win away from its second Finals appearance in franchise history. The Pacers’ first chance to clinch comes Thursday (8 ET, TNT) in New York, where they won Games 1 and 2.
3. OKC OFFENSE RISES TO THE OCCASION
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In the chess match that is the NBA Playoffs, having multiple pathways to success is critical.
Entering Game 4 of the West Finals, the Thunder had allowed an average of 98.4 ppg in their 10 Playoff wins — riding their league-leading defense to success.
In their Game 4 win, the Thunder’s high-powered offense took the lead. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (40) and Jalen Williams (34) posted the highest scoring games of their postseason careers, leading OKC to one of its top offensive games of the Playoffs.
So, how did the Thunder post their 3rd-highest scoring game of the Playoffs two days after their 2nd-lowest scoring performance? Aggressiveness and versatility.
- Drives: The Thunder attacked the basket, attempting more shots on drives (33) than in any game of the series, scoring 37 points. SGA finished with 12 points and 3 assists on his 21 drives
- Catch & Shoot: Six of OKC’s 22 assists came off drives, kicking out to perimeter shooters, who knocked down open looks. After scoring 32 points on 28.9% shooting on catch-and-shoot opportunities in Game 3, OKC had 43 points on 51.7% in Game 4
- Pull-Ups: One of the largest differences in a game decided by just two points was the Thunder’s 31-13 edge in points off pull-ups. OKC shot 46.7% on pull-ups compared to Minnesota’s 23.8%
The end result was not just a Game 4 win, but moving a step closer to making history. One more win will not only send the Thunder to their first Finals since 2012, it will put them in company with some of the most elite teams the league has ever seen.
- 80-Win Club: With one more win, the Thunder will become the 15th team in NBA history with 80 total wins between the regular season (68) and Playoffs (12 should they win one more)
- What Does That Mean? Of the previous 14 teams to reach 80 total wins, 13 went on to win the championship, with the 2015-16 Warriors being the only exception
As the Thunder try to close out the series at home in Game 5, will it be their suffocating defense or versatile offense that sparks them against a desperate Wolves squad fighting to force a Game 6 back in Minnesota?
4. THUNDER SWARM: OKC’S BLUEPRINT TO SLOWING DOWN MINNY’S STARS
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As Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle go, so go the Wolves.
This season, Minnesota is 30-9 when both stars score 20+ points. In Game 3 of the West Finals, Edwards (30) and Randle (24) did just that, powering a 143-point eruption – the most OKC has allowed all season.
48 hours later, the Thunder’s defense answered.
- Lockdown: After combining for 54 points in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards and Randle to 21 in Game 4 – their lowest combined output all season
- Winning Formula: It was just the ninth time this season both stars were held under 20 points. In those games the Wolves are 4-5
So how did OKC pull it off? It threw bodies, length and layers of pressure at both stars – starting with Edwards.
- OKC Swarm: Six defenders spent 50+ seconds on Ant – Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, SGA, Chet Holmgren & Jalen Williams
- Together, they held Edwards to a combined 6-of-13 shooting and forced four turnovers
- But it was Dort – OKC’s First-Team All-Defender – who led the way, spending the most time on Edwards while holding him to just two shot attempts
Dort made Edwards work for everything – even the ball. Here, he denies the handoff, absorbs a screen, then doubles with Isaiah Hartenstein to force it out of Ant’s hands.
Defending From Deep: After going 5-of-8 from downtown in Game 3, OKC limited Edwards to 1-of-7 from 3 in Game 4 thanks to heavy perimeter pressure.
Wallace fights over a Gobert screen to prevent the 3. Edwards still finds space, but Hartenstein helps over to contest.
With limited airspace, Ant attacked, recording 18 drives – nearly six more than his series average. Only four ended in buckets, as OKC’s help collapsed from the corners to clog the lane.
After a seamless switch with Caruso, Dort funnels Edwards toward the corner help where Williams pokes it free. Caruso, still hovering, cleans up the rest.
The same swarm hit Randle.
Four defenders spent 45+ seconds on the power forward, led by Williams, along with Caruso, Holmgren and Wallace. Together, they held him to a combined 0-of-5 shooting and forced four turnovers.
Their Plan? Wall off the interior. A bruising scorer, Randle averaged 9.3 drives for 6.3 ppg in Games 1-3. In Game 4, OKC limited him to two drives for zero points.
With Williams on his hip, Randle drives into a wall off help, meeting both Dort and Holmgren. The pressure forces an errant pass, and another OKC steal.
Containing the Wolves’ star duo let OKC return to its roots. After just five steals in Game 3, five different Thunder recorded multiple steals in Game 4, resulting in 23 forced turnovers. That led to 22 points the other way – and a 3-1 series lead.’
5. WIN OR GO HOME: CAN THE WOLVES EXTEND THEIR SEASON TONIGHT?
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Minnesota’s Chris Finch didn’t waste time getting into the weeds of what went wrong in Game 4.
The coach just knew his team was capable of more.
- “This isn’t the formula to get it done,” said Finch. “And I think that’s the most important thing to take away from [Monday].”
Tonight (8:30 ET), Minnesota visits OKC for Game 5. Facing a 3-1 series deficit against a team that’s dropped only seven contests at home this season, hope begins with the group’s experience on the brink.
- Battle Tested: The Wolves are 4-3 in elimination games across the last four postseasons. Those four wins are tied for the 2nd-most of any team in that span
- Never Out: That includes a 20-point comeback in Game 7 of last year’s WCSF to end the Nuggets’ title defense – the largest Game 7 rally in the PxP era
The Formula: Despite a Playoff-low 22 defensive rebounds and a Playoff-high 23 turnovers, Minnesota lost Game 4 by just two points.
In Game 3, it handed OKC its largest defeat all season behind a series-high 50 boards and a series-low 10 turnovers.
- Power Of Possession: When Minnesota commits 15 or fewer turnovers, it’s 6-2 this postseason. It’s an even-better 7-0 when tallying over 30 defensive rebounds
- “If we want to win, it’s not about how much we can score,” said Nickeil Alexander-Walker. “Can we find a way to make winning plays relentlessly and consistently?”
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The Wolves’ bench has done its part and then some, accounting for 46.1% of production Saturday and 50.7% on Monday. Stars, though, are expected to shine in these moments.
- Setting The Stage: Edwards (16 pts) & Randle (5 pts) combined to shoot 6-for-20 in Game 4, but each has a penchant for responding
- Randle’s Response: This season, Randle has averaged 21.7 ppg on 54.9 FG% in games following single-digit scoring performances – through which Minnesota is 6-1
- Ant Rising: Edwards, meanwhile, owns marks of 27.6 ppg, 7.1 rpg and 6.1 apg in win-or-go-home games
“Everything’s out there – there’s no secrets,” Alexander-Walker said. “They know how to beat us. We know how to beat them. It’s just about going out there and doing it.”
