LOS ANGELES, USA, Jun 17 – Jalen Williams scored 40 points for Oklahoma City Thunder as they held off an Indiana Pacers comeback to win 120-109 and take a 3-2 lead in the NBA Finals.
The Pacers reduced an 18-point deficit from the second quarter to two points in the fourth quarter before Williams, whose tally was a career best in a play-off game, and team-mate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander helped guide the Thunder to victory.
NBA Most Valuable Player Gilgeous-Alexander provided 31 points along with 10 assists as home side Oklahoma moved one win away from securing the NBA title in the best-of-seven series.
“My team-mates 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.
“I don’t got to be anything more and that’s given me a lot of confidence.”
The Pacers had overcome a 15-point deficit in game one to win but could not repeat the feat in game five.
“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.”
Game six will take place in Indianapolis on Thursday at 20:30 local time (Friday, 01:00 BST), with Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton insisting he will be ready for the contest.
Haliburton scored just four points in 34 minutes of action in game five, with Indiana coach Rick Carlisle saying the player was “not 100%”.
He added: “It’s pretty clear. But I don’t think he’s going to miss the next game.
“We were concerned at half-time. He insisted on playing.”
Haliburton said: “It’s the Finals, man. I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete, help my team-mates any way I can.
“I was not great tonight by any means, but it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play. It is what it is. Got to be ready to go for game six.”
