{"id":106635,"date":"2025-06-18T06:46:25","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T06:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/106635\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T06:46:25","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T06:46:25","slug":"latest-bracket-nba-finals-game-5-recap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/106635\/","title":{"rendered":"Latest Bracket, NBA Finals Game 5 Recap"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> are just one win away from an NBA title after beating the <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/indiana-pacers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indiana Pacers<\/a> in last night\u2019s Game 5 of the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder defeated the Pacers 120\u2013 109 in Game 5 on Monday night, taking a 3-2 series lead.<\/p>\n<p>Game 6 is set for Thursday night in Indianapolis.<\/p>\n<p>Updated 2025 NBA Playoff Bracket<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder victory marks the first time the Pacers have lost in consecutive games in the <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/2025-nba-playoffs\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">2025 NBA Playoffs<\/a>. Indiana now also finds itself on the verge of elimination for the first time in this postseason.<\/p>\n<p>It didn\u2019t have to be this way. In the late third quarter in Game 4, the Pacers looked like they were on the cusp of a 3-1 series lead. But OKC thundered back in the fourth to take a late-game lead for good.<\/p>\n<p>Monday, June 16 \u2014\u00a0NBA Finals Game 5 Recap<\/p>\n<p>Oklahoma City Thunder 120, Indiana Pacers 109<\/p>\n<p>Thunder lead the NBA Finals series 3\u20132<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder came out aggressive, building an 18-point lead in the first half behind crisp ball movement and perimeter defense that forced Indiana into mistakes.<\/p>\n<p>But the Pacers, true to their playoff identity, refused to go quietly. Indiana stormed back late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, cutting the deficit to just two with under nine minutes to play. That\u2019s when <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/jalen-williams\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jalen Williams<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/shai-gilgeous-alexander\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> closed the door.<\/p>\n<p>Williams had a career playoff night \u2014 pouring in 40 points on 14-of-24 shooting, including 24 in the second half. Gilgeous-Alexander added 31 points and 10 assists, taking over in the final minutes with his signature midrange precision and clutch free throws.<\/p>\n<p>The Pacers saw big contributions from <a href=\"https:\/\/globelynews.com\/tag\/pascal-siakam\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pascal Siakam<\/a>, who scored 28, and TJ McConnell, who put up 13 points in seven minutes in the third-quarter comeback. But Tyrese Haliburton was held back by a calf injury, ending the night without a single field goal made. That, along with the Pacers\u2019 22 turnovers, made the difference in the game. OKC\u2019s pressure defense was relentless, with 15 steals and 12 blocked shots.<\/p>\n<p>The series now heads back to Indiana for Game 6. The Thunder look to close it out \u2014 but don\u2019t count out the Pacers.<\/p>\n<p>Series Prediction: Thunder in seven.<\/p>\n<p>Next Game: Thursday, June 19, 2025, 8:30 PM Eastern, Gainbridge Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, IN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Oklahoma City Thunder are just one win away from an NBA title after beating the Indiana Pacers&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":106636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1431,7,126,364,6,11,179,279,209,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-106635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-2025-nba-playoffs","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-jalen-williams","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-nba-playoffs","14":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","15":"tag-pascal-siakam","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114703026529244314","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}