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The Oklahoma City Thunder have taken control of the 2025 NBA Finals, as they now find themselves up 3-2 against the Indiana Pacers following a 120-109 victory in Game 5 on Monday night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did his thing, as he usually does, but it was Jalen Williams who emerged as the game's biggest star — dropping 40 points on 14-25 shooting as he put the Pacers' defense to the sword over and over again, preventing them from pulling off yet another bonkers comeback.
Williams has had his fair share of poor outings in this year's playoffs. But he has looked very comfortable against the Pacers' defense. And he's been more assertive the deeper the series has gone, which Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault saw in the way he attacked the rim over and over again in Game 5.
“Force. That’s the word,” Daigneault said of Williams' performance in Game 5, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman.
If Gilgeous-Alexander prefers to attack more methodically, using precise movement and footwork to get defenders off-balance, which leads to plenty of free-throw attempts, Williams is more of a battering ram, a hard-charging projectile launched at full speed ready for impact. The Pacers' defense was broken down over and over again by Williams' aggressive play, and with the Thunder's three-pointers falling on Monday, the Pacers played from behind for most of the game.
Williams has drawn some criticism from some fans in this year's playoffs; there are nights where he's simply gone invisible, unable to get into a scoring rhythm. But he got it going in Game 5, powering the Thunder to victory by being an unstoppable force. And at just 24 years of age, Williams has a 40-point game in the NBA Finals — a feat that no one can ever take away from him.
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Thunder win Game 5 thanks to the Paul George trade
A lot has been written about how the Paul George trade was able to help both the Thunder and Pacers build contending teams. But OKC's Game 5 win was especially powered by their fateful George trade with the Los Angeles Clippers in July 2019. Both Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams came over as a result of that trade (with Williams being selected 12th overall courtesy of a Clippers pick swap in 2022), and they stretched the Pacers defense past its breaking point on Monday night.
The Thunder are now only one win away from winning the first NBA championship in Oklahoma City history, although they will have to brace for yet another retaliatory blow from a Pacers team that doesn't know when to quit.
