The Oklahoma City Thunder lost Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals to the Indiana Pacers in stunning fashion, and many fans and analysts have tried to pinpoint who exactly is most at fault for the upset defeat.

Although there is plenty of praise to go around for the Pacers, who erased another double-digit deficit and took the lead in the dying seconds of the game, there is also plenty of blame to be dished out. With that in mind, former NBA player Lou Williams is pointing the finger at Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder's superstar guard and the reigning MVP of the league.

“I gotta give this one to SGA. I thought the ball got sticky last night. I thought he tried to work with the nerves and work some off of the anxiety that he was having for this game. I thought he tried to shoot himself into this game. He probably shot them out of it,” Williams said on FanDuel's ‘Run It Back' on Friday.

“I think he was very aggressive — you had, what, 10 attempts in the first quarter, right? Not necessarily uncharacteristic of him, but this is a team that's had success in their ball movement, the ball moving back and forth, side to side, everybody touching the ball. And they would turn good shots into great shots. I thought last night they played in a lot of traffic, and it started at the top. It started with SGA. I thought he was ultra aggressive, and it backfired.”

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In total, Gilgeous-Alexander took 30 shots during Game 1. No other player in Thursday's game shot more than 19 times.

The ultra-aggressiveness that Williams said backfired actually worked well in the first half; the Thunder led by 12 at halftime after wreaking havoc on the Pacers' offense by forcing 19 turnovers in the first 24 minutes. The Thunder even held a nine-point lead going into the fourth quarter, but over the final 12 minutes, Indiana chipped away at Oklahoma City's lead, culminating in Tyrese Haliburton's game-winning jump shot with 0.3 seconds to go.

Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will have a chance to tie the series up during Game 2, which will take place on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. ET.