Three Takeaways from Oklahoma City's Must-Win Game 2 Victory

The Oklahoma City Thunder's backs were against the wall on Sunday night after just one game in the 2025 NBA Finals.

In Game 1, a devastating last-second game-winner by Tyrese Haliburton deflated the life out of Oklahoma City and the Paycom Center, and brought real shock to those who overthought about dropping the next game. Losing two games at home is something playoff teams can hardly ever recover from, and the Thunder took care of business and ensured that did not happen on Sunday evening.

In a 123-107 win, Oklahoma City leaned heavily on its bench as it always does, but this time it was an offensive burst by Aaron Wiggins and Alex Caruso, combining for 38 points. The Thunder also flipped a switch and commanded the rebounding battle, while, of course, committing less turnovers than Indiana.

Let's take a deeper look at some of these takeaways from Oklahoma City's integral Game 2 win:

AWigg Catches Fire

If you have watched Oklahoma City this season, you'd realize Wiggins has the capability of popping off at any moment. A 41-point career-high outing in the regular season showed that, along with regular bursts of 20 or more points—it's all contingent on minutes received and his role in a given game.

This one? His role, primarily, was to score the basketball, and he hunted that.

Five-for-eight from three-point range lit up the Paycom Center, eventually tallying 18 points while curating the best plus-minus for Oklahoma City at plus-24 on the game. Wiggins, having a relatively steady postseason, showed what he can do on a massive stage, and it helped the Thunder immensely.

OKC Flips Rebounding Switch

Head coach Mark Daigneault and Oklahoma City made a sure-fire effort to dominate the paint much more on the rebounding side, running its double-big lineup led to heightened gravity in the paint in the Thunder's favor.

Forty-three rebounds compared to Indiana's 35 was a stark difference from Game 1, where the Pacers won the rebound advantage by 17.

It was an impressive and necessary turnaround, and was imperative for OKC.

Efficiency Strikes Again

In its Game 1 loss, the Thunder could not quite get to its normal efficiency in the half-court setting, where the team found itself a lot.

39.8% from the field and 36.7% from three matched up against the Pacers' 46% or better from both the field and three-point range proved to not help Oklahoma City in its ultimate demise, but that changed on Sunday.

48.8% from the field and 38.9% from distance uplifted the Thunder greatly, and 29 free throw makes on 33 attempts was just as sweet, showing how Oklahoma City made the most out of the opportunities the team received in the win.

Next, the Thunder will look to maintain this momentum as the team looks ahead to Game 3 at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday inside Gainbridge Fieldhouse.