OKLAHOMA CITY — Taking in the final seconds, the OKC crowd entered Paycom Center a bundle of nerves and left it riding an all-time high to the streets. As the buzzer sounded, the title favorite officially took one step closer to accomplishing its ultimate goal.

The Oklahoma City Thunder crossed the finish line to a 120-109 Game 5 win over the Indiana

Pacers. They’re now up for the first time in the 2025 NBA Finals with a 3-2 series lead and only need one more victory to capture a championship.

“I thought our defense tonight was really good. I thought our conversion off of our defense was hit or miss. We had some really good moments. We had some moments that I wish we could have back,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “The second- chance points were a major problem. They did a great job of crashing to the glass. They beat us in the paint tonight. It wasn’t a perfect game at all. There’s a lot of room for growth. But I thought our improvement from Game 4 to Game 5 was critical.”

Backed by a home crowd that understood what was at stake, the Thunder started quickly. It didn’t take long for them to rack up points. The only problem was that the Pacers did too. After the first quarter, the Thunder held a 32-22 lead.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams showed early signs of their eventual headline performance. The double- digit lead was not bad, but could’ve been more. OKC’s All-Star duo ensured that as Williams steamrolled his way to the basket. Sprinkle in some good outside shooting variance by role players, and the Thunder had a 59-45 halftime lead.

Very similar feelings to Game 1 among Thunder fans. Sure, it was a decent cushion. But the Pacers have shown all playoffs that these types of deficits are nothing to them. That showed up in the second half. Pascal Siakam scored on a transition layup to make it a 67-55 contest less than four minutes into the third quarter.

The Thunder had a hard time taking care of the ball. And when it did, too many misses around the rim hurt them. TJ McConnell took over late in the third quarter to make it a single-digit deficit. He sliced through OKC’s defense. Indiana scored 34 points in the third frame. The Thunder only had an 87-79 lead with a quarter left.

It didn’t take long for the Pacers to make things super interesting for the average NBA fan and super stressful for the average OKC viewer. Siakam’s second-chance 3-pointer cut the Thunder’s lead to 95-93 with over eight minutes left in the game.

Surely that meant another tight finish. It was the Pacers’ turn to return the favor. The Thunder hung around in Game 4 before they stole a road win with a superhero fourth quarter by Gilgeous-Alexander. Except Indiana quickly realized it didn’t have that guy. Tyrese Haliburton was a no-show.

Only up by two points, the Thunder immediately responded with a 17-4 run. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams took over in that stretch. Gilgeous-Alexander finally snapped out of it and hit on difficult jumpers. Meanwhile, Williams turned in one of the best stretches of his career by dominating the Pacers.

That run suddenly put the Thunder up 112-97. Before you could even realize what happened, the Thunder blitzed the Pacers on the scoreboard to go back up by a comfortable double-digit margin. Indiana had no idea what just happened as it looked lost in the final moments.

The Thunder shot 43% from the field and went 14-of-32 (43.8%) from 3. They shot 26-of-32 on free throws. They had 24 assists on 40 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Williams led the way with an efficient 40 points. Gilgeous-Alexander had 31 points and 10 assists that went under the radar because of his fellow All-NBA teammate. Aaron Wiggins had 14 points and Cason Wallace had 11 points off the bench.

Player of the game was Jalen Williams. Williams was unstoppable from the start. He destroyed Indiana’s interior defense. The mid-range jumper found a groove. The footwork was impeccable. He bumped multiple defenders off him to create space. On top of all that, he got to the freethrow line at will. That was always the 24-year-old’s biggest gripe all year. To get over that hump at the freaking NBA Finals is surreal to see.

“At the same time, like halfway through the year, this was part of me and Mark talking about what it’s going to take. I was figuring out my game a lot of it was not just looking for a foul, being able to finish through contact,” Williams said on his free throws. “From there, if you finish through contact and make the shot, you don’t really need the foul. That’s kind of the way I’ve been approaching it.”

Meanwhile, the Pacers shot 45% from the field and went 11-of-30 (36.7%) from 3. They shot 24-of-30 on free throws. They had 23 assists on 37 baskets. Five Pacers players scored double-digit points.

Siakam finished with 28 points, six rebounds and five assists. Haliburton was quiet with four points, seven rebounds and six assists. McConnell surprised with 18 points off the bench. Aaron Nesmith had 14 points. Myles Turner had 13 points and six rebounds. Obi Toppin tallied 12 points.

Another legacy performance by Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. The Thunder’s best two players stepped up while the Pacers’ best player faded into the background. They teased another comeback, but constantly chipping away from double-digit deficits isn’t the best longterm formula for wins.

The Thunder are on the cusp of their first NBA championship. They’re a win away and have taken full control of this NBA Finals series. It feels unreal to even type those sentences out. They’ve been the favorite all year but it’s another thing to actually do it.

“We have to focus on improving. We’re playing a game. We have to get better in the areas. We have to improve. Indiana is going to do that. That’s part of a series,” Daigneault said. “That’s how you pace ahead of a series, you keep improving. We got to go up there and focus on what we focus on, which is the next game, the next possession, and where we are.”

The Thunder will travel to Indianapolis Thursday to hopefully bring home the NBA Championship trophy to OKC.

The tipoff time Is set for a 7:30 p.m. start. The game will be televised on ABC and ESPN2.

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