Michael Grange

2 weeks ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

OKLAHOMA CITY – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had allowed for the possibility and planned for the probability. After a statistically delicious Game 1 – 38 points in his NBA Finals debut was the third highest Game 1 total for a Finals first-timer– the Oklahoma City Thunder star wasn’t basking in his accomplishment. Instead, the Canadian very much left the door open that he would go in a different direction after putting up 30 shots, a career playoff high.

2 weeks ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

OKLAHOMA CITY — He was tired. After playing some of the most significant minutes of his career — which is saying something, given he has played in 34 playoff games and counting, not to mention an Olympic tournament, in the past 13 months or so — Andrew Nembhard just wanted to get out of the Paycom Center, find his family for a quick catch-up and get some rest. Everything else didn’t matter.

3 weeks ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

OKLAHOMA CITY — When they needed him most, he wasn’t there, and they lost the game. It’s a highly reductive way to look at how and why the Oklahoma City Thunder are down 1-0 to the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals. The list of things the Thunder need to do better is lengthy. The things the Pacers did well down the stretch in their improbable comeback from down 15 points with 9:42 to play.

3 weeks ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

OKLAHOMA CITY — It was a game that they did everything to win until they lost it. Or more accurately, until the Indiana Pacers won it. The Pacers arrived in Oklahoma City as underdogs against the 68-win Thunder who had followed up their dominant regular season by largely steamrolling their way into the NBA Finals, and for much of Game 1 at the Paycom Center, the two teams played to form.

3 weeks ago | sportsnet.ca | Michael Grange

OKLAHOMA CITY — There are no strangers in the NBA Finals. By early June, there are 82 regular-season games of evidence that get broken down and digested by the video room staff of each team, passed along in bite-sized chunks to be pored over for tendencies, habits, and moments of inspiration that can be used against an opponent.