A surprise 1 point was defeated! Unexpectedly lost 9 points! The league s number one fell swoop, the championship lost suspense

When the final whistle sounded at Gainbridge Arena, the score on the big screen was fixed at 116-107. Matherine's shocking key steal not only locked the Pacers in the finals G3, but also like a heavy hammer, hitting the Thunder's seemingly indestructible "regular season overlord" halo. In an instant, golden waves in the stadium surging, which was a carnival ocean for Pacers fans and a prelude to the shattered dream of the Thunder Dynasty.

From the perspective of historical data, the team in the finals 2-1 has an 81% chance of winning the O'Brien Cup. This cold number undoubtedly casts a thick layer of haze on the Thunder's already shaky confidence in winning the championship. You should know that this Thunder team can kill gods and Buddhas in the regular season, winning 68 wins, and the probability of winning the championship soared to over 95%, making it a well-deserved favorite to compete for the championship. However, the stage of the finals has become a "demonic mirror" that exposes their fatal shortcomings. From G1 being shockingly beaten by Halliburton to G3 being suppressed by the Pacers in the whole game, the halo of the league's number one is gradually fading in the cruel strangle of this finals. Now, the Pacers firmly grasp the home advantage with a total score of 2-1. The suspense of the championship is becoming increasingly blurred as the Thunder core Alexander is lost, as if he can see the dawn of the Pacers reaching the top.

Looking back at the Thunder's regular season journey, it was simply a legendary epic of an invincible battleship. Alexander won the MVP trophy without any suspense with a luxurious data of 31.4 points, 5.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. The team's offensive and defensive efficiency has both ranked among the top five in the league, with a record of 68 wins, and has tied the best regular season performance in the past decade, making other teams beyond the reach. But the playoff stage has never been a simple copy and paste of regular season data, but a more cruel and life-and-death battle that tests comprehensive strength.

G3 in the Western Conference Finals is the beginning of the Thunder's nightmare. The Timberwolves suddenly exerted their strength in the second quarter, shooting a crazy attack wave of 43-18. The Thunder's defense instantly collapsed, as fragile as paper. In the end, they lost 101-143, setting the biggest score difference in the playoffs in team history. In this game, Alexander was completely lost, hitting only 4 goals in 13 shots, and only scored 14 points in the game. What is even more jaw-dropping is that all his four free throws were from the first quarter. When the opponent gave up fouling him and instead used a tough physical confrontation to limit his breakthrough, the attacking threat of the Thunder core instantly dropped sharply, as if he had been removed from his fangs, which was nothing more than a demon. The plot of G1 in the finals makes people worry about the future of the Thunder. Alexander scored 38 points at home, but in the last 5.2 seconds, Halliburton used a three-pointer to complete the buzzer-beating kill, but failed. If you carefully analyze the technical statistics, you will find that 18 of his 38 points came from the free throw line, and 6 points in the last quarter were "cashed" by the referee's whistle. Faced with the Pacers' targeted double-team defense, he only made 3 assists in the game, and broke through with the ball at a critical moment in the fourth quarter. He was repeatedly interfered with and made mistakes by McConnell and Nesmith, and was in a mess. In the regular season, the Thunder relied on the extraordinary talents of the players to crush their opponents and established advantages, and instantly disappeared in the high-intensity confrontation in the playoffs. When the Thunder played the four-man group with the highest net win in the regular season, Alexander + Caruso + Dortmund + Jewe, the net loss was 5.8 points in 100 rounds in the playoffs; if combined with Harten or Homgren, the net loss soared to 19.4 points and 10.3 points, and the collapse of the team's offensive and defensive system is already visible to the naked eye.

It is undeniable that Alexander's personal ability is top-notch, but his playing style is gradually becoming a heavy shackle on the Thunder's road ahead. This season's playoffs, he averaged 9.1 free throws per game, ranking first in the league, and set the third highest in the history of the same period with 26 free throws in the first three games of the finals. In sharp contrast, however, Pacers core Halliburton scored 0 free throws in three games. This huge difference in the judgment scale is infinitely magnified at home - the Thunder averaged 12.3 more free throws than their opponents at home. Alexander's "foul" technique has been tried and tested by the referee's whistle, but on the away game, when the confrontation scale is improved and the whistle density decreases, his efficiency declines sharply. In the finals, G3 visited Indiana, Alexander made only 9 of 20 shots, only scored 24 points, and even made 1 of 3 shots in the final quarter, scoring only 3 points. Five of the 6 free throws in the game were concentrated in the first three quarters. When the referee's whistle tightened, he completely lost the rhythm on the offensive end, becoming inefficient and confused. As we all know, Alexander's killer move is to shoot in the middle and break through to create killing, but he seriously lacks the ability to make three-pointers. This season's playoffs, he averaged 4.7 three-pointers per game, but his shooting percentage was less than 31%. Due to the lack of three-point offensive methods, when the Pacers shrink their defense, it is difficult for Alexander to score explosively at critical moments, and he can only watch the team fall into a passive position. What's more fatal is that he is almost in a "vacuum state" on the organizational side. Although they can average 6.6 assists per game in the playoffs, 70% of them come from fast break passes in offense and defense conversions. In positional battles, he is used to forcibly breaking through and committing fouls after playing singles with the ball, rather than observing his teammates' running positions and looking for better offensive opportunities. The Thunder often gets into a singles deadlock when the Pacers use joint defense to compress his breakthrough space. Homgren's low-post pie fell sharply from 4.2 games per game in the regular season to 2.1 games in the playoffs, and Jewe's fixed-point three-point shooting percentage also fell from 41% to 34%. The collective disability of role players is essentially due to the lack of organizational status of core players. The Thunder's offensive system is shaking due to this shortcoming of Alexander.

, which is in sharp contrast with the Thunder's dilemma, is the Pacers' "Everyone is Soldier" tactic. This team without superstars passed the 4th in the Eastern Conference and reached the finals, and led 2-1, subverting traditional cognition with the ultimate team basketball. In the four-round series, Totto averaged 14.3 points per game, becoming the scoring leader on the bench; Nesmith scored 21 points with 5 three-pointers in G2, amazing the whole game; in the G3 game, McConnell's defense caused Alexander to make many low-level mistakes, and Matherine scored 27 points, and completed steals at critical moments to secure the victory. Their playoff scores are as many as 7 players, and when Halliburton is double-teamed, there are always role players who come forward and take over the game. This system of all people is a soldier, just hits the Thunder's weakness of "no one outside the three giants" and makes the Thunder be restrained everywhere in the game. The

Pacers' tactical execution is also textbook-level. In view of Alexander's habit of relying on left-wing breakthroughs, they deliberately used Nesmith and Toppin to block his usual hands on the defensive end, forcing him to use his right hand to dribble or pass the ball instead. On the offensive end, it makes full use of Halliburton's support ability to tear the opponent's defense. In the first three games of the finals, the Pacers averaged 28.3 assists per game, 9.1 more than the Thunder. When the ball transfer rate exceeded the Thunder's defensive rotation, Toppin's empty cut, Nesmith's bottom corner three-pointer, and McConnell's second offense continued to emerge like a tide, making the Thunder unable to fight back. This kind of team basketball victory is rewriting the traditional logic of "those who win superstars win the world" in the playoffs, making the entire league look at it.

Judging from NBA historical data, the team that took the lead in the finals had a 2-1 lead with a probability of winning more than 80%, while the Pacers happened to have the next two home court advantages. What made the Thunder even more desperate is that their shortcomings in key ball handling have reached an irreparable level. At the critical moment of the playoffs this season (the score difference of ≤ 5 points in the last 5 minutes), Alexander's shooting percentage was only 44%, and his three-point shooting percentage was as low as 16.7%, and 60% of his scoring relied on free throws. Under Halliburton's dispatch, the Pacers' three-point shooting percentage was as high as 42.3% at critical moments, and the team's cooperation efficiency completely crushed the opponent.

When the Thunder were scored by the Pacers in the final quarter of G3, Alexander on the sidelines spread his hands and complained about the penalty many times, but he never changed the situation with practical actions. If Alexander cannot get rid of his reliance on free throws and improve his positional combat organization capabilities, even if the Thunder have the talent of Homegren and the scoring ability of Javi, it will be difficult for him to go further on the playoff stage. The road ahead is full of unknowns and challenges for the Thunder. Let us wait and see whether they can achieve self-salvation in difficulties.