Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that Shohei Ohtani threw 100 mph in his first pitching appearance in nearly two years.
In today’s SI:AM:
⛈️ OKC takes Game 5
⚾ Ohtani’s latest milestone
👏 CWS no-hitter
If you’re reading this on SI.com, click here to subscribe and receive SI:AM directly in your inbox each morning.
One win away
The Indiana Pacers’ chances of winning their first NBA championship are beginning to look more and more remote.
The Oklahoma City Thunder took a 3–2 lead in the NBA Finals on Monday with a 120–109 victory, pushing the Pacers to the brink as the series shifts back to Indianapolis on Thursday.
The dominant narratives of Game 5 were the incredible play of OKC’s Jalen Williams, who erupted for a playoff career-high 40 points, and the struggles of Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who was clearly hampered by a lower leg injury and scored just four points. Indiana coach Rick Carlisle said there was some concern about Haliburton’s availability, but he “insisted on playing.”
Considering how much of a non-factor Haliburton was, it’s a minor miracle that the Pacers were able to be as competitive as they were. The Thunder led by as many as 15 early in the third quarter before Indiana chipped away at the lead and got to within two points with 8:30 left in the fourth. But OKC then proceeded to prove again that it is the better team and pulled away with an 18–4 run over the next three minutes.
The Pacers got excellent contributions from Pascal Siakam (28 points, including 14 in the fourth quarter) and T.J. McConnell, who scored 13 of his 18 points in seven minutes off the bench in the third quarter. But with Haliburton unable to contribute, the Pacers lacked the offensive punch to really challenge the Thunder.
The Thunder were the best team in the NBA all season long, and the only way for the Pacers to stand a chance over a seven-game series was to have Haliburton be as excellent as he was in the first three rounds. He was great in the two games Indiana won in this series, but the Thunder are simply too good for the Pacers to win when they’re not at their best.
Haliburton has a few days for his injury to improve before Game 6 on Thursday, but he isn’t even considering the possibility of sitting out.
“I mean, it’s the NBA Finals. It’s the Finals, man. I’ve worked my whole life to be here and I want to be out there to compete. Help my teammates any way I can,” Haliburton told reporters Monday night. “I was not great tonight by any means, but it’s not really a thought of mine to not play here. If I can walk, then I want to play. They understand that. And it is what it is. Got to be ready to go for Game 6.”
The best of Sports Illustrated
- Jalen Williams’s 40-point outburst was just the latest heroic performance in what’s been a meteoric rise for a once overlooked player, Chris Mannix writes.
- Shohei Ohtani reached the 250-homer milestone over the weekend. Tom Verducci put that feat in historical context by comparing him to some of the best hitters the game has seen.
- Ohtani pitched one inning and gave up one run in his long-awaited return to the mound.
- Arkansas pitcher Gage Wood threw a 19-strikeout no-hitter in his team’s College World Series win over Murray State.
- The Arizona Cardinals, buoyed by the additions of Josh Sweat and Walter Nolen on defense and a strong cast on offense, are poised to break their playoff drought and make a run in 2025, Matt Verderame writes in the latest installment of 32 Teams in 32 Days.
- Greg Bishop writes that Tom Brady and Jim Gray are launching the Hall of Excellence in Las Vegas, a new museum celebrating iconic greatness in sports and culture.
The top five…
… things I saw last night:
5. Bennedict Mathurin’s LeBron-esque chasedown block.
4. The first starting lineup introductions on an NBA Finals broadcast in more than a decade.
3. Chet Holmgren’s block and subsequent coast-to-coast finish.
2. Aaron Nesmith’s acrobatic putback.
1. Astros third baseman Luis Guillorme’s leaping catch on a flare to shallow left.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as SI:AM | Tyrese Haliburton’s Injury Spells Trouble for Pacers as They Face Elimination.
