For OKC, no excuses after 'uncharacteristic' dud

INDIANAPOLIS -- With a accidental to clinch a championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder turned successful a clunker of a performance.

"The mode I spot it is we sucked tonight," Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said aft the 108-91 nonaccomplishment to the Indiana Pacers successful Thursday's Game 6 of the NBA Finals. "We request to larn the lessons, and we person 1 crippled for everything we worked for, and truthful bash they. The amended squad Sunday volition win."

Gilgeous-Alexander and the remainder of the Thunder starters volition beryllium good rested for Sunday's Game 7. They sat retired the full 4th quarter, exiting erstwhile the Pacers had a 30-point lead.

It was a peculiarly sloppy show by the MVP. Gilgeous-Alexander committed 8 of Oklahoma City's 21 turnovers.

The 8 turnovers were the astir Gilgeous-Alexander has ever had successful a playoff crippled and matched his regular-season vocation high. It besides matched the astir a subordinate has committed successful a Finals crippled successful astatine slightest 40 years, according to ESPN Research.

"Some of them I conscionable deliberation was carelessness and not being focused and not being engaged," said Gilgeous-Alexander, who had finished with 21 points connected 7-of-15 shooting and had lone 2 assists. "They played harder than america contiguous arsenic well, and erstwhile a squad plays harder, they usually crook the different squad over."

The Pacers didn't employment the relentless full-court unit that they had passim the series. Gilgeous-Alexander said it amazed him that Indiana picking up the Thunder ballhandlers little connected the tribunal resulted successful specified a high-turnover game.

"From our standpoint, it was uncharacteristic," manager Mark Daigneault said. "It was disappointing. It was collective. It wasn't 1 guy. Just we were not wherever we needed to beryllium connected either extremity of the level for overmuch of the game. We person to beryllium a batch amended earlier Game 7."

The turnovers were acold from the Thunder's lone violative contented successful the series-extending loss. Oklahoma City changeable lone 38.2% from the level done the 3 quarters that the regular rotation played earlier Daigneault decided to propulsion the plug and look guardant to Game 7. That included making lone 3 of 20 3-point attempts entering the 4th quarter.

"It conscionable got sticky, I consciousness like," Thunder guardant Jalen Williams said, referring to the stagnant quality of the Oklahoma City discourtesy passim the game. "Our defence wasn't precise good. When you're perpetually taking the shot retired and you're playing against a acceptable defence implicit and implicit again, that's portion of it. Other part, we didn't bash a bully occupation trusting each different to marque the adjacent play similar we did Game 5."

The Thunder were outscored by 40 points during Williams' 27 minutes, the worst plus-minus by immoderate subordinate successful a Finals crippled successful the play-by-play epoch that began successful 1997-98, according to ESPN Research. He finished with 16 points connected 6-of-13 shooting, 1 assistance and 3 turnovers.

Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged that the accidental to clinch a title -- the franchise's archetypal since moving to Oklahoma City -- was successful the backmost of the Thunder's minds arsenic Game 6 tipped off.

"Now, we didn't play similar it astatine all," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "That's wherefore the nighttime went the mode that it did. We got precisely what we deserved, what we earned. We person to ain that."