Three Things I Noticed in Game 4

Hit the jump for the Game 4 edition of Three Things, starring pick and rolls, offensive "rebounds," and scoop shots.

SGA, screen-and-switch

The Thunder went to the same action over and over again down the stretch of the game: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander screening for Jalen Williams in the pick and roll.

In the final six minutes of the game, the Thunder ran this ball screen action five times, scoring on four of them. On each of the last three scores, they got a switch for SGA from Andrew Nembhard to Aaron Nesmith, and he took advantage of the situation by scoring seven points — four on fouls and three on a drive-and-dish from Williams for a three on the wing.

All this helped take the Thunder from down by 2 to what eventually became a massive 7-point victory.

The Pacers, on the glass

If you look at the box score, you'll only see Indiana credited with seven offensive rebounds. But that's just because you don't get credited with an offensive rebound when you draw a foul while going for the ball, and the Pacers did that a whole bunch of times, especially in the fourth quarter.

I included one of them that happened late in the third, but Indiana drew FOUR fouls this way in the fourth quarter. That helped the Pacers quickly get into the bonus and maintain their lead for a while until OKC stormed back down the stretch. It "didn't matter" because the Pacers lost, but while it was happening, these fouls were huge.

J-Dub, with a scoop

Williams has one of my favorite shots in his bag. I call it the extendo-layup, where a player keeps the ball on the side where he's driving and flips it up over the defender without ever using his off hand to touch the ball.

He's gone to this time and again throughout the season and the playoffs and this series, and he had a bunch of huge ones in Game 4. These little scoop shots accounted for 8 of his 27 points.

My favorite of them, obviously, came at the 7:21 mark of the fourth quarter, where he took a screen from Isaiah Hartenstein going in one direction, snaked the pick and roll back toward the opposite elbow, then crossed over behind his back to beat Nesmith into the paint and finish with his left hand. It doesn't get better than that.

BONUS: Chet Holmgren, following up

Chet didn't take very many shots in this game, going just 4-9 from the field. But his final two shots of the night — the only two he took in the fourth quarter — were massive, and they each came the same way, on back-to-back possessions: Putting back an offensive rebound with a tip-in off a missed jumper by SGA.

Those follow-ups kept the Thunder attached in the game, setting the stage for the late-game heroics from SGA and J-Dub.