Pacers, Thunder set for pivotal Game 5

OKLAHOMA CITY — The ratings are down for these NBA Finals, as was expected. Oklahoma City vs. Indiana is a small-market series and the numbers reflect that, with viewership down about 20% from last season and on pace for the poorest TV turnout since the pandemic "bubble" finals in 2020.Don't blame the Thunder and Pacers for that.It's been a back-and-forth over the first four games — and now, a best-of-three will decide the NBA title. Game 5 is in Oklahoma City on Monday night, with the Thunder trying to take their first lead of the series and the Pacers trying to head back home one win away from a championship."I do not care, to be honest with you," Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said when asked what he'd say to those who, for whatever reason, haven't tuned into the series. "This is high-level basketball and I'm excited to be a part of it."Game 1 had a frantic Indiana comeback and a Haliburton buzzer-beater. Game 2 saw Oklahoma City do what it has done in the majority of games all season: take full control early and roll to a win. Game 3 in Indiana had the Pacers' bench fueling a win. And Game 4 saw the MVP do MVP things, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring 15 points in the final five minutes to carry the Thunder to a comeback win.Add it up, and it's Thunder 2, Pacers 2. The Thunder are outscoring the Pacers by 3.3 points per game; the Pacers are outshooting the Thunder by 1.4%. It's only the third time in the last 15 years that the finals have had all that through four games — 2-2 tie, 3.3-point differential or less, shooting within 1.4% of each other. Golden State-Boston had it in 2022, and Dallas-Miami had it in 2011.It all seems pretty even, and the looks aren't deceiving."It's good for y'all," Thunder guard Alex Caruso said. "Good for me, we'd be getting ready for a parade right now."Parades in Indianapolis or Oklahoma City are going to have to wait at least until this coming weekend. This series seems like it could have debunked some of the tired complaints about the game in recent years: the nobody-plays-defense, too-much-isolation, too-many-3s arguments that have been out there."I think from an outside perspective it's great for the league," Caruso said. "It's great for basketball. I think these two teams play stylistically the best versions of basketball right now as far as pressure and being influencing and aggressive on defense — causing turnovers, making stuff hard and then offensively free-flowing, shot making, passing the ball. ... A great brand of basketball."And that means it could end up as a great finals, whether more people start watching or not."We appreciate the opportunity to play this deep into the season," Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. "If you're playing this deep into the season, your opponent is going to be really good. They have won 12 games to get to this point just like we have. You just know it's going to be an unbelievable level. There are definitely times in it where (you're saying), 'Man, this is a high, high level.'"This marks the 32nd time that a finals has been 2-2 going into Game 5. The winner of Game 5 has gone on to ultimately prevail in 23 of the 31 previous occasions."We are both two games away," Haliburton said. "Anything can happen here."