Oklahoma City moves to within one win of title against a banged-up Pacers

With 40 points from Jalen Williams, the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 120-109 on Monday to move to within one win of claiming the NBA championship.

The Thunder dominate the Finals 3-2 overall and will get their first shot at the crown in Game 6, to be played Thursday in Indianapolis.

The Pacers, hindered by the physical problems of their leader, Tyrese Haliburton, will be forced to win to force a seventh and final game on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Jalen Williams, 24, was this time the top local scorer ahead of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the season's Most Valuable Player (MVP), who finished with 31 points and 10 assists.

Williams scored the most points in these Finals and is the fifth player under the age of 25 to string together three games with at least 25 points in the Finals.

"My teammates give me a lot of confidence; they ask me to be myself," said the versatile forward, who made his All-Star Game debut this year. "Tonight was exactly like the first game (won by Indiana with a miraculous comeback), but we've been learning throughout these Finals."

The Pacers find themselves down for the first time in a playoff series these playoffs and on edge because of Haliburton's fitness.

At the start of Monday's game, the point guard had to be treated in the locker room for a right leg calf strain, which already gave him plenty of trouble during last week's games.

Haliburton finished the first half with a clean sheet for the first time in his postseason career and ended the night with 4 points after missing all six of his shots from the field.

A contained comeback

Still these Pacers, the surprise team of these playoffs, remained a constant threat for the Thunder, the great dominator of the regular phase and favorite for the ring.

T.J. McConnell assumed Haliburton's role and led the resistance with 18 points.

The reserve point guard scored 13 of those nearly consecutive points in a third quarter in which Indiana closed to within 81-76 after Oklahoma City dominated by 18 points.

In the final quarter, Cameroon's Pascal Siakam (28 points) took over with 12 points in just four minutes.

A three-pointer by the Cameroonian brought Indiana to within two points (95-93) with nine minutes to go, which set off all the alerts for Oklahoma City in these Finals full of improbable comebacks.

Immediately after, the locals put some distance between the two teams thanks to another triple by Jalen Williams and a providential steal and counter-attacking dunk by Cason Wallace.

The 18,000 fans at the Paycom Center erupted in triumph, and the Pacers could not get up again. Their coach, Rick Carlisle, pulled his star players with two minutes left, looking ahead to Thursday's do-or-die game.