Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals did not fail to impress and turn many heads with its thrilling finish. The Oklahoma City Thunder nearly had a win before the Indiana Pacers went scurrying away with a stunning blow. Tyrese Haliburton was spectacular to watch, and so was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who nearly had a 40-piece. While there is a lot of praise about SGA’s Finals debut, the Thunder star still has a lot to improve if they are going to win it all.
Criticism has gone OKC’s way in the hours following their loss in Game 1. A huge chunk of those has gone to Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, the lack of bench performance from OKC, and the poor shooting—and all of it still alludes to the 2025 MVP. Now the pressure is on Oklahoma City to make the biggest adjustments—and they’ve been good at it this postseason.
SGA’s Finals Debut Was a Blast. Now, He Must Improve
The most adjustments, however, must come from none other than SGA himself.
The Game of Adjustments: What’s SGA’s Next Move?
Shai was phenomenal in Game 1, no doubt. After all, he’s running a lot of historic feats entering the big stage. He’s the first season MVP to reach the Finals since Stephen Curry in 2015. The Thunder guard also notched the record for the third-most points scored in a Finals debut with 38. That’s a lot of impressive feats, but there’s definitely a lot to improve from SGA if the Thunder want to win.
Gilgeous-Alexander is no stranger to adversity, and it is safe to say that he’s learned and grown well in these playoffs. The 2025 MVP has shown that he can adjust, read the situation, and lead his team to victory. Time after time, SGA has stepped up and answered the call.
This situation with the Pacers is no different—it is another puzzle for him to figure out and solve.
Gilgeous-Alexander Must Pick his Shots Well
SGA’s Finals debut was both a show of his masterful shotmaking and his over-aggressiveness. For one, yes, Shai did shoot 14-for-30 from the field, and it might have been the best 50% shooting had he knocked down that final jumper that he settled for. That 18-footer is definitely one of the things that he wished they would have taken away. He could have driven the ball and ended up drawing contact, or even making a dagger of his own while taking time away from the clock.
Instead, that ball hit the back rim, and the rest was history. Of course, Indiana still has to figure him out. While shooting nearly 50% is good, we all know that SGA is capable of shooting better than that. It’s time that he minimized his shot attempts and looked for quality shots.
In the last three games he’s played, Gilgeous-Alexander has attempted more than 25 field goals. It is easy to expect that your best player will be hunting more shots to put up impressive numbers and lead the way. However, shot selection matters in the NBA Finals, and Shai is better off knocking down every single one of them. That impressive Game 7 win in the West Semis? SGA shot 63.2% from the field, and was even better in their Game 2 blowout at a whopping 84.6% shooting.
It’s okay to be aggressive, but the shots have to continue falling as well. After all, it’s the NBA Finals, and every bucket matters.
Time to Play the Distributor – Again
One of the best highlights of OKC’s series against the Denver Nuggets was how SGA met the moment. It was a battle of the 2025 MVP finalists, and while the Thunder forced Nikola Jokic to be a scorer, the Nuggets forced Shai to be a playmaker. Of course, that turned out for the best as he went on to play that masterfully, even finishing with a total of 46 assists.
SGA created 15 straight points for OKC to close out that game.
Jokic scored 11 straight points for Denver.
That's one of the best clutch duels I've ever seen.
One of the best performances you'll ever see in a loss by Jokic, but holy shit did SGA meet the moment.
— Carson Breber (@Carsobi) May 14, 2025
For context, Jokic had a total of 41 assists and averaged 5.9 for the whole series. That is way far from his season average of 10.2 assists per game. That’s how well SGA has improved as a playmaker. It was mainly on display in the Western Conference Finals as well, where he averaged 8.2 assists. That includes 10 assists in his near triple-double in Game 4, and eight assists in the Game 5 clincher.
While SGA’s Finals debut was a strong showing, he only ended up with three assists. In fact, OKC as a whole only had 13 assists—which is such a low number for a team that moves the ball so well. This is why it’s safe to say that he has to play the distributor role once more, especially when his counterpart does it so well and hits the shots that matter.
I’m sorry but 3 assists from your “PG” is nasty SGA a buck but he has to be able to playmake
— Ru (@TJack_22) June 6, 2025
Get His Co-Stars Up and Running
One of the biggest disappointments in SGA’s Finals debut was the fact that his co-stars failed to step up. First-time All-Star J-Dub scored 16 points, but he could not find the best shots as he went 6-of-19. Holmgren was nowhere to be found except the boards. Other than grabbing the ball off the Pacers’ miss, he was eerily non-existent with just six points on 2-of-9 shooting.
So what does SGA have to do with this problem, right?
As it turns out, Shai having the ball on his hands more means his supporting cast gets less touches. And because he is not playing the assist man, it is likely that they won’t get touches again. Sure, the 2025 MVP draws a lot of defenders on him, but not this time. Not against an Indiana team that has many capable players.
Second: OKC’s Big 3
While Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a terrific game, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren did not.
Williams and Holmgren combined to shoot 8-29 from the field.
This is one that they both can grow and learn from, but they’ll have to step up on Sunday.
— SleeperThunder (@SleeperThunder) June 6, 2025
In fact, they just put one man on SGA all night—Andrew Nembhard—who is also his long-time friend and teammate with Team Canada. That final Thunder play before the Haliburton dagger? An iso defense play executed to perfection by the Pacers guard.
All night long, both Holmgren and Williams had a body on them. Chet was smothered well by Myles Turner‘s massive presence on the paint and Pascal Siakam‘s heightened game. Williams, on the other hand, was hounded by Bennedict Mathurin and even had an emphatic block on him.
Shai has to activate his co-stars well, and he can do that by making the best shots possible and distributing the ball to them.
Can Shai Meet the Moment in the Finals?
Shai is a consistent player, and that includes his mentality of adjusting as well. He didn’t win the 2025 MVP for nothing, after all. Now that Game 1 is in the books, perhaps SGA’s Finals debut—one of majestic caliber—could be used as a launching pad by himself.
It is time for Gilgeous-Alexander to take his game to another level. Time for the league’s reigning MVP to show why he deserves to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy. Time for him to have the last word on the biggest stage of his career.
© Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
