NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from Oklahoma scores a career-best 55 points in a Finals rematch against Indiana Pacers
For the first time, a team goes into double overtime in the first two matches of the campaign.
In a day rocked by the arrests made by the FBI against mafia family members and involving some former and current NBA players, the basketball league continued as normal, or as normal as it can be in a rematch from last season's Finals, between Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, that went to double overtime ending 141-135 for the current champions. Indiana did not get their revenge.
The current MVP of the league Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 55 points, a career-high for him. It is a reminder that Oklahoma City Thunder's triumph last June wasn't a coincidence, despite winning in what many experts are calling an unusually open era in NBA, with no clear favourites to win the league. Oklahoma won, but Indiana held on without their star, Tyrese Haliburton, injured after tearing his Achilles tendon, and without their guard Andrew Nembhard.
Further proof of the unpredictability of the league and the lack of a true dominant is that Oklahoma has won their two first NBA games after a double-overtime: on Wednesday, Thunder defeated Houston Rockets also after two overtimes, with SGA also proving decisive. It is the first time in history that a team goes to two double overtimes in their first two matches of the season.
