NBA Analyst Reveals Crucial Change Thunder Made to Win Game 4

NBA Analyst Reveals Crucial Change Thunder Made to Win Game 4 originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are just two wins away from their first NBA Championship in their organization's young history. They've already won more games in this NBA Finals series than their last trip when they fell 4-1 to LeBron James and the Miami Heat. The Indiana Pacers surprised many by taking two of the first three games, but the Thunder got back on track in Game 4.

There was some sentiment among fans around the league that the Thunder would similarly blow through the Pacers, just as they had done in their 4-1 Western Conference Finals win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. Still, the Pacers have hung with the Thunder every step of the way.

NBA analyst reveals crucial Thunder change

The Thunder were in grave danger of going down 3-1, but a 12-1 run over the last 3 minutes, 20 seconds put the Thunder over the top to even the series at two games apiece. Following the games, we typically get to hear from NBA pundits, but not all of them go into the X's and O's of what just happened.

Steph Noh, a senior NBA writer for The Sporting News, broke down exactly what change Mark Daigneault made down the stretch to help the Thunder come away with the victory.

"Nembhard had been guarding [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander] extremely well," wrote Noh. [The] Thunder used the same action 3x to get [Aaron] Nesmith to switch, Shai kept scoring/getting the foul call."

With 3 min 52 sec remaining, Mark Daigneault called timeout and made the adjustment that won the Thunder Game 4.

Nembhard had been guarding SGA extremely well. Thunder used the same action 3x to get Nesmith to switch, Shai kept scoring/getting the foul call. pic.twitter.com/6g4GnhA0RU— Steph Noh (@StephNoh) June 14, 2025

Gilgeous-Alexander continues to show why he was deserving of the Most Valuable Player award, scoring 15 of his 35 points in the fourth quarter when the Thunder needed him most. He was 3-for-6 from the field, but more importantly, went a perfect 8-for-8 at the free-throw line.

Now that the Thunder have evened the series, they return to being overwhelming favorites to win the NBA Finals. The -590 odds at FanDuel Sportsbook indicated an implied probability of 85.51% of winning it all.

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.