Thunder’s Williams, SGA enter NBA Finals lore with scoring
OKLAHOMA CITY — Jerry West and Elgin Baylor did it often. Kyrie Irving and LeBron James did it a couple of times. Magic Johnson and Jamaal Wilkes were among those who did it once.
And now, Jalen Williams and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have entered NBA lore.
Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night marked just the 14th time in league history that a game saw somebody score at least 40 points in a title-round game while one of his teammates scored at least 30.
Williams had 40 and Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 31 in Oklahoma City’s 120-109 win over Indiana, a victory that gave the Thunder a 3-2 lead in the series.
“These guys are really good players,” Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said. “Obviously.”
A look at the history the pairs who had multiple instances of a 40-point and 30-point scorer in the same finals game:
West & Baylor
This 40-30 combination has happened 14 times in NBA Finals history. West and Baylor are responsible for half of them, and they made it almost seem commonplace back then — while hardly any set of teammates has done it since.
• April 8, 1962: West scored 40, Baylor scored 36 in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 129-122 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 2 of those finals.
• April 18, 1962: Baylor scored 41, West scored 35, but it wasn’t enough and the Celtics beat the Lakers 110-107 in Game 7 for the title that season.
• April 17, 1963: West scored 42, Baylor scored 38 and the Lakers beat the Celtics 119-99 in Game 3.
• April 21, 1963: Baylor scored 43, West scored 32 and the Lakers beat the Celtics 126-119 in Game 5. The Celtics would prevail in six games.
• April 17, 1966: West scored 41, Baylor scored 36 in the Lakers’ 133-129 win over the Celtics in Game 1 of that series.
• April 24, 1966: Baylor scored 41, West scored 31 and the Lakers beat the Celtics 121-117 in Game 5. But Boston would win the title again, prevailing in Game 7.
• April 25, 1969: West scored 31, Baylor scored 32 and the Lakers beat the Celtics 118-112 in Game 2 that year. And once again, the Celtics would win, this time in another Game 7 and the 11th and final title for Bill Russell.
Irving & James
They did it in back-to-back seasons for Cleveland, both times against Golden State. The Cavs won the title in 2016, then lost in 2017.
• June 13, 2016: Both scored 41 points and the Cavs beat the Warriors 112-97, cutting Golden State’s series lead to 3-2. This was the season Cleveland successfully rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the title.
• June 9, 2017: Irving scored 40 and James scored 31 as the Cavs avoided a sweep by beating the Warriors 137-116 in Game 4 of that series. Golden State went on to prevail in five games.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba