OKLAHOMA CITY — You hear champions of NBA past talk about it all the time, how much playing deep into June takes out of you. Mentally, physically, emotionally. Until someone goes through it, they can never truly understand the toll.
There are only a few players in this NBA Finals who’ve gone through the nine-month grind — even the extra days in between games only help but so much. Once the NBA went away from the 2-3-2 format in 2014, it added cross-country flights, and it added days — which adds fatigue. For Pacers forward Pascal Siakam, he was a totally different specimen by the time the 2019 NBA Finals rolled around.
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“In ’19, I was probably less than 200 pounds by the time I got to the Finals,” Siakam told Yahoo Sports Sunday afternoon before Pacers practice. “I mean I was this skinny. All the weight through the playoffs, it was so much.”
Listed at 230 pounds now, he was also listed as that going into training camp when he was a third-year forward with the Toronto Raptors, in the year he won Most Improved Player and had a breakout NBA Finals series against the Golden State Warriors. But the fact he lost so much weight during the long run through the playoffs speaks to how much more prepared players have to be in order to stay upright and effective, especially when their best is required.
“Now, I’m able to take care of my body, do different things,” Siakam said. “Because I’m just mature and I’m older too. So I’m able to really react well to all the things and media and everything, so it’s a different experience.
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“It takes a toll mentally and physically, obviously. But the way I try to look at it is like, this is a blessing. This is where you want to be. So I think you try to take care of your body, obviously, but also just mentally thinking that, like, I’m blessed to be able to play at this time of the year.”
Siakam’s 3-point shooting took a dip in every round in 2019, going down to 24% in the Finals. This year, he’s at 43% overall despite going just 4 for 14 in the first four games against the Thunder. And by comparison, that 2019 series was a slog in pace compared to these two. It’s not just about stamina, even though that plays a big part in it.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault admitted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was winded in Games 3 and 4 in Indianapolis, and you can see the general weariness on his face, even through the excitement and opportunity. It was one of the things he had to battle through to etch his name in Finals lore with his 15 points in the final five minutes of Game 4.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander takes a breather on the court in Game 4. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)
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“It’s a lot of games. It’s tiring, for sure,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But every game is tiring. When you’re giving your all, every possession, you’re going to be tired. I don’t think I’m the only one out there that is tired.”
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The Thunder went to the second round last year before being upset by the Dallas Mavericks. That was the extent of their playoff experience before putting it together this time around. There’s only so much preparation one can put into offseason work — you have to go through it yourself to really get it.
“It’s something new. Something new for a lot of us, and a lot of us haven’t been this late into the season,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But I think above all, it’s been very fun. It’s been everything I dreamt it to be growing up. There’s no other place in the world I’d rather be, and I’m grateful to be here. Thankful for the experience, for sure.”
The niceties have dissipated ever-so-slightly in this series, which is tied 2-2 entering Monday’s pivotal Game 5. There’s still respect, and at some point there will be an acknowledgment about how special this series has been, but both teams are approaching the point of being tired of each other. Obi Toppin and Isaiah Hartenstein got into a lightweight shoving match that resulted in a flagrant foul and offsetting technical fouls. And Lu Dort committed a flagrant foul later on Toppin, knocking him upside the head on a drive. It’s part of the wild emotional swings that take place in every great Finals series.
The feeling the Thunder had following their late collapse in Game 1 is what the Pacers felt after blowing their chance at a 3-1 lead Friday night.
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“Yeah, the emotional swings, I think I’ve honestly gotten better with them as time went on because we’ve had so many different series,” Thunder forward Jalen Williams said. “You go to Game 1 of Denver, I’ve never lost that way in a series that means a lot. Even this one, the way we lost the first game.”
Williams, like Siakam in 2019, is a breakout player in this series, after a shaky initial two games at home (26 points in Game 3, 27 in Game 4). His demeanor is similar to Gilgeous-Alexander’s, but it’s probably more of a learned behavior. The Thunder have grown up, especially in the last two months.
“There’s so many ups and downs and we’ve constantly had that throughout this run,” Williams said. “Then last year we had so many of those. I’m kind of numb to the ups and downs. It just kind of comes with basketball.”
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