After trading wins through the first four games of the NBA Finals, Oklahoma City broke the series tie to command a 3-2 lead with back-to-back wins.

The Thunder dominated in their return to Paycom Center as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams combined for 71 points en route to a 120-109 victory. Indiana took a narrow 12-11 lead with 9:03 left in the first quarter and never reclaimed it. 

Oklahoma City’s defense stirred havoc on the Pacers all game. 

Game one hero Tyrese Haliburton was battling a lower leg injury and was held to only four points. Haliburton went 0-6 from the field, only scoring from the free-throw line.

Gilgeous-Alexander recorded four blocks and two steals in addition to his 31-point performance. The Thunder outnumbered Indiana in blocks 12 to four and steals 15 to nine.

In the fourth, the Thunder shook off a rally by the Pacers that closed their 18-point lead to only two points. 

A behind-the-back pass from Gilgeous-Alexander led to a Williams deep ball. Followed by a scoop-and-score by fellow ex-Wildcat Cason Wallace, the OKC lead extended to seven.

Indiana continued to be outmatched by the Thunder defense.

Gilgeous-Alexander persistently split through the Pacers’ double teams and found open teammates, fueling an 18-to-2-point run to close out the win. Claiming the first back-to-back victory for either team this series.

The Kentucky alum finished with a double-double with 31 points and 10 assists, his first of the series. 

Game five marked Gilgeous-Alexander’s fourth 30-point performance of the NBA Finals. Currently, he is averaging 32.4 points, 5.0 assists, 4.6 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 2.4 steals per game.

A Finals victory almost looks certain for the Thunder. Given Halliburton’s injury and the palpable momentum swinging in Oklahoma City’s favor with consecutive wins.

Gilgeous-Alexander is one win away from claiming the first Finals MVP for any Kentucky player in NBA history. Additionally, Gilgeous-Alexander would join an exclusive club of legends to earn Finals MVP and league MVP in the same season.

He would become the first double-crowned MVP since LeBron James in 2013.

What does Mark Pope do in the offseason? Well, when he’s not recruiting, signing autographs, or answering countless questions, he’s coaching Team USA at the U19 camp.

Coach Pope, in lieu of his uber-successful first season at the helm for Kentucky, was brought on to coach the group of young athletes prior to the beginning of their college careers.

Amongst the fray of recruits committed elsewhere, Pope got to coach two of his very own players in Jasper Johnson and Malachi Moreno – both Kentucky natives, playing under a Kentucky alumni, for a team USA.

Big Blue Nation, you aren’t dreaming. No pinch necessary.

Jaw-Dropping

“It was awesome,” Pope said of the opportunity, in an interview with KSR’s Jack Pilgrim. “It’s the first time I’ve been allowed to coach them… it’s like a sneak-peek into what’s going to be.”

“They were both incredible, like jaw-dropping great. So, the chance to coach them, the chance to be in some live-play, some competition against other players… I loved that part and I loved getting to see their competitiveness come out, their fearlessness come out, their hearts come out.”

While the original USA U19 roster was much larger, part of the process is a “cut down” of sorts, in which only 18 players remain as a part of the next unit. Jasper Johnson made it, whilst Malachi Moreno did not – although, the latter was the result of a minor injury he sustained during play.

Reportedly, it was a mutual decision between Moreno and the team that he would return to Lexington in order to manage his injury ahead of the 2025-26 season.

Either way, Coach Pope getting an early chance to lead two of his incoming players can only be taken as a good omen. With his second season at Kentucky creeping closer, fans can only look on, and take in what little new information is available whilst they wait.

It won’t be long before Johnson and Moreno both are electrifying their hometown crowd at Rupp Arena. November is circled in blue on everyone’s calendar.

In a turn of equally surprising and exciting news, a freshly graduated Ansley Almonor will be returning to Lexington this summer to play for the TBT alumni team, La Familia.

Almonor, who provided a legendary midseason spark off the bench for the Cats just last season, announced his decision live on BBN Tonight, saying, “What’s up BBN! I’ll be coming back to Lex this summer to play for La Familia.”

“I already miss playing in front of BBN… so I can’t wait to go out there and represent you guys one more time.”

After multiple seasons at FDU and transferring to Kentucky as a sub-300 ranked player in the portal, Almonor proved his worth and then some as one of the Wildcats’ most consistent shooters from downtown.

Not only that, but he stood as a shining example of what can be achieved in the transfer portal in spite of arbitrary rankings and miscalculated projections.

A truly one-of-a-kind story that, with this latest development, has been given another chapter.

Almonor joins the Harrison twins (Aaron and Andrew), Willie Cauley-Stein, Doron Lamb, and DeAndre Liggins as the youngest player on a roster full of former fan-favorite Cats, and he likely won’t be the last.

Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat: whether you wore the jersey for the last time nearly two decades ago, or barely more than two months.