“They play a full 48 minutes and you can’t just throw the first punch,” said Gilgeous-Alexander. “You’ve got to try to throw all the punches all night.

“That’s what we did. We threw enough punches tonight to get a ‘W’.”

Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA’s Most Valuable Player, added five rebounds and eight assists.

The Thunder’s Jalen Williams scored 19 points, Aaron Wiggins had 18 and Chet Holmgren recovered from a disappointing six points in game one to score 15 points with six rebounds.

The Pacers’ Tyrese Haliburton was limited to 17 points, three rebounds and six assists.

“It’s still a race – first to four,” he said. “We are going to our home court tied 1-1.”

Haliburton walked out of the post-game news conference with a slight limp.

Seven Pacers players scored in double figures, including Myles Turner with 16 points and Pascal Siakam with 15.