Isaiah Hartenstein Reclaims Starting Spot as Thunder Seek Momentum in Crucial Game 4 Against Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (AP)— The Oklahoma City Thunder reverted to the lineup that served them well during the earlier playoff rounds for Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Indiana, reintroducing Isaiah Hartenstein to the starting lineup on Friday night.

Hartenstein joined forces with MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort, and Chet Holmgren. This combination features two 7-foot players in their opening five, and the Thunder achieved a strong 12-4 record in the Western Conference playoffs with this arrangement on the court.

Additionally, this group had a solid 9-4 performance together during the regular season.

In the first three Finals games, the Thunder opted to have Hartenstein come off the bench while Cason Wallace took his starting spot, leading to Indiana winning two of those matchups.

“Our team draws on a wide range of options nearly every night,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned earlier in the Finals. “If you’ve kept up with us throughout the season, you know that our ability to be flexible and adaptable is what defines us. We are constantly evolving. While we may have begun the playoffs with the same lineup, our substitutions have varied significantly from game to game in these series, which we believe is one of our strengths.”

This adjustment follows a Game 3 in which Indiana tallied 50 points in the paint, a notable increase from the 34 points scored in each of the first two games of the series.