Hartenstein back in starting lineup for Thunder for Game 4 of the NBA Finals vs. Indiana

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Oklahoma City went back to the lineup it used throughout the first three rounds of the playoffs on Friday night, returning Isaiah Hartenstein to the starting five for Game 4 of the NBA Finals against Indiana.

Hartenstein started alongside MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Lu Dort and Chet Holmgren. The Hartenstein-Holmgren pairing gives the Thunder a pair of 7-footers in the opening five, and Oklahoma City was 12-4 in the Western Conference playoffs when starting that lineup.

That fivesome was also 9-4 when starting games together in the regular season.

The Thunder had Hartenstein coming off the bench for the first three games of the finals, with Cason Wallace starting in his place. Indiana took two of those three games.

“We have a lot of optionality that we draw on, almost nightly,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said earlier in the finals. “If you followed our team throughout the season, I think you know that flexibility and adaptability is the only constant. We’re never staying the same. I know we started the same lineup in the playoffs, but our rotation night to night in these series has been incredibly variant. We think that’s a strength of our team.”

The change comes after Indiana scored 50 points in the paint in Game 3, after managing only 34 in each of the first two games of the series.

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