How Pacers can stop (or at least contain) Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

You can't stop him. You can only hope to contain him.

Those are words the Indiana Pacers should live by as they prepare for the NBA Finals against guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder. SGA, fresh off his first MVP award, was an unstoppable force during the regular season, averaging a league-best 32.7 points. In the playoffs, he is averaging 29.8 points, third best in the league.

Trying to corral SGA for potentially seven games is difficult, but it's not impossible. Playing tight defense against stars is something the Pacers are familiar with this postseason. Indiana has already defeated Milwaukee's Giannis Antetokounmpo (30.4 PPG during regular season), New York's Jalen Brunson (26 PPG) and Cleveland's Donovan Mitchell (24 PPG). Each was among the top-16 scorers in the league this season.

But the 6-foot-6 Gilgeous-Alexander presents a matchup nightmare for guards. What can Indiana do to slow him? In short, mix it up and make him uncomfortable starting with Game 1 Thursday in Oklahoma City (8:30 p.m. ET, ABC).

Who will defend SGA?

Andrew Nembhard drew high praise for his defense on Brunson in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals. According to Caitlin Cooper of Basketball, She Wrote, Nembhard defended Brunson for 55 match-ups, giving up just 9.1 player points per 100 match-ups, an excellent result.

This is not to say Nembhard was blanketing Brunson for the entire series. Cooper also cited that he defended Brunson for 49 match-ups, allowing 51.0 player points per 100 match-ups, in the first five games of the series.

Aaron Nesmith will most likely draw SGA the most along with Nembhard, but Nesmith was hampered by injuries late in the Eastern Conference Finals, forcing Indiana to turn to Nembhard.

How should Indy defend him?

How does Indiana balance aggressive defense without fouling? That will make or break the series for the Pacers. The reason Nembhard was so effective in Game 6 is that he had six steals and Brunson only attempted two free throws — well below his average of 7.8 attempts per game during the postseason.

Gilgeous-Alexander has a quick first step and is nearly unstoppable if the main defender is left on an island to guard him. The Pacers must throw multiple defenders at him, be physical with him off screens and try to force him to give up the ball.

Too often in the Western Conference Finals the Minnesota Timberwolves left a single defender on SGA, allowing him to easily run his man into screens. The result: 30.8 points per game in the five-game series on 42.9% shooting from the floor.

Even worse, Minnesota sent Gilgeous-Alexander to the line nearly 12 times per game. He made 40-of-47 attempts in the series (85.1 percent). Indiana cannot allow that.

Does containing SGA mean the Pacers win the series?

Not necessarily. If Indiana bottles up Gilgeous-Alexander, he's still an excellent passer. He averaged 8.3 assists in the Western Conference Finals and OKC has weapons all over the floor. 

However, in the regular season and playoffs, SGA has been held to fewer than 20 points four times. OKC is 2-2 in those games, including a 1-2 record in the postseason. In all four games, the key to limiting his production was keeping him off the free-throw line. He shot just 18 free throws combined in those games.

OKC is too good to fold easily should Indiana execute its defensive game plan to perfection against the league MVP. However, if the Pacers' defense in the series is anything like the close-out Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals against New York, Indianapolis might be holding a parade in June.