OKLAHOMA CITY >> The book is called “The Obstacle Is the Way.” It’s a gift that Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault gave to Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein during a trying time this season, knowing the voracious reader would figure out the meaning.

Message delivered.

“I read it and remembered that everything happens for a reason,” Hartenstein said. “And after that, everything worked out great.”

Such has been the story of the Thunder season. Such was the story of Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Faced with the biggest challenge of their season — a 10-point deficit in the second half, staring at a very real chance of the Indiana Pacers grabbing the almost-insurmountable 3-1 lead in the title round — the Thunder, once again, came away saying everything worked out great.

Led by a dazzling and frantic finish from the reigning MVP and scoring champion Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — who had 15 of his 35 points in the final five minutes or so — the Thunder rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Indiana 111-104 on Friday night. The series is now tied 2-2, heading back to Oklahoma City for Game 5 on Monday night, and it’s the Thunder who have home-court advantage again.

“That was an uphill game against a great team,” Daigneault said after Game 4 in Indianapolis, simultaneously lauding his team while also raving about the Pacers.

It might not have seemed so to the outside world — those who fixated on things like Oklahoma City’s 68-14 franchise-best record, its 16-game lead over its nearest challenger in the Western Conference standings, a record number of double-digit wins and how all of it was led by the MVP and scoring champion in Gilgeous-Alexander. But the Thunder did, in fact, face some adversity this season.

They played without Chet Holmgren and Hartenstein for a while during the year. There was some flux to the lineup at times. Everybody probably had some sort of mini-slump along the way. There was a Game 1 loss in the second round to Denver. And Daigneault embraced every bit of that pain, knowing that for the Thunder to get to where they want to go adversity was going to present itself.

Like the being-down-10, late-third-quarter sort of adversity that came up in Game 4.

Just like Hartenstein was led to believe by the book, everything worked out great.

“We haven’t really had to show it a lot this year, with the success we had in the regular season,” guard Jalen Williams said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs during the playoffs. We’ve just learned from those experiences. That is something Mark is really big on; every game you should be able to learn, then the next game you should be able to apply something and get better at it. That’s what we’re trying to do every time.”

The series is far from over and the Thunder know it. Indiana already has won once at Oklahoma City in these finals; surely, the Pacers think they can do it again.

“I still feel like we have so much work to do,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Halfway there, obviously, but still so far from the finish line.”