2025 NBA FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 2-1)

[Iwasawitness]

This 2011 Mavs debate vs Indy this year is ridiculous because who cares. Most of ya’ll seem to agree but just talking past one another.

1st - Pacers haven’t won yet. IF THEY DO, their run would be more improbably , less likely, more Cinderella than 2011. But that’s not same as “greater”. Mavs run was greater cause of teams they faced, Mavs were not that much of underdogs like Pacers team are. Dirk was legit #1. Going into playoffs, people wouldn’t have ranked anyone on Pacers top 15 in league.

If Indy wins, they will have beaten two 60 win teams (both of which with SRS ratings above 8) and a healthy Knicks team. They will have four comeback wins, all of which dwarf what Dallas did in game 2 against Miami, and they would be the biggest underdogs in terms of betting odds for this finals series.

It is not even close. It's not even a debate.

As I said I'm not sure what you're arguing. You say all that to then say "they would be the biggest underdogs in terms of betting odds of this finals series" which I AGREE ... But I don't see how that statement is correlated to the statement on teams they faced. I'm not discounting what Indy did but Mavs in 2011 definitely to the objective eye faced tougher teams considering Cavs injuries in 2nd round. Objectively ... Bucks/Portland 1st round - Comparable, 2nd round - Cavs/Lakers - CONSIDERING Cavs injuries, Lakers tougher team ... 3rd round - OKC/Knicks - up for debate, comparable tho I'd lean OKC talent wise, 4th round - OKC/Miami - comparable ... Every series comparable but 2nd round tilts to Dallas favor.

Again though, not discounting what Indy has done. They are the more improbable team, more cinderella team than 2011 Dallas. "storyline" wise it is just hard to beat the Mavs last hurrah with aging vets like Dirk, Kidd, Marion. Both teams the whole world was rooting for which is cool though.

OKC and Miami aren't comparable.

[Iwasawitness]

lebron is better than sga

2025 OKC are a better team than 2011 Heat by a pretty significant margin.

Do you think '25 OKC is the best team in the last 20 years?

The Heat sans Lebron's meltdown in 2011 would smoke them. The Dubs with KD would kill them. The Raptors title team beats them too.

No, they wouldn't. OKC is a better team on both ends of the floor with a significantly better bench and much better coaching. It would be a slaughter. You don't have to be the best team on the past 20 years to be better than the 2011 Heat either. They weren't even the best team that season, let alone the last 20 years.

[Infinite Llamas]

lebron is better than sga

2025 OKC are a better team than 2011 Heat by a pretty significant margin.

Do you think '25 OKC is the best team in the last 20 years?

The Heat sans Lebron's meltdown in 2011 would smoke them. The Dubs with KD would kill them. The Raptors title team beats them too.

‘23 Denver beats them too

Heck, a bastardized version of that ‘23 team took them to 7….

[Iwasawitness]

2025 OKC are a better team than 2011 Heat by a pretty significant margin.

Do you think '25 OKC is the best team in the last 20 years?

The Heat sans Lebron's meltdown in 2011 would smoke them. The Dubs with KD would kill them. The Raptors title team beats them too.

Pretty sure he's a lebron stan so saying 2011 heat was some cupcake of a team lessens the blow of the fact that Lebron choking was the major reason the Heat lost that series. Lebron and Mavs/Dirk fans don't like to hear that (the latter because that narrative detracts from Dirk's phenomenal run).

Top heavy or not, '11 Heat had the very last year of prime Wade, prime Bosh, prime Lebron, Haslem, Miller and scrubs. That isn't SIGNFICANTLY, key word significantly worse than many all time teams outside maybe the KD warriors, 2nd 3peat Bulls and a couple others.

You can argue 2025 okc are better than the '11 heatles.. sure but to there's a huge gap is quite ludicrous imo. Once again Lebron choking completely skews the image a lot have of that Heat team. They gentlemen swept their way to the finals and would've likely 4-1'd Mavs too if Bron simply plays basketball like he's done for 99% of his career in games 2-5.

There's nothing to lesson here... I had Dallas winning in six that series and I was proven correct. It was the result I expected. Haslem probably wouldn't be getting minutes on this OKC team. And you really mentioned Mike Miller, who had a bad back that season and average 5 PPG on 40/36/67 shooting spreads. Yeah, if LeBron plays better they win, but they didn't... because Dallas shut him down.

There IS a huge gap. OKC won 68 games with their second best player missing a good amount of the season (39 to be exact). They had a historic defense and an SRS of 12.7 with a 10+ net rating. That's all time territory right there. What I find funny is that a couple of you have said OKC hasn't proven anything... but 2011 Miami hadn't proven anything either up to that point.

I find myself questioning your basketball knowledge if you think 2011 Miami has any argument. 2013 Miami is a different story. But 2011? You'd have to be pretty brain dead to think this.

[Bergmaniac]

OKC may still win this series, way too early for the "they aren't that good" circlejerk.

[Drakeem]

Initially I was slightly on the OKC bandwagon just bc I do like seeing great players like SGA have success, but there's something so pure about the Pacers and the way they play basketball. Their main guy is an all around offensive player who doesn't rely on gimmicks and FTs to score and keeps everyone involved, Siakam is a great jack of all trades player, and they just have a lot of amazing role players that perfectly compliment each other. No Big 3s, no superstars coming together and having to balance their volume scoring, just a well designed team that fits together and wins by committee. Beautiful to watch. Go Pacers!

[Castle Black]

OKC may still win this series, way too early for the "they aren't that good" circlejerk.

They're literally still the betting favorites at -250 lol. They haven't lost back-to-back games the Playoffs and only did it twice in the regular season. They bounce back better than any team the league after a loss. They went down 2-1 to Denver too and we all know how that turned out. I fully expect a Game 4 victory and a big game from SGA and even J-Will and Caruso.

[Castle Black]

Good news for OKC.

Read on Twitter

[karmew32]

2025 OKC are a better team than 2011 Heat by a pretty significant margin.

Do you think '25 OKC is the best team in the last 20 years?

The Heat sans Lebron's meltdown in 2011 would smoke them. The Dubs with KD would kill them. The Raptors title team beats them too.

Both Celtics championship teams (last year and the Garnet-Pierce-Allen team) were better than OKC. The Warriors were better. The Heat teams were better. The Spurs were better.

The Thunder are a nice, fairly deep team that hasn't matured yet and lacks top tier talent except for SGA. Trying to compare them to some of these teams with 2-3 HoFamers in their primes is ridiculous. Individually and collectively, they haven't proven ANYTHING yet.

Only thing I'll disagree with is the Warriors, at least the 2015 iteration. They were also shaky in the Finals and I feel like this Thunder team is better equipped to thrive when the game bogs down than that Warriors team was. Curry mainly thrived off-ball and he hadn't reached his 2016 peak. The Thunder defense would slow him down enough to make the difference.

I will say that the 2016 Warriors were superior, at least pre-Lake Motiejunas.

This Thunder team would eviscerate the 2022 Warriors, no contest.

[Chuck Everett]

OKC is the youngest team in the entire league. It is incredible that they were as dominant as they were during the season because the youngest team in the NBA is usually a borderline playoff team at best.

However, if they do lose the series, it's just another reminder that the regular season records no longer mean much. And the Thunder might be missing a guy who is around 6-9, who could slide into the 4 spot when they go small and let Jalen Williams be a 3-man more often. Their small ball against Indiana is legit small even with guys having long wingspans and is thus completely negated against this particular opponent.

Thinking about it though, those kinds of guys might be on Portland's roster unfortunately.

[MoneyTalks41890]

OKC is the youngest team in the entire league. It is incredible that they were as dominant as they were during the season because the youngest team in the NBA is usually a borderline playoff team at best.

However, if they do lose the series, it's just another reminder that the regular season records no longer mean much. And the Thunder might be missing a guy who is around 6-9, who could slide into the 4 spot when they go small and let Jalen Williams be a 3-man more often. Their small ball against Indiana is legit small even with guys having long wingspans and is thus completely negated against this particular opponent.

Thinking about it though, those kinds of guys might be on Portland's roster unfortunately.

Yep I read 6-9 and my first thought was Deni.

[kazyv]

I can't ever imagine the pacers winning game 7 on the road. The homecooking and the ref advantage that OKC lives off of would be too much. So the path to victory for the pacers is laid out pretty clear. Get a win in the next two games (hard to imagine three wins in a row) and close OKC out at home in game 6

[whatisacenter]

Man, Pacers mean business!

They are going to take this in 6!

Also, that was a really fun and entertaining game to watch! Real hoop fans rejoice!

This thread only up to 63 pages for the finals seems a little underwhelming. It seems real hoops fans not that many.

This is the 3rd or 4th Finals thread.

I personally don't care if the ratings stink and if other NBA "fans" don't like it...I am enjoying watching two fun, competitive, exciting teams battle it out!

[bisme37]

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