2025 NBA FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Indiana Pacers (Series tied 3-3!)

[Kawaii Leonard]

No surprise but Haliburton playing - Shams

[Nuntius]

Indy has more overall Skill talent and depth and wins the series if not for one thing . SOFT

Now, that's just revisionist BS. Before the series, people were complaining about how lopsided the Finals would be because OKC was so much better than us. People had OKC winning in a sweep, 5 at most.

But we made it a series exactly because this team ain't soft.

I had it a 50 50 series before game one ....pacers got dogs and grit but when you can't rebound and can't get north and south vs physical defense that's called soft. Hali has a soft step back and prance play style.

If you had as a 50/50 then you were definitely higher on us than most Pacers fans. Pacers podcasters and analysts gave OKC the edge and the same goes for most of us, Pacers fans. I think I had the Thunder in 6, for example. We were always considered a big underdog in this series and that's alright.

[jkvonny]

I had it a 50 50 series before game one ....pacers got dogs and grit but when you can't rebound and can't get north and south vs physical defense that's called soft. Hali has a soft step back and prance play style.

You don't have to love the guy's prancing. But he isn't mentally soft. He's shown up in the biggest moments more often than not.

Yeh, when a guy hits something like 12 out of 14 game winning or game tying shots over this season and playoffs, dude is not soft.

The whole team is not soft, that's silty. Anyone that has seen any amount of Pacer games, that's not something that should pop up in your mind. Gritty and resilient comes to mind. Our C and PF are not big tough, rough guys, they are both finesse players. They are not soft they both play very hard, just not great rebounders.

If the Pacers are soft, the whole league must be soft, OKC has ran through all of them. Lost just ONE game to the entire East ALL season. The Pacers have beat them twice in the finals. OKC have been historically good, the league has not been historically bad. In fact, just the opposite.

Agreed. Indy is not a soft team

If anything, like many of us have said, the Pacers are tuff, resilient, gritty, well coached.

Pushing a very good OKC team (heavy favorites) to 6 games, possibly 7 games is nothing to sneeze at.

[bisme37]

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[ArksNetsSince99]

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[jkvonny]

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Oh wow.
Ok, stay healthy, Hali!

[JujitsuFlip]

Playing through a calf strain is how KD ruptured his Achilles...

[Edrees]

Really sucks that the injury had to scar this series. Maybe OKC would have won anyway but if Indy doesn't win tonight and Hali doesn't play well (due to injury) it's gonna really suck. Hope this goes 7.

[azcatz11]

Playing through a calf strain is how KD ruptured his Achilles...

Hali has a calf strain every game. There’s something wrong with his legs

[Capn'O]

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[Capn'O]

Don't feel great about the game tonight but I'm one of those overly pessimistic fans. OKC has all the momentum and everyone crowning them but the playoffs have shown momentum doesn't mean jack. OKC barely scraped 1 win in Indiana and have generally been mediocre on road. Indiana is going to come out do or die behind enthusiastic fans.

Just feels like Indiana is going to remind everyone why they're here. Its going 7.

It will take a masterful wrinkle in the game plan IMO. You guys pressed them back and figured out some things to beat their press with Caruso and Wallace giving a lot of help in the backcourt to get the ball up. Your guard defense last game was amazing and I don't think a healthy player makes that much of a difference.

That said, Thunder execution has been a little uneven this postseason so no guarantee of a G5 repeat. But I think G5 was the blueprint. Other than Siakam, they were unable to get anything.

[azcatz11]

Don't feel great about the game tonight but I'm one of those overly pessimistic fans. OKC has all the momentum and everyone crowning them but the playoffs have shown momentum doesn't mean jack. OKC barely scraped 1 win in Indiana and have generally been mediocre on road. Indiana is going to come out do or die behind enthusiastic fans.

Just feels like Indiana is going to remind everyone why they're here. Its going 7.

I think it will take a masterful wrinkle in the game plan IMO. You guys pressed them back and figured out some things to beat their press with Caruso and Wallace giving a lot of help in the backcourt to get the ball up. Your guard defense last game was amazing and I don't think a healthy player makes that much of a difference.

That said, Thunder execution has been a little uneven this postseason so no guarantee of a G5 repeat. But I think G5 was the blueprint. Except Siakam, they were unable to get anything.

Good take. You ever think about unretiring as a mod and coming back to the force?

[Capn'O]

Don't feel great about the game tonight but I'm one of those overly pessimistic fans. OKC has all the momentum and everyone crowning them but the playoffs have shown momentum doesn't mean jack. OKC barely scraped 1 win in Indiana and have generally been mediocre on road. Indiana is going to come out do or die behind enthusiastic fans.

Just feels like Indiana is going to remind everyone why they're here. Its going 7.

I think it will take a masterful wrinkle in the game plan IMO. You guys pressed them back and figured out some things to beat their press with Caruso and Wallace giving a lot of help in the backcourt to get the ball up. Your guard defense last game was amazing and I don't think a healthy player makes that much of a difference.

That said, Thunder execution has been a little uneven this postseason so no guarantee of a G5 repeat. But I think G5 was the blueprint. Except Siakam, they were unable to get anything.

Good take. You ever think about unretiring as a mod and coming back to the force?

I do think about it. Sometimes.

Spoiler:

[cjx]

Doc P Siakam, Obi Toppin and A Nembhard masterclasses are dropping tonight, Fam

See you at game 7, you know what time it is

[1bigfan13]

Man, the Pacer really blew their chances of a championship in game 4 when they were up by 12-13 points midway through the 3rd QTR when they completely let off the gas and the momentum shift carried the Thunder all the way to the end of the game. Should've been 3-1 Pacers, which would have the Thunder winning 3 in a row a monumental task.

I hate one-sided takes like this.

How about at least acknowledging that OKC fans can just as easily say the same thing. This series would probably be wrapped up already if they didn't blow Game 1.

Bottom line is both teams let one slip away that they should have won. That's why the series is 3-2 as it should be.

[Jailblazers7]

I wonder if Indy backs off the full court press in this game. The empowerment of J-Dub as a ball handler broke that press last game. Keep denying SGA full court but you can’t let Jalen attack your defense downhill so easily.

[Patches Perry]

Don't feel great about the game tonight but I'm one of those overly pessimistic fans. OKC has all the momentum and everyone crowning them but the playoffs have shown momentum doesn't mean jack. OKC barely scraped 1 win in Indiana and have generally been mediocre on road. Indiana is going to come out do or die behind enthusiastic fans.

Just feels like Indiana is going to remind everyone why they're here. Its going 7.

I think it will take a masterful wrinkle in the game plan IMO. You guys pressed them back and figured out some things to beat their press with Caruso and Wallace giving a lot of help in the backcourt to get the ball up. Your guard defense last game was amazing and I don't think a healthy player makes that much of a difference.

That said, Thunder execution has been a little uneven this postseason so no guarantee of a G5 repeat. But I think G5 was the blueprint. Except Siakam, they were unable to get anything.

Wiggins and Wallace shot 7-11 from three and Dub had 40. Even in spite of all that, it was a 2 point game with 8 minutes left. Caruso, Shai and Chet could shoot better but Indiana could also get bigger games from Mathurin, Nembhard and possibly Hali depending on his injury. I doubt Wallace and Wiggins will shoot that well on the road.

OKC was 1-2 vs. Denver on the road, 1-1 vs. Minnesota and 1-1 vs. Indiana. That's 3 wins and 4 losses last 3 rounds. Even their road wins against Memphis had them down 29 at half in game 3, and was competitive in game 4.

Maybe they can muster a heroic road effort to get over the finish line tonight, but their play on the road has not inspired me to believe they will win. It's 50/50 at best.

[nbafan38]

im surprised by the spread tonight. I know Hali not 100% but still i think pacers play really inspired tonight at home and okc shaky all postseason on the road. I think we are going 7.

[ArksNetsSince99]

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What’s funny ? I’m just trying to reroute a bit of blame in case Pacers loose

[Nuntius]

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Not sure how to feel about that. It is a big risk but Hali is the type of player who will insist to play through injuries. He did it last year as well.