2024-25 NBA Season Discussion

[GSP]

You'll be in for a surprise this series.

Bad start

But only game 1

You werent sure Indiana wins a game this series. They just won a game where Okc won the turnover battle 24 to 6 and shot and made more Fts. Okc is in trouble theres no way this is the Pacers only win this series.

[Peregrine01]

Carlisle has quietly been one of the best coaches of all-time.

[TheGOATRises007]

Bad start

But only game 1

You werent sure Indiana wins a game this series. They just won a game where Okc won the turnover battle 24 to 6 and shot and made more Fts. Okc is in trouble theres no way this is the Pacers only win this series.

They won 1

Impressive comeback

But I think OKC still easily win this series

[eminence]

Great job limiting the 2nd half turnovers from Indiana. 19 at half, 22 midway through the 3rd, only 2 in the final 19 minutes.

[Special_Puppy]

OKC could win the next 4 and I wouldn't be surprised, but this was necessary to make it a series

[tone wone]

Once Indy gets a deficit down to 8 in the 4th, you're completely at the mercy of the gods. You have NO control over the outcome at that point.

OKC only getting 11pts off of 25 to's is absolutely INSANE. This should've been a 20-ish point game throughout. Instead it played at 8-12pt....and that ultimately doomed them.

[Fadeaway_J]

Good to see J-Dub back to his old tricks again.

As great as OKC is, it's incredible how unreliable everyone other than Shai is offensively. This game would have been a 20-point blowout if they had converted all those steals into transition buckets at even an average rate.

[Fadeaway_J]

OKC could win the next 4 and I wouldn't be surprised, but this was necessary to make it a series

Pretty much how I feel. Still have OKC as heavy favourites based on how this game played out, but banking a win under these circumstances is huge.

[Outside]

I love basketball

This has been one of the best postseasons ever. I love it.

[IlikeSHAIguys]

._.

[Doctor MJ]

Great job limiting the 2nd half turnovers from Indiana. 19 at half, 22 midway through the 3rd, only 2 in the final 19 minutes.

This is the scary thing for OKC because I think it represents Indy getting their sea legs against the swarming defense.

Good news for OKC: Indy can’t keep shooting like this, can they?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Fadeaway_J]

Great job limiting the 2nd half turnovers from Indiana. 19 at half, 22 midway through the 3rd, only 2 in the final 19 minutes.

This is the scary thing for OKC because I think it represents Indy getting their sea legs against the swarming defense.

Good news for OKC: Indy can’t keep shooting like this, can they?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

At this point I wouldn't want to bet against crazy Indiana shooting.

What killed the Thunder was not converting all those transition opportunities and putting the game out of reach. I trust Indiana lot more once it gets into a halfcourt execution game.

[Peregrine01]

I don't think it's fair to constantly diminish the offensive competence of all the OKC players sans SGA. Yeah they sometimes go cold in the half court but the looks that they're getting aren't that great and it's usually after SGA has been pounding the ball for 15+ seconds. The standard OKC half court offense is to play high pick and roll with SGA at the top, get him switched on a match up that he likes and let him go to work. So SGA's either getting to his spots or throwing a grenade off to one of his teammates if he doesn't. That's not good half-court offense.

[therealbig3]

Bad start

But only game 1

You werent sure Indiana wins a game this series. They just won a game where Okc won the turnover battle 24 to 6 and shot and made more Fts. Okc is in trouble theres no way this is the Pacers only win this series.

They won 1

Impressive comeback

But I think OKC still easily win this series

To be fair, this was said about them against Cleveland, then again against NY. They just keep making these comebacks down the stretch of games. It's hard to chalk it up to dumb luck at this point.

I do think it speaks to a much tighter series than people anticipated if Indy was able to turn a game in which they lost the TO battle so massively and didn't even make up for it with FTs into a late game win.

Sure, I think Indy's shooting will come back down to earth, but they also shouldn't be turning the ball over as crazy as they did in this game. I get that OKC is great at forcing TOs, but Indy has also been really good at not committing TOs generally, especially Haliburton. And as the series goes on, I think they'll get used to OKC's defense and cut down on the mistakes.

So which balances out first, Indy's shooting or Indy's turnovers? I still think OKC is the favorite for sure, but Indy just proved they can hang with them. And as the series went on with the Knicks, Brunson gradually became a lot less effective, especially when Indy stopped letting him get a lot of the cheap fouls he baits people into, Nesmith and Nembhard made him work for everything. I think they'll start doing something similar with SGA, although SGA is a lot better obviously.

[CKRT]

The Haliban might actually have the Mandate of Heaven

[parsnips33]

Indiana is so likable

Hard not to think that the Warriors could have had Haliburton. Would have been beautiful stuff

[Outside]

Great job limiting the 2nd half turnovers from Indiana. 19 at half, 22 midway through the 3rd, only 2 in the final 19 minutes.

This is the scary thing for OKC because I think it represents Indy getting their sea legs against the swarming defense.

Good news for OKC: Indy can’t keep shooting like this, can they?

For the PS, Indy is shooting. 405 from three and .496 overall. In game 1 against OKC, they shot .462 from three and .476 overall. That kinda fits with what OKC does, which is pack the paint and leave lesser three-point shooters open, but Indy's lesser three-point shooters are still really good. Haliburton is actually the worst of the bunch at .331 this PS. They've been great this PS.

Let the chess match of adjustments begin.

Also the questions.

-- Will JWill step up offensively?

-- Chet? Paging Chet Holmgren...

-- Will the Pacers' recent PS experience vs OKC's lack of experience continue to be a difference-maker?

-- How many games will Dort make threes? OKC wasted a good Dort game.

-- Can Indy keep SGA off the free-throw line?

Indy's belief in themselves is so powerful that it feeds into a little voice of self-doubt in OKC's mind. It's a huge advantage down the stretch in close games.

Maybe OKC wins the next four games, but I doubt it. This should be fun. I like both teams, but Indy is so much fun to root for.

[Special_Puppy]

After further investigation, SGA's "grifting" can be mostly explained by him shooting a lot of 2-pointers. Butler, Harden, Mathurin, Luka, Embiid, and Trae are the players with the unusually high free throw rates.

[jalengreen]

-- Will the Pacers' recent PS experience vs OKC's lack of experience continue to be a difference-maker?

They have pretty similar "recent PS experience". I don't see it as some sort of significant team wide advantage. Denver series was especially a great experience builder for OKC, down 1-0 and 2-1 with multiple clutch games and an eventual G7.

Granted, the Finals are different and you'd expect more nerves for the biggest stage in the sport. But the team that came out with 19 first half turnovers wasn't the one that impressed me as far as controlling nerves go tbh

[Outside]

-- Will the Pacers' recent PS experience vs OKC's lack of experience continue to be a difference-maker?

They have pretty similar "recent PS experience". I don't see it as some sort of significant team wide advantage. Denver series was especially a great experience builder for OKC, down 1-0 and 2-1 with multiple clutch games and an eventual G7.

Granted, the Finals are different and you'd expect more nerves for the biggest stage in the sport. But the team that came out with 19 first half turnovers wasn't the one that impressed me as far as controlling nerves go tbh

The Denver series was definitely great experience for OKC. I was referring more to last season, where Indy made the conference finals while OKC lost in the 2nd round. Indy played 17 games last PS compared to 10 for OKC; not necessarily a huge difference, but it was a big positive step for Indy and a disappointment for OKC.

There's also the coaching experience. Daignault is a really good coach, but Carlisle has a huge advantage in PS experience.

Indy's belief in themselves and their poise to withstand deficits and keep themselves in the game comes from somewhere. They see themselves as never being out of the game, while OKC has a seed of doubt that Indy doesn't have. Experience is a factor.