2025 NBA FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 1-0)

[FarBeyondDriven]

I'm rooting for a great series and would love to see the Pacers win but I think the Thunder are just clearly the best and most talented team this year so they'll win. 5 games is likely but I voted 6

[azcatz11]

Pacers haven't lost B2B games in almost 3 months...they are going to be frisky. I'm pretty confident this series is going 7

[lethalizer]

The last time a Finals team was this roundly & emphatically dismissed before the start of the series was in 2004. Followed by 2011.


Should be a good one, then.

.

Eh, this kinda looks like selective memory. Heat had no chance in 2023, Boston was a juggernaut last season and I had that series going 5 or 6 at most.

If you're going by Vegas odds, 2018 Cavs were worse, and Warriors swept them.

Btw, 2011 Mavs weren't that massive underdogs. They were only +155 to win, same odds as the 2012 Heat vs the Thunder.

[akula1488]

if OKC wins this in 5 or 4, that is funny because it proves the real MVP is Jokic because out of the 4 components, only Den would have taken them to 7 games while the other 3 teams could not even make it to game 6.

[HMFFL]

Since the Pacers have failed at stopping SGA the Pacers feontcourt must stay out of foul trouble and be elite against OKC's frontcourt. Myles Turner will need to play the best basketball he can.


SGA will obviously attack Hali and their frontcourt to get them in foul trouble.

Exciting Finals!

[Capn'O]

Pacers going to give it their all, not expecting an easy series like most..... OKC in 6 or 7 in a hard-fought series, Pacers have what it takes to keep up with OKC's athleticism and possibly shock the NBA world.

I agree with this. I keep doubting 'em and they keep proving me wrong.

Still like OKC to win it all though. They're a terrific squad.

[Patches Perry]

if OKC wins this in 5 or 4, that is funny because it proves the real MVP is Jokic because out of the 4 components, only Den would have taken them to 7 games while the other 3 teams could not even make it to game 6.

Counterpoint: The "real MVP" is the one who performed better individually and also won the series.

[Dadouv47]

It's a playoff series and anything can happen and I respect the Pacers and I have some match up concerns but objectively it would be a massive massive dissapointment for us Thunder fans if we can't win this. I keep hearing that we might win 3 or 4 titles and contend for 10 years but then you gotta be lucky, stay healthy and be at least as good for a while. Chet got injured half his NBA career so it's not like he can't get injured again. Winning a championship is difficult and requires luck (mostly injury luck), a great team and everything to go your way. This Thunder team had an all time great season so we gotta finish the job. I don't think a Thunder fan can be ok with losing this series and thinking about the "future". Gotta win while we can and there will be never be a better opportunity.

[tamaraw08]

Its tough to see the pacers being able to competently guard jdub and shai. Nesmith and nembhard are both a bit on the smallish side to guard their counterparts imo. They could put siakam on jdub and maybe have toppin out there with turner as well I suppose.

wait, there's only 1 player in the Pacers core who is shorter than 6-5. I understand Nembhard looks shot so he's more like 6-3 but you can put him on Wallace or Dort imo.

[tamaraw08]

Pacers going to give it their all, not expecting an easy series like most..... OKC in 6 or 7 in a hard-fought series, Pacers have what it takes to keep up with OKC's athleticism and possibly shock the NBA world.

I agree with this. I keep doubting 'em and they keep proving me wrong.

Still like OKC to win it all though. They're a terrific squad.

The Denver series looked much closer because OKC struggled hitting their 3's.
Both JDub and Chet shot below 24%, Dort shot under 29%
Both SGA and Joe shot just 33%. If this happens again with Pacers hitting their normal clip, then it will be closer than fans think.

[Kent]

This could be a sneaky-good Finals.

I'm here for it.

[LAvision]

This will be a massacre, I don’t see one thing the pacers do better. And a bad half court team vs an elite and versatile defense….. yikes, thing are going to get ugly.

[akula1488]

this will probably be one of the worst finals ever, in terms of TV ratings. I think people are already looking forward to NBA draft and off-season moves.

[bbms]

what's most brutal when analyzing the matchup is that the pacers found success on that run and gun weird chaotic football-like offense that stunned teams.

the stun effect is lesser the longer the exposure, that's a given but there is something even worse

chaos is this thunder's team home turf...

should be a fun series if the pacers can steal one early in okc

[mrvioletowl]

Turner is a really good 3 pt shooter. I fully expext to see him take more 3s than usual, to draw Hartenstein out and make it easier for Siakam to drive. Which is a second thing - unlike Randle and Jokic, who were trying to post up and got stripped, Siakam is more of a long stride driver. I expect him to draw a good amount of fouls. As long as Pacers can hit their 3's, they will be in it. Blueprint is there - pack the paint and dare OKC to try and outshoot you.

[Boardbreaker]

If Turner play soft and unserviceable like he was in the Knicks series.....

He looked confused and terrified almost every time he touched the ball

[Karate Diop]

If Pacers can get a fair whistle they'll win in 6.

[Clav]

If Pacers can get a fair whistle they'll win in 6.

Not gonna be that reason in isolation

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

If the regular season is an indicator, it's going to be Nembhard on SGA

12/26 - 7/8 16 pts
3/29 - 4/10 11 pts

Nembhard had struggled with Brunson till he did that great job on him in game 6 so who knows what's going to happen

Felt like it was mostly Nesmith on Brunson. Obviously there were switches and stuff, but Nesmith seemed like primary defender early on.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

Regardless of what happens, I’m super proud of this Pacers team. No one gave them a chance or paid attention to them all season. Before the season people called them a play-in team. In the first round they heard “Bucks don’t need Lillard to beat Indiana in 5,” then it became “Even without Garland, Cavs win easily,” to “Pacers finally have to face a healthy team, Knicks in 4.”

Right now, they are a massive underdog. I’ve said the whole time, I think the Pacers can beat any team in a 7 game series…except OKC. They just have insane counters for everything the Pacers like to do, but they’ve been proving people wrong all season and I’m hoping they can do it again.

Regardless of what happens though, this is such a fun team to watch. They all put their egos aside and play as a unit. Rare to see that these days and it’s been a blast to watch.

4 more to shock the world, let’s go!

IDK Bill Simmons has been singing their praises for a while now

That’s fair, but he’s not really mainstream anymore.

You had “analysts” on big networks who can’t pronounce players names. One dude even said he hasn’t watched the Pacers at all, though, that may have been a podcast too.