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

[Fantastik_Goat]

I feel like the NBA just forgot to start the finals.

[Nuntius]

I feel like the NBA just forgot to start the finals.

The wait is killing me, not gonna lie.

[ArksNetsSince99]

I feel like the NBA just forgot to start the finals.

The wait is killing me, not gonna lie.

I’m feeling like the Pacers already won the championship and the season is over

[dakomish23]

I’m so excited for this series to get underway. Most NBA media is already writing the obituary for IND. I don’t think it’s going to be as lopsided as these folks think

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

[magee]

I’m so excited for this series to get underway. Most NBA media is already writing the obituary for IND. I don’t think it’s going to be as lopsided as these folks think

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

It's an underestimate at how well Rick Carlisle can coach. He's maxed this squad out. And they work off Tyrese, who will get shut down by the Thunder. He goes, the Pacers go. They don't have a secondary playmaker like the Thunder do.

[lethalizer]

I’m so excited for this series to get underway. Most NBA media is already writing the obituary for IND. I don’t think it’s going to be as lopsided as these folks think

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

What makes this Pacers team good is they have a lot of backup options when their first and secondary actions fail on offense.

Thunder like to switch a lot on defense, and will cut off the driving lanes while having elite defense inside the paint.

Knicks with Brunson and Towns both in the lineup is not disruptive enough to make an unpredictable offense like Indy's fail. Towns is a good post defender but he just doesn't have the foot speed to recover under the rim. Brunson puts in the effort, but eh, don't think it's a huge stretch to say he's a defensive liability on a playoff team.

Thunder don't have those weak links you can exploit.

So it'll mostly come down to purely elite shotmaking from the Pacers. Can they do it? Of course they can. How likely is it for them to string together 4 games like that? Not likely enough.

[dakomish23]

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

It's an underestimate at how well Rick Carlisle can coach. He's maxed this squad out. And they work off Tyrese, who will get shut down by the Thunder. He goes, the Pacers go. They don't have a secondary playmaker like the Thunder do.

Siakam has been pretty awesome all post season and all there guys share the rock.

Maybe it won’t be enough to push this series deep but I won’t be surprised if they do.

They’re very good

[Marvin Martian]

I’m so excited for this series to get underway. Most NBA media is already writing the obituary for IND. I don’t think it’s going to be as lopsided as these folks think

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

You're underestimating how good OKC is. This is a historically great team, not far off from the 73-9 Warriors. They might even be better considering how injured they were during the regular season.

If IND wins, it would be one of the greatest upsets of all time. They don't have a Prime Lebron to defy destiny. They don't have experience outside of Siakam. They don't have size. They don't have the defensive personnel to shut down elite teams.

It would be shocking if IND even extends this series to 6

[boomershadow]

It's an underestimate at how well Rick Carlisle can coach. He's maxed this squad out. And they work off Tyrese, who will get shut down by the Thunder. He goes, the Pacers go. They don't have a secondary playmaker like the Thunder do.

The Pacers literally run a two Point Guard starting lineup and beat the #1 seed with the other one running more pick and rolls than Haliburton

[LakerLegend]

Is it bad that I don't want OKC to win just so those bush league uniforms and logo won't be associated with a championship?

[Nuntius]

Some thoughts about this series:

1) This will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Pacers face a team with no defensive holes in their starting lineup. The Bucks had Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez, the Cavs had Mitchell and Garland (and when Garland didn't play, Ty Jerome started) and the Knicks had Brunson and KAT. We could attack all of them by putting them through multiple screens (for the guards) or exploiting their drop coverage (in the case of KAT and Brook), both of which forced rotations and exposed weak points that we could attack. The Thunder do not really have such a player, especially when they go small. Getting an initial advantage against the Thunder is going to be a lot more harder.

2) On almost the exact same note, this will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Thunder faced a team that doesn't have a player they can cheat off of on defense and ignore on the 3-point line. The Grizzlies had Edey (and JJJ wasn't a very willing 3-point shooter either), the Nuggets had Porter shooting 25% and the Wolves had Gobert (a total non-shooter) and Naz Reid shooting 22.2%. The Thunder's swarming defense tends to allow a good amount of corner 3s. The Grizz and Wolves were unequipped to take advantage of this weakness while the Nuggets tried but ultimately had a couple of important players just shoot way too bad. The Pacers do have the personnel to punish the Thunder for allowing corner 3s. The only non-shooter on our entire roster is TJ McConnell and he usually handles the ball when he's on the court so he will only very rarely be in that corner slot. As for our starting lineup, you have to respect everyone's outside shot.

3) Another interesting interplay is the turnover battle. The Thunder thrive at forcing turnovers. The Pacers do not turn the ball over. The Pacers allow the fewest opponent points off turnovers in the playoffs at 12.5 PPG. The Thunder are right behind them at 12.6 PPG. Both teams also allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PPG. They are the only two teams in the league that allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PG. Both teams play great transition defense. So, it will be really fascinating to see what happens in these categories. Will the Thunder be able to turn the Pacers over? Will the Pacers be able to run after made baskets? I feel like this will be a major key in this series.

4) Another key is Andrew Nembhard. He knows this Thunder team better than anyone else in our squad. He was teammates with Chet Holmgren in Gonzaga. He shared the back-court with Shae with Team Canada. He has a familiarity with both Shae and Chet and that can prove valuable. He will also be SGA's primary defender and if the Thunder choose to take away Haliburton by face-guarding him (something that Dort excels at) then we will have to play 4vs4 with Nembhard assuming primary playmaking duties. So, yeah, he's gonna be suuuuuuper important.

5) I do feel a bit anxious about Nesmith's ankle. Ever since he rolled that ankle during game 4, he has played a total of 36 minutes through two games (16 in game 5, 20 in game 6). My hope is that the rest has helped him and he won't be limited in the Finals. He's really important for us as he's our best bet at guarding J-Dub.

6) Last but not least, Thunder are the definite favourites in this series and that's fine with me. The Thunder had a historic season and they have looked every part of a historic team. They deserve to be the favourites.

[cupcakesnake]

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

It's an underestimate at how well Rick Carlisle can coach. He's maxed this squad out. And they work off Tyrese, who will get shut down by the Thunder. He goes, the Pacers go. They don't have a secondary playmaker like the Thunder do.

Disagree with that last part. The Pacers, more than any team in recent memory, take the ball out of their star's hands to punish defenses for overplaying that star. Cleveland's plan was to blitz the crap out of Haliburton and face guard him some, so Tyrese just walked over to the side and let Andrew Nembhard run pick & rolls in 4 on 3. Nembhard ran more pick & rolls against the Cavs than Hali did.

I don't think the Thunder need to send extra attention at Haliburton though, when they already have multiple all-defense level options to guard him on the perimeter. Dort/Cason/Caruso will be more than fine guarding 1-on-1.

[durden_tyler]

Some thoughts about this series:

1) This will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Pacers face a team with no defensive holes in their starting lineup. The Bucks had Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez, the Cavs had Mitchell and Garland (and when Garland didn't play, Ty Jerome started) and the Knicks had Brunson and KAT. We could attack all of them by putting them through multiple screens (for the guards) or exploiting their drop coverage (in the case of KAT and Brook), both of which forced rotations and exposed weak points that we could attack. The Thunder do not really have such a player, especially when they go small. Getting an initial advantage against the Thunder is going to be a lot more harder.

2) On almost the exact same note, this will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Thunder faced a team that doesn't have a player they can cheat off of on defense and ignore on the 3-point line. The Grizzlies had Edey (and JJJ wasn't a very willing 3-point shooter either), the Nuggets had Porter shooting 25% and the Wolves had Gobert (a total non-shooter) and Naz Reid shooting 22.2%. The Thunder's swarming defense tends to allow a good amount of corner 3s. The Grizz and Wolves were unequipped to take advantage of this weakness while the Nuggets tried but ultimately had a couple of important players just shoot way too bad. The Pacers do have the personnel to punish the Thunder for allowing corner 3s. The only non-shooter on our entire roster is TJ McConnell and he usually handles the ball when he's on the court so he will only very rarely be in that corner slot. As for our starting lineup, you have to respect everyone's outside shot.

3) Another interesting interplay is the turnover battle. The Thunder thrive at forcing turnovers. The Pacers do not turn the ball over. The Pacers allow the fewest opponent points off turnovers in the playoffs at 12.5 PPG. The Thunder are right behind them at 12.6 PPG. Both teams also allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PPG. They are the only two teams in the league that allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PG. Both teams play great transition defense. So, it will be really fascinating to see what happens in these categories. Will the Thunder be able to turn the Pacers over? Will the Pacers be able to run after made baskets? I feel like this will be a major key in this series.

4) Another key is Andrew Nembhard. He knows this Thunder team better than anyone else in our squad. He was teammates with Chet Holmgren in Gonzaga. He shared the back-court with Shae with Team Canada. He has a familiarity with both Shae and Chet and that can prove valuable. He will also be SGA's primary defender and if the Thunder choose to take away Haliburton by face-guarding him (something that Dort excels at) then we will have to play 4vs4 with Nembhard assuming primary playmaking duties. So, yeah, he's gonna be suuuuuuper important.

5) I do feel a bit anxious about Nesmith's ankle. Ever since he rolled that ankle during game 4, he has played a total of 36 minutes through two games (16 in game 5, 20 in game 6). My hope is that the rest has helped him and he won't be limited in the Finals. He's really important for us as he's our best bet at guarding J-Dub.

6) Last but not least, Thunder are the definite favourites in this series and that's fine with me. The Thunder had a historic season and they have looked every part of a historic team. They deserve to be the favourites.

Great points. i do think the Pacers can hang with the Thunder. To me, it's a matter of winning the close games (which i expect Games 3 and 4 to be) and from there maybe they put some doubts on OKC latter in the series.

[Tnasty4l]

Win or lose I'm just going to enjoy my team being in the finals. PACERS IN SIX!!!

[Profound23]

Indy is a very well coached team, that is the only reason they have a chance at this series. But that is a huge advantage and worth at least 1-2 wins.


OKC has more talent and is a deeper team. If Indy's plan is to wear them out I don't think that will work. Worked against teams like Cleveland, Milwaukee, and NY because they are either old (Milwaukee) or have a top heavy roster and Indy's bench was able to wear out the starters so in the fourth quarter Hali, Siakam, Nesmith, Turner, and Nembhard can take over. OKC's second string squad is the best in the league so Indy will have to expose another weakness to win more than two games.

[lethalizer]

Some thoughts about this series:

1) This will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Pacers face a team with no defensive holes in their starting lineup. The Bucks had Damian Lillard and Brook Lopez, the Cavs had Mitchell and Garland (and when Garland didn't play, Ty Jerome started) and the Knicks had Brunson and KAT. We could attack all of them by putting them through multiple screens (for the guards) or exploiting their drop coverage (in the case of KAT and Brook), both of which forced rotations and exposed weak points that we could attack. The Thunder do not really have such a player, especially when they go small. Getting an initial advantage against the Thunder is going to be a lot more harder.

2) On almost the exact same note, this will be the first time in this year's playoffs where the Thunder faced a team that doesn't have a player they can cheat off of on defense and ignore on the 3-point line. The Grizzlies had Edey (and JJJ wasn't a very willing 3-point shooter either), the Nuggets had Porter shooting 25% and the Wolves had Gobert (a total non-shooter) and Naz Reid shooting 22.2%. The Thunder's swarming defense tends to allow a good amount of corner 3s. The Grizz and Wolves were unequipped to take advantage of this weakness while the Nuggets tried but ultimately had a couple of important players just shoot way too bad. The Pacers do have the personnel to punish the Thunder for allowing corner 3s. The only non-shooter on our entire roster is TJ McConnell and he usually handles the ball when he's on the court so he will only very rarely be in that corner slot. As for our starting lineup, you have to respect everyone's outside shot.

3) Another interesting interplay is the turnover battle. The Thunder thrive at forcing turnovers. The Pacers do not turn the ball over. The Pacers allow the fewest opponent points off turnovers in the playoffs at 12.5 PPG. The Thunder are right behind them at 12.6 PPG. Both teams also allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PPG. They are the only two teams in the league that allow less than 10 opponent fast-break PG. Both teams play great transition defense. So, it will be really fascinating to see what happens in these categories. Will the Thunder be able to turn the Pacers over? Will the Pacers be able to run after made baskets? I feel like this will be a major key in this series.

4) Another key is Andrew Nembhard. He knows this Thunder team better than anyone else in our squad. He was teammates with Chet Holmgren in Gonzaga. He shared the back-court with Shae with Team Canada. He has a familiarity with both Shae and Chet and that can prove valuable. He will also be SGA's primary defender and if the Thunder choose to take away Haliburton by face-guarding him (something that Dort excels at) then we will have to play 4vs4 with Nembhard assuming primary playmaking duties. So, yeah, he's gonna be suuuuuuper important.

5) I do feel a bit anxious about Nesmith's ankle. Ever since he rolled that ankle during game 4, he has played a total of 36 minutes through two games (16 in game 5, 20 in game 6). My hope is that the rest has helped him and he won't be limited in the Finals. He's really important for us as he's our best bet at guarding J-Dub.

6) Last but not least, Thunder are the definite favourites in this series and that's fine with me. The Thunder had a historic season and they have looked every part of a historic team. They deserve to be the favourites.

Great summary. Only thing I'll address here is the second point. We'll still give up some corner threes during this series, but the sheer volume will probably be lower as we will probably stick with single coverage when it comes to Haliburton.

We attacked Jokic and Ant religiously as they are known to go attack mode at all times. Haliburton we'll probably go single coverage unless he decides to go ultra agressive and punish said coverage.

it'll be a great chess battle. I know we're the favorites here but I have a lot of PTSD built in, so..

[bisme37]

[nbafan38]

i actually respect the pacers a lot, a lot of fight in them and fun to watch. With that said OKC is likely a historically good team, this is likely a short series.

[hardenASG13]

If it isn't then the OKC coach needs to be fired ASAP. An average coach would wrap this up in 5 at worst

You’re underestimating how good this IND team is

It's an underestimate at how well Rick Carlisle can coach. He's maxed this squad out. And they work off Tyrese, who will get shut down by the Thunder. He goes, the Pacers go. They don't have a secondary playmaker like the Thunder do.

They have multiple secondary playmakers, and share the ball similarly to OKC.

[pingpongrac]

OKC has the best player by a pretty wide margin, home court advantage and the historical numbers to boot, but I feel like the Pacers are being underestimated a bit. Indiana is a team that is clicking at the perfect time and they are also going to be well rested. The difference between 4 days of rest and 7 days of rest is pretty inconsequential when it comes to being able to exert energy for big minutes with everything on the line at this point when these guys are used to playing 3-4 games per week for most of the year; in fact, I might even go as far as to say that G1 is Indiana’s best chance to take a game on the road as OKC may be a bit rusty with a much longer lay-off than normal.

Something I think is being overlooked is Indiana’s starting 5 has been playing at an elite level as a unit — as well as individually for the most part — throughout the playoffs thus far and Carlisle can scale up their minutes if necessary as they are generally only playing ~30 MPG with the exception of Siakam (34) and Haliburton (35). Also, while it may not seem like a lot, Carlisle and Siakam having much more post-season experience — and Finals experience — than everyone on OKC’s side may be enough to give Indiana a slight edge in certain areas. It has already been displayed in this run as the Pacers have looked very composed down the stretch and they haven’t allowed the highs or lows to affect them. People like(d) to rag on Siakam for being anti-clutch in Toronto and they tend to point to one terrible offensive showing in the bubble, but this is a guy that put up 32/8/5 on 14/17 shooting in his first Finals game then 26/10/3 on 10/17 shooting — including the decisive Championship-clinching shot — in G6 when he was far less polished and complete as a player. He is likely going to be tasked with being Indiana’s top scoring threat again and I think he’ll have some big games.

All of that being said, I still think OKC takes it in 5 (lol), but it will be more competitive than expected and I wouldn’t be that surprised to see it go 6 games. This has already been a very successful season for the Pacers and their fans should be pleased even if it ends in a sweep. On the other hand, anything but winning the Championship would be a massive disappointment for OKC. They are primed for multiple years of contention, but they can’t squander this opportunity as anything can happen in the NBA as evidenced by the Celtics (who reached the Finals in 2 of 3 seasons, winning once, and looked primed to be a serious contender for a few more years), but one injury derailed their season this year and likely next year as well while they are a very expensive team which may cause big changes to be made and their “dynasty” to be cut short.

The biggest game to me is tonight. If the Pacers can steal a game early, they will put even more pressure on OKC.