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

[Jailblazers7]

Thunder really showed their youth in that one. Very disorganized offensively with J-Dub and Chet leading the way with some really ill-advised offensive possessions. I honestly thought it was smart of SGA to shoot so often because the rest of the team was struggling.

They might need to play Hartenstein over Chet because he gives them a second offense hub. Run some DHOs off Hartenstein to have at least a competent looking halfcourt offense.

Huge props to Indy for being so resilient and shooting the ball so well. Their 4th quarter shooting has been unbelievable in the playoffs. I keep waiting for them to revert to the mean but it just never happens.

The underappreciated Pacers have been an efficient, offensive Q4 team all season long. Their 61.4% TS% for regular season Q4s led the NBA. They are scoring 28.1 ppg on 60% TS% in playoff Q4s vs 29.3 ppg on 61.4% TS% regular season Q4s. The Thunder are scoring 28.5 ppg on 58% TS% in playoff Q4s vs 27.9 ppg on 57.3 TS% regular season Q4s.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced?Period=4&SeasonType=Regular%20Season&dir=A&sort=TS_PCT

Surprisingly, the most efficient offensive Q4 playoff team has been the Clippers, who averaged 28.4 ppg on 66% TS% in a first round exit.

https://www.nba.com/stats/teams/advanced?Period=4&SeasonType=Playoffs&dir=A&sort=TS_PCT

Interesting stats, thanks for sharing!

[3ddman23]

Indy is just nuts, we won't see another run like this again, with the specific way they're consistently doing it. Hali is having the GOAT run in terms of clutchness and these multiple comeback wins from 98%, 99% or even a 100% loss probablity late in the 4th vs. teams that are absoulote juggernauts is something we're likely never to see again

game one was of the sickest and weirdest games i've ever seen

still think the Thunder should be able to take care of business. I think Mark D. outsmarted himself imo, just overthinking and over analysing. really weird decision to preempitively change his lineup to match-up' (match-down in this case with Indy, in game 1 on their home floor. hard to argue that's the reason they lost as they demolished the Pacers with that lineup in the first half but I still think it was a mistake and would be surprised if coach doesn't go back to their best starting lineup in game 2

at this point I think every neutral fan is rooting for the Pacers, right? OKC are likeable in their own right but you gotta go with the biggest cinderalle story ever, no?

OKC in 6

Didn't Miami have similar run to this 2 playoffs ago??? Extremely hot shooting from 3, carried by a star with some inconsistent performance, role players stepping up big time .. this reminds me a bit of Miami finals run in 23. Only difference Indiana has one game 1 of the finals, so far. Let's see how the rest of the series plays out.

[mrvioletowl]

So what can we expect in game 2? OKC played their usual style both on offense and defense and still lost. I expect to see both bigs back in starting lineup as they got outrebounded last night. The problem with that is that Pacers have taller bench and will feast come qtr 2. Plus, Carlisle will try and establish 3pt game early, unlike last night where they tried to drive in Q1 and kept getting swiped in the paint. Another adjustmwnt will be shooting without overthinking. So many times in first half last night Pacer players had an open shot and they did fake and drive, resulting in TO. Shoot with confidence.
Once shots start falling, it will open up drive game as defenders rush to chase them off the 3pt line.
The problem for OKC in this series ia that they can't cheat off anyone, like they could against Nuggets and Twolves. Everyone on that Pacers team can make an open 3.
I fully expect to see Pacers win by about a dozen next game.

[Nuntius]

R.I.P Kings Fans

Can you kill something thats already dead? Lol

Absolutely. Just ask vampire hunters

[NiceLikeChrist]

4 game series became a 5 game series

[Iwasawitness]

What are you asking? If they win and he has a hand in them winning, yes he will have proven he’s not a fraud.

You and I both know what I'm asking.

Your argument is silly. He's either a fraud or he isn't. This is why you don't make that argument based on one game.

Ok fair. He’s 100% fraud

Okay.

You're wrong, but okay

[NiceLikeChrist]

Just rewatched the last 6 mins from last night. Had to let the emotions settle lol. The guys that voted Haliburton most overrated player really lit a fire under his ass. That man is the real deal. I would love to stick with my prediction of Thunder in 5, but it looks like this bad boy is gonna go 7, which is great for the neutral fans watching.

Haliburton had a bad game. He hit a big shot but he wasn’t the reason they were in the game

They aren’t winning multiple games off nembhart isos in the 4th

[WestbrookGOATed]

Just rewatched the last 6 mins from last night. Had to let the emotions settle lol. The guys that voted Haliburton most overrated player really lit a fire under his ass. That man is the real deal. I would love to stick with my prediction of Thunder in 5, but it looks like this bad boy is gonna go 7, which is great for the neutral fans watching.

Haliburton had a bad game. He hit a big shot but he wasn’t the reason they were in the game

They aren’t winning multiple games off nembhart isos in the 4th

I completely agree. I was referring more to the clutch shots he keeps hitting in what seems like every game this playoffs lol.

[sikma42]

Just rewatched the last 6 mins from last night. Had to let the emotions settle lol. The guys that voted Haliburton most overrated player really lit a fire under his ass. That man is the real deal. I would love to stick with my prediction of Thunder in 5, but it looks like this bad boy is gonna go 7, which is great for the neutral fans watching.

Haliburton had a bad game. He hit a big shot but he wasn’t the reason they were in the game

They aren’t winning multiple games off nembhart isos in the 4th

you think he can't or won't do this again?

[AFM]

so I slept on it and I can now confidently say that Haliburton is too shnasty wit it

[Drakeem]

Think of all the people who didn't watch this game solely because a big market team wasn't in it. Feels bad man.

It’s very creepy how much people like Indiana. It’s terrible basketball. Just a bunch of losers.

Funny calling them losers when the team you got under your username (Utah) hasn't made the Finals since the 90s. Lot of losing going on there.

[Memories]

This series will play out just like the Knicks one. OKC isn't coming back from a soul-crushing defeat like this. The Pacers are a much more talented team than Denver was.

Pacers aren't more talented than Denver.


And the defeat isn't soul-crushing. OKC had worse losses this post-season against Denver.

I agree the loss here isn't soul crushing, but one team being more talented than the other doesn't mean everything, it's all about matchups.

We saw a ton of that this season. Pacers are a tough matchup for the Thunder. Knicks were a tough matchip for the Celtics. T-Wolves were a tough matchup for the Lakers. Thunder was a tough matchup for the Nuggets.

If we switched some matchups around, the whole playoffs would have looked a lot different.

[The4thHorseman]

Unbelievable

[carrrnuttt]

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/s6rvgFftGmI

[bisme37]

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