2025 NBA FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Indiana Pacers (IND leads 2-1)

[___Rand___]

That's good, pay them more.

Christ it's tomorrow! GRRR I thought it was tonight lol.

Why does nobody care about the finals?

Because you have 3 days off (4 days total) between games.

Meanwhile most series were every other day for 28 straight days leading up to the finals.

Yeah it's too much. I would accept 1 break of 3 days, to give players some rest. But 3 days off regularly is too much.

[DAWill1128]

Christ it's tomorrow! GRRR I thought it was tonight lol.

Why does nobody care about the finals?

Because you have 3 days off (4 days total) between games.

Meanwhile most series were every other day for 28 straight days leading up to the finals.

Yeah it's too much. I would accept 1 break of 3 days, to give players some rest. But 3 days off regularly is too much.

I was thinking the same. They were playing every other day in lead up. With the number of teams the games were constant. If this series plays out the full way it will be 18 days to determine a winner, that's really long.

[Marrs-Law]

Gut tells me that we're getting a split here. Indy will have one of those game where they are hitting every single shot. But OKC is too good of a team to beat 2 times in a row.

Indy splits they lose the series.

Ehh, they can split in indiana, defend homecourt in game 6, and then hope luck helps them a bit in game 7

Is a bit of the same underdog path denver followed (lose big, win close ones, steal a game early) that had them in a game 7 with a lead after the first quarter

(And pacers are a younger and deeper team so they wont run out of gas the same way the nuggets wore down)

We will see how g3; g4 go. I self-admittedly overreact to singular games. If Indy wins g3 and then loses g4 in a really close game, then I'll take it back. Indy was pretty much dominated wire-to-wire in game two in what seemed like (unlike the first half of game one and the Knicks series) a very sustainable fashion. I am sure they'll make adjustments and be better, but I don't like our odds on a road game seven against the OKC defense.

To put it a different way, I don't think the Pacers are winning, and I am even more confident that OKC is a better team regardless of who wins. To oversimplify, they either need to steal a game seven against a 70-win team or have a hot shooting night on game four. I think the latter is plausible; the former is asking more than I think is concievebly going to happen

[Optms]

Is this the most drawn-out finals ever? What's with all the 3-day breaks?

Silver must have been reading realgm and all the crying/moaning that was going on in previous rounds with how some teams had to play with no 3 day breaks.

Can't wait to hear the "gassed" comments after the first quarter of game 3.

[jkvonny]

For OKC, I see no reason they'd make a major trade. They are the best team in the league and also the youngest I believe. What would trading for Giannis accomplish? Giannis playoff resume against healthy contenders is awful, only one he beat was a cp3/Booker suns team that reached the finals beating 3 injured teams, and the suns group had never been in a playoffs before that year. I wouldn't give up a decade of Chet/Williams for 3 years of Giannis. OKC is going to win this title if they have their A game in 3 of the next 5 games.

As far as the spurs, they have the best prospect to enter the league since LeBron, maybe ever, who is 21. I don't see Giannis being all NBA at age 35 with his game and skill set. He is currently a top 3 player but for how long? I guess you could argue they don't need a guard with Fox/Castle there already and all the guys at #2 seem to be pg/sgs. We didn't get to see Wemby/Fox play together barely at all last year. I don't think they need a major trade at this point either, especially with pick #2 falling into their laps. They can be a top 2-4 team in the West next year and only improve going forward.

Spurs need Giannis the most, unless you believe Wemby will become good enough without a real second option that he can win the Spurs a title in the next handful of years.

You are looking at totally off. The likely hood that the Spurs will ever have the opportunity to pair Wemby with a top 3 player is next to none if they pass the opportunities they have now. Go after Giannis and Jokic and win as much as possible.

The Lakers had a 17 year old Kobe and still went after Shaq who was nearly 30. Timeline for both were even more off and they still formed a dynasty. OKC has less incentive to go after Giannis but that still doesn't mean they should ignore it if they lose this series. If you are the Spurs, give up what you have a Giannis/Wemby duo. Worry about the rest later.

Shaq was 24 yrs old when he joined the lakers...
LA also wasnt the favorites to win the finals before they acquired shaq.

Yup.
Back then. Teams like the Bulls, Magic, Pacers, Rockets, Jazz, Knicks were the favorites.
Dark horses were teams like the Suns, Spurs, Hornets, SuperSonics.

[BigGargamel]

Nuggets played every other day for like 2 weeks, and now that the Finals are here, everything has ground to a halt. Whoever schedules this junk needs to be fired.

[Eightnineborn]

The worst part about the finals is… every game Im fkin busy… living in China games start at 8 ish and I can work from home on certain mornings, but all of the next scheduled three games Ill have to be at work including freaking Saturday. This suks so freaking bad

[Mr Puddles]

The worst part about the finals is… every game Im fkin busy… living in China games start at 8 ish and I can work from home on certain mornings, but all of the next scheduled three games Ill have to be at work including freaking Saturday. This suks so freaking bad

Same here. I live in Hangzhou and when the Suns played the Bucks in the finals I'd organize morning "conference calls" so that no one would disturb me while I watched the game on my computer monitor. I'm sure some eye brows must have been raised when people heard loud cursing coming out my office, but you know how it is, sometimes our logistics provider, Scott Foster, just needs a stern yelling to.

[bucknut]

Indy splits they lose the series.

Ehh, they can split in indiana, defend homecourt in game 6, and then hope luck helps them a bit in game 7

Is a bit of the same underdog path denver followed (lose big, win close ones, steal a game early) that had them in a game 7 with a lead after the first quarter

(And pacers are a younger and deeper team so they wont run out of gas the same way the nuggets wore down)

We will see how g3; g4 go. I self-admittedly overreact to singular games. If Indy wins g3 and then loses g4 in a really close game, then I'll take it back. Indy was pretty much dominated wire-to-wire in game two in what seemed like (unlike the first half of game one and the Knicks series) a very sustainable fashion. I am sure they'll make adjustments and be better, but I don't like our odds on a road game seven against the OKC defense.

To put it a different way, I don't think the Pacers are winning, and I am even more confident that OKC is a better team regardless of who wins. To oversimplify, they either need to steal a game seven against a 70-win team or have a hot shooting night on game four. I think the latter is plausible; the former is asking more than I think is concievebly going to happen

Sounds like Denver series. Denver lucky to win game one thoroughly lost game two....we can even go to the Knicks Celtics series .... The fashion in which New York stepped up their game after games one and two.

No one really knows anything yet.........but imo OKC is going to bring their a game in game three. Like they did at Denve. And if pacers win game three....they are very very very live to win game four.

OKC was lucky to split two at Denver and lucky to win game five in OKC vs Denver. Typically , the team that takes control in the third (as Denver did in those middle games getting digital third quarter leads).....is a huge sign of the more dominant team

Its weird I see people saying they would of taking pacers over Denver in a series.

Denver looked like the better team imo from game 3 to 6.

And so we're on game seven until the worst bench in the league was inserted

[guynumber45]

Gut tells me that we're getting a split here. Indy will have one of those game where they are hitting every single shot. But OKC is too good of a team to beat 2 times in a row.

Indy splits they lose the series.

I agree. I don't see them winning another game in OKC. They can't give up their homecourt advantage

[durden_tyler]

The worst part about the finals is… every game Im fkin busy… living in China games start at 8 ish and I can work from home on certain mornings, but all of the next scheduled three games Ill have to be at work including freaking Saturday. This suks so freaking bad

Same here. I live in Hangzhou and when the Suns played the Bucks in the finals I'd organize morning "conference calls" so that no one would disturb me while I watched the game on my computer monitor. I'm sure some eye brows must have been raised when people heard loud cursing coming out my office, but you know how it is, sometimes our logistics provider, Scott Foster, just needs a stern yelling to.

We just put it on the office TV for everyone to watch, problem solved.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mavrelous]

THC were pretty decisive in calling this series Thunder in 5 today, I think Thunder are favourites but writing off the Pacers feels premature to me.
Finals schedule after short conference finals feels like a huge excitement drop, it's basically 2 months of intense PO with lots of games, then a week recess then 2 days between each game, it's been the 2nd year like this, in 23 we had the Celitcs/Heat conference finals that kept us engaged.

[Chuck Everett]

The Finals schedule has been like this for at least a decade. Clearly, the NBA doesn't care what the diehards think about it.

[doogie_hauser]

I had a vivid dream last night where the Pacers won the Championship and I got to party hard at Larry Bird's place in Indy ! Means nothing obviously but it was fun to imagine all the partying Pacers fans.


This is shaping up to be the most important/decisive game of the series.

Massive pressure on the Thunder if the Pacers win.

[lethalizer]

Nuggets played every other day for like 2 weeks, and now that the Finals are here, everything has ground to a halt. Whoever schedules this junk needs to be fired.

It was the same for OKC, the only difference is we swept the Grizzlies to earn additional rest before the second round.

Also just checked, last year's Celtics-Mavs basically had the same schedule during the finals.

June 6-9-12-14-17.

2023 Finals with Nuggets and Heat: June 1-4-7-9-12, so again, the same.

2023 WCF dates: May 16-18-20-22.

But of course Nuggets swept the Lakers in that WCF, so no complaints back then I assume.

[Mavrelous]

The Finals schedule has been like this for at least a decade. Clearly, the NBA doesn't care what the diehards think about it.

The problem mainly is that the conference finals were short the last 2 years, so we got a week long recess, in 23 and 22 Heat/Celtics kept the momentum of the PO, went to 7 both years.

[Patches Perry]

Going from every other day for a month with multiple series' to every 3 days with 1 series does feel like jumping off a moving treadmill after running for awhile.

Maybe it's to help prepare us for the dark void of July, August and September.

[TorontoBarneys]

They're really milking this **** series.

[Slimjimzv]

Anyone who isn't watching Caitlin Cooper break down these games should do themselves a favor and look her up on YouTube.

[itrsteve]

Going from every other day for a month with multiple series' to every 3 days with 1 series does feel like jumping off a moving treadmill after running for awhile.

Maybe it's to help prepare us for the dark void of July, August and September.

There was some article not too long ago that dug into the metrics by month and the start of free agency is where engagement peaks across many platforms. It's more interesting than the actual game apparently.

But yes, I 100% agree that this 3 day thing is a momentum killer and always has been.