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

[Optms]

If IND wins it all, probably the greatest title run in the NBA… ever. Crazy!

3rd behind Pistons and Mavericks.

This would top it to me because that Pistons defense was the NBA version of the Baltimore Ravens and Wallace was monster defensively. The Mavericks also had Dirk who was still a top 10ish player and a lot of veterans who in their prime were consistent all stars.

The Pacers have no one on their roster imo who at the moment is trending towards a surefire HOFer. Even with another ring Siakam probably isnt getting in and Haliburton would have to still stay healthy and be consistent for a couple more years especially since even with a ring I wouldnt put him as top 10 player in the league.

Lakers 2004 and the Heatles were loaded with not only HOF players but 3 top 10 All time players and the arguable GOAT. Multiple MVP level players on each team. OKC doesn’t even compare.

[azcatz11]

OKC offense looks very comfortable even without SGA putting up any shots. Not a good sign for Indiana. Their offense by comparison still looks Iso-heavy against the pressure.

It hali scores 30 points the pacers win - true or false?

False. 22 and 12 assists would be better. Siakam having 30 is better for them than Haliburton.

Nice call here on Hali

[Wingy]

OKC seems like frontrunners if I'm being honest, they don't look good in crunch time.

Other than SGA, no one seems like they can create any offence.

I'm going to be so impressed with SGA if he ends up pulling off a championship with so little creation around him

Who can create on Indy? Difference is that Indy's coach has an offensive game plan that has guys always moving, allows guys to attack a moving defense off the catch. OKC's offense is watching Shai iso or sometimes JDub iso while spreading the floor with shooters. It can look good when the shots go in, but in comparison, it's ugly offense.

While I agree Carlisle is a vastly superior coach - Hali, Siakam, Mathurin are creators and even Nembhard can create his own shot if he needs to.

Seems thread worthy for the offseason, but I was thinking tonight - Mathurin is simply too good and talented to come off the bench forever. He had the foul-drawing talent immediately as a rookie. His shot hasn’t fallen at a great rate, but it looks good to the eye and he’s shooting .828 from the line for his career. 22 years old.

Does Indy sell on Nesmith at an all time high to make room and gain other assets in the process? They have some good to have conundrums on the close-ish horizon.

[xxSnEaKyPxx]

First ever Pacer game in Indiana. One of the coolest experiences of my life.

Blessings to all!

[LakerLegend]

I feel like the Pacers have to win every home game to have a shot at winning this series.

I mean, yes. Obviously. You have to win your home games if you want to win the title as the team without HCA.

It's not technically true. I'm just not sure that the Pacers can take another game on the road.

[thelead]

First ever Pacer game in Indiana. One of the coolest experiences of my life.

Blessings to all!

congrats. must have been amazing

[Himothy Duncan]

Winning game 3 was expected, winning game 4 is the challenge. If Pacers wing game 4 they will be champs.. actually whoever wins game 4 will win the series.

[Marvin Martian]

I'm going to be so impressed with SGA if he ends up pulling off a championship with so little creation around him

Who can create on Indy? Difference is that Indy's coach has an offensive game plan that has guys always moving, allows guys to attack a moving defense off the catch. OKC's offense is watching Shai iso or sometimes JDub iso while spreading the floor with shooters. It can look good when the shots go in, but in comparison, it's ugly offense.

While I agree Carlisle is a vastly superior coach - Hali, Siakam, Mathurin are creators and even Nembhard can create his own shot if he needs to.

Seems thread worthy for the offseason, but I was thinking tonight - Mathurin is simply too good and talented to come off the bench forever. He had the foul-drawing talent immediately as a rookie. His shot hasn’t fallen at a great rate, but it looks good to the eye and he’s shooting .828 from the line for his career.

Does Indy sell on Nesmith at an all time high to make room and gain other assets in the process? They have some good to have conundrums on the close-ish horizon.

Mathurin has no business being a bench player when he can easily be a number #1 for a bottom 10 team and develop his game.

[azcatz11]

First ever Pacer game in Indiana. One of the coolest experiences of my life.

Blessings to all!

Cool man!

[GrandTheftRondo]

there is a great offensive player somewhere in there... but him trying to play like KD isn't it. His handle is not tight enough to attempt the things he does.

He’s too predictable at times. He tried to attack Turner at the end and got blocked on a 3. Then drove to the basket and needed to just pump fake and he would have probably had a layup and he tried to use his body instead.

He’s so weak that he has to be smarter instead of just thinking his height is enough.

KD despite being skinny is quite strong and has put on muscle since he started so doesn’t have the same issues.

Also the thing about KD unlike some of the other skinny frame guys like Ingram and Chet who try to emulate him is he has godlike footwork and is so smooth. With Chet and Ingram they look clunky and not as smooth and a guy like Wemby doesnt have the speed

KD also has such a high release that not many can really bother him.

Chet’s got a slow lower release that bigs can definitely block.

[ReggiesKnicks]

We in here!

[___Rand___]

Daigneault's random experiment of starting Cason Wallace in the finals has been a disaster.

I don't think Daignault's wrong, but maybe time to change back to 2 bigs for a change of pace.

[davidv2001]

The difference in game 2 was Aaron Wiggins…

This whole thing about every Pacers win being an outlier and every Thunder win being the natural order of the world is really weird

I'm a Pacers fan, so I have great respect for the team. I don't think this Pacers team is better than the Thunder's ala, if you play 100 games the Thunder probably win sixty. The Thunder [i]should[i] be up 2-1 right now, and I think if you replayed the series again they would be because the Thunder wouldn't have taken their foot off the gas. And so I look at it: how do you pull out wins against a team that's better than you?

Two more notes:
If OKC's suffocating defense in g2 turns out to be a fluke, then, well, the Pacers might be better. But I don't think it is. I also "steelman" my opponents . This version of OKC, what with the offensive inconsistency, is fairly close to the Pacers. I look at the "peak" OKC game, and maybe they don't reach that enough yet and I should weigh their mistakes in more.

Finally, I think the Pacers have clearly solidified themselves as a top team in the current NBA, and whether the Pacers are the 1st best team or the 3rd best team really doesn't matter. Championships matter. Two games to go

The Thunder’s suffocating defense relies on the referees ignoring the NBA’s freedom of movement rules and their overaggressiveness with their hands.

[Nuntius]

I thought OKC wouldn't be effected by Indiana's pace because they have the youth and depth to withstand it. But by the end of the 4th, you saw Shai and Caruso with their hands dropped on their knees during stoppages. Indiana's conditioning is just ridiculous.

Yep. SGA was noticeably gassed in the 4th quarter. There was a play when SGA successfully contested Haliburton's 3 but then completely stopped moving as Haliburton went and got his own rebound and then kicked it out to Nembhard who was fouled.

This is what the Pacers have been doing all season long. This is how we are able to outplay our opponents in the 4th and complete ridiculous comebacks. The fact that game 4 is in two days and not three is huge for us.

[Nuntius]

First ever Pacer game in Indiana. One of the coolest experiences of my life.

Blessings to all!

Man, I really love this for you, Sneaks. Go, Sneaks!!!!

[GrandTheftRondo]

this Pacers team isn't a fluke either
they looked really good against a GREAT Celtics team last year

But at the time the Celtics were slandered for playing down to them.

Maybe it’s time people finally admit Carlisle is an awesome coach.

Even when Hali went out in games 3 &4 against Boston he made things incredibly tough.

[jkvonny]

First ever Pacer game in Indiana. One of the coolest experiences of my life.

Blessings to all!

Congrats, man!

[Wingy]

Mathurin has no business being a bench player when he can easily be a number #1 for a bottom 10 team and develop his game.

Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. He’s simply too good to be a bench player. This isn’t a fluke. His ability to draw fouls even as a rookie jumped out to me, and he’s only going to get better.

[iggymcfrack]

What an incredible playoffs this has been! We had so many great series and the only thing that could keep it from being all-time was if the Thunder rolled to an uncompetitive victory. Well now no matter how it finishes, there’s no way we’ll ever feel like the series was out of hand. Thunder in 6 and Pacers in 5 would both feel like exciting results.

[Nuntius]

I feel like the Pacers have to win every home game to have a shot at winning this series.

I mean, yes. Obviously. You have to win your home games if you want to win the title as the team without HCA.

It's not technically true. I'm just not sure that the Pacers can take another game on the road.

I do agree that it's not absolutely necessary so, sure, not technically true but it still is our best path to winning this series.