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

[AlexanderRight]

Is INDY gonna be able to shell out big money for Bennedict Mathurin? Cause he lookin' like he finna get paid.

[Black Jack]

Pacers feel like the feel good winner this year.

OKC has more talent, size etc. but they gotta pull things together quickly or its not looking good for them.

That said I feel like this was a gimme game for the Pacers. I assume OKC comes back in game 4 and game 5 will tell us who is going to win.

[durden_tyler]

I think OKC lost those finals in game 1. In a vacuum I think we are the better team but Pacers at home are better than Thunder on the road so I don't see us coming back from this deficit. Pacers is six is the likely outcome.

LOL, you’re still 2:1 favorites. Thunder may well lose the series, but they certainly haven’t lost it YET. Just win Game 4 as a 6 point favorite and everything’s feeling smooth again.

Yes, no need to panic yet for OKC. Now, if they go down 1-3, it’s now going to be a toss-up series…


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[___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.

He was absolutely dead wrong.

The mind and confidence is obviously an enormous part of the game. He showed their team, his own team, and everyone else he was scared before a single second ticked off the clock. He conceded well before he had to.

It's the closing part they've had issues. In 4th he could've played any lineup he wanted. You think double bigs would've won them games in 4th quarter this game? Or in game 1? They won 1st halfs of those games. Pacers' quickness and mobility are the issue. Boards aren't an issue - OKC have more boards in 2 of 3 games. Having Hartenstein would leave a big in the paint to help defend SGA or JW driving into the paint. With Chet they can space out 5, more room to operate. they don't need paint protection because Pacers aren't really a driving to the bucket in half court team. They are a jump shooting team and Pascal shoots mid range.

[tmorgan]

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.

If he can make basic reads out of a PnR, I don't see why he can't be on the same level as Spida.

Math ends plays. It takes some pretty extreme circumstances for him to give up the ball. That’s who he is, and that’s how the Pacers use him.

It’s another example of Carlisle using his personnel beautifully. You hear people talk about streaky bench guys that get 10 minutes when they aren’t hitting and 25 when they are, but very few coaches alter their game plans mid-game and actually do that. Carlisle has been doing it with Mathurin for the entirety of the playoffs. Good stuff.

[xBulletproof]

Ho. Lee. Chit.

That was an amazing night. Pat McAfee was my neighbor where I was sitting. I ran into a streamer I watch after the game, American Dad. Dude tried to buy my shirt Refused to take it after I recognized him.

Was an absolute blast of a night.

Two games. TWO.

[Special_Puppy]

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[guynumber45]

Pacers feel like the feel good winner this year.

OKC has more talent, size etc. but they gotta pull things together quickly or its not looking good for them.

That said I feel like this was a gimme game for the Pacers. I assume OKC comes back in game 4 and game 5 will tell us who is going to win.

I still feel like the Pacers are yet to play their best ball. I wouldn't be surprised if game 4 is a lightshow where the Pacers are hitting everything from behind the arc

[Black Jack]

Pacers feel like the feel good winner this year.

OKC has more talent, size etc. but they gotta pull things together quickly or its not looking good for them.

That said I feel like this was a gimme game for the Pacers. I assume OKC comes back in game 4 and game 5 will tell us who is going to win.

I still feel like the Pacers are yet to play their best ball. I wouldn't be surprised if game 4 is a lightshow where the Pacers are hitting everything from behind the arc

I don't think OKC will come back if the Pacers take the next game...

It would be interesting seeing if there's a big trade by OKC if they lose this series. Hopefully not but it could happen.

[Wallace_Wallace]

Pacers feel like the feel good winner this year.

OKC has more talent, size etc. but they gotta pull things together quickly or its not looking good for them.

That said I feel like this was a gimme game for the Pacers. I assume OKC comes back in game 4 and game 5 will tell us who is going to win.

I still feel like the Pacers are yet to play their best ball. I wouldn't be surprised if game 4 is a lightshow where the Pacers are hitting everything from behind the arc

Exactly. Nesmith nor Halibuton has yet to go nuclear.

[___Rand___]

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LIke I said, theoretically, it was an adjustment that made sense, but maybe they should go back so that they will be back in their own comfort zone.

[Marvin Martian]

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.

He was absolutely dead wrong.

The mind and confidence is obviously an enormous part of the game. He showed their team, his own team, and everyone else he was scared before a single second ticked off the clock. He conceded well before he had to.

Yep. Wallace has done nothing so far and he keeps getting 20+ mins 3 games in. He is trying to adapt to IND from the jump when he should have established his bigs. He went right to plan B without even going to plan A

[azcatz11]

I think OKC lost those finals in game 1. In a vacuum I think we are the better team but Pacers at home are better than Thunder on the road so I don't see us coming back from this deficit. Pacers is six is the likely outcome.

LOL, you’re still 2:1 favorites. Thunder may well lose the series, but they certainly haven’t lost it YET. Just win Game 4 as a 6 point favorite and everything’s feeling smooth again.

Yes, no need to panic yet for OKC. Now, if they go down 1-3, it’s now going to be a toss-up series…


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I won’t do it to pacer fans but I want to bet on them for 2-1 action. But I’m not doing it

[ReggiesKnicks]

If OKC realized size is still king they will win this series. If they keep playing small and try to out-gun Indiana, they will be in trouble.

Their offense isn't good enough to go small like a Curry or LeBron led team can.

[Chuck Everett]

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

He was absolutely dead wrong.

The mind and confidence is obviously an enormous part of the game. He showed their team, his own team, and everyone else he was scared before a single second ticked off the clock. He conceded well before he had to.

It's the closing part they've had issues. In 4th he could've played any lineup he wanted. You think double bigs would've won them games in 4th quarter this game? Or in game 1? They won 1st halfs of those games. Pacers' quickness and mobility are the issue. Boards aren't an issue - OKC have more boards in 2 of 3 games. Having Hartenstein would leave a big in the paint to help defend SGA or JW driving into the paint. With Chet they can space out 5, more room to operate. they don't need paint protection because Pacers aren't really a driving to the bucket in half court team. They are a jump shooting team and Pascal shoots mid range.

But basically now you're conceding the offensive glass. Hartenstein had 3 rebounds tonight. That's a coaching failure to me. He needs to play more.

[Hoop Hunter]

I mean I've just never seen a team like the Pacers be two wins away from a title. This is crazy lol such a unique team

Definitely the 04 Pistons for the new gen.

That team was Rick’s team until Brown picked cherry on top

Yes. They were doing worse under Brown until they had Rasheed Wallace gifted to them. Billops gave props to Carlisle after they won.

[sikma42]

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Does it really matter if it’s 10 mins. What 10 mins, how was it spread out etc.

[Nuntius]

this one goes to 7 games. Everyone loves a Cinderella story?

I don't know that OKC will have enough left in the tank to take this to 7 games at the current pace and they're not really built to slow the game down.

I want to highlight this post because it's coming from a fan of a team who faced us this season. I really, really believe that fans of the teams who faced us and have seen what this team does over the course of the series can really understand how and why we wear other teams down much better than pretty much everyone else.

[Chuck Everett]

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Does it really matter if it’s 10 mins. What 10 mins, how was it spread out etc.

10 minutes together over the course of three full games seems like coaching malpractice.

[iggymcfrack]

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.

I’m so tired of this “whoever wins game x wins the series” lol

It seems like everyone says that for every game, even boring analysts like Barkley and Shaq who just say anything without thought

I just chuckle everytime i see it, such a lazy and uncreative response. Well of course winning a game is very important in a 7 game series.

But no, winning one game doesn't win you a series. OKC can win the next and still lose game 5 or 6 and 7. Ask Denver last year, they won game 5 yet still lost 6 and 7.

It’s simple, first to win 4 wins. No need to say whoever wins x game wins the series. Whoever wins their 4th win wins the series. That’s it.

LOL, right after I read this comment, Windhorst said whoever wins Game 4 wins the series on TV. You’re so right. Imagine counting out either one of these teams right now. The team who had the best point differential of all-time or the team who’s had the craziest clutch run in history. Either team could lose Game 4 and win the series.