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

[Marvin Martian]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=kXz47zZ_dZNjyZ0pjPEBWQ

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.

He should have done that in game 1. That is supposed to be the "feel out" game where you go with your normal game plan and then make adjustments from there. Mark D overthought the game as usual, and made adjustments before the series was played lol

[ForeverTFC]

Yea, I really am not sure that this kind of win is going to be replicated in the series. The Pacers will need to keep winning the adjustment battle. Regardless, all Indy has to do is win game four to be completely in the driver's seat. Now that should be much watch tv!

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?

Oh for sure, OKC is objectively the “better” team. My point is when Toppin or Mathurin go off, everyone calls it a fluke. But when Aaron Wiggins goes 5/8 from 3 and Caruso scores 20 off the bench, it’s not even mentioned as a driver of the win because it’s expected. It was the same in the NY series. OKC and Pacers both have proven depth, but only one team gets credit for it as a sustainable strength.

[canada_dry]

0.3 seconds changed the whole series.

Which should’ve never happened, since L2M acknowledged the shot clock should’ve reset on the last OKC possession

Noones gonna remember that. You better win the series or the only thing remembered will be you losing as huge favourites. Not some last 2 minute report of the 1st game.

Sent from my SM-G960W using RealGM mobile app

[iggymcfrack]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=kXz47zZ_dZNjyZ0pjPEBWQ

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.

Agree. Going smaller made sense if they were swarming Indiana, forcing a bunch of turnovers and making it hard to get their shots off. If the Pacers have somewhat figured out what you’re doing in the passing lanes, the obvious adjustment is to try to beat them on the boards with Hartenstein.

[CyKnickal]

so the knicks lost to the champs. interesting

Beat the defending champs, lost to the eventual champs after being in the mix to knock them out too......not a bad look. Hope Knicks don't Knick and dismantle the squad for some disgruntled superstar...they need to run it back.

[CyKnickal]

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

[ForeverTFC]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=kXz47zZ_dZNjyZ0pjPEBWQ

Odds still in OKC’s favor, but Daignault hasn’t had the best playoffs. Feels like he’s overthinking it.

It’s telling that all the analysts were aligned with his strategy to go smaller but all the ex players and ex coaches think the adjustment to the starting lineup is a mistake.

[___Rand___]

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.

They haven't been uncompetitive on the offensive glass without Hartenstein. True they can play him more. Playing him in 4th quarter in both games they lost would that have helped them or hurt? Pacers shoot a lot of 3s or mid range. Those are long boards that guards usually pick up. Their buckets at the rim come from fast breaks in which case, Hartenstein isn't going to be a factor. Pacers' speed would kill him. So theoretically the move makes sense. OKC's issue is they don't have enough forwards or those 3/4 guys with length and quickness. Too many guards. This will be at the top of Presti's shopping list off season.

[HoopsterJones]

OKC is the best team in the league, but IND is the team of destiny. This is a great NBA Finals, that not a whole lot of people are watching.

[Hoop Hunter]

I didn't see this during the game, but how the **** did the ref miss it? He was like 3 ft from it. On purpose? Looked it to me.

Read on Twitter

[iggymcfrack]

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.

They haven't been uncompetitive on the offensive glass without Hartenstein. True they can play him more. Playing him in 4th quarter in both games they lost would that have helped them or hurt? Pacers shoot a lot of 3s or mid range. Those are long boards that guards usually pick up. Their buckets at the rim come from fast breaks in which case, Hartenstein isn't going to be a factor. Pacers' speed would kill him. So theoretically the move makes sense. OKC's issue is they don't have enough forwards or those 3/4 guys with length and quickness. Too many guards. This will be at the top of Presti's shopping list off season.

For the series, Hartenstein has 20 rebounds in 57 minutes. He's been a beast on the glass. He's definitely giving you more than Cason Wallace.

[Infinite Llamas]

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.

People like to say you can’t win with a guy like a Cam Thomas or a Quentin Grimes but Rick is showing how you absolutely can win with them. They can still be prolific at scoring but in a very contained role that plays to their strengths and limits their chance for mistakes. Mathurin could be scoring 25 a night in Charlotte but that team isn’t winning anything.

[TravisScott55]

Last game Indiana gonna win for the series

[Nuntius]

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=kXz47zZ_dZNjyZ0pjPEBWQ

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

Chet and Hartenstein shared the court in two different instances in tonight's game. At the start of the second and towards the end of the third.

At the start of the second, they shared the floor for 1 minute and 21 seconds (from the start to the 10:39 mark). The score was 32-24 in OKC's favor when the quarter started and 34-28 when Hartenstein was replaced by Wiggins. So, that's a -2.

In the third, they shared the floor from the 4:24 mark to the 0:34 mark. So, that's 3 minutes and 50 seconds. The score was 79-81 Indiana when Chet returned to the game and 85-84 OKC when Hartenstein left. So, that's a +3.

All in all, they played together for 5 minutes and 11 seconds and were +1 together in tonight's game.

In game 2, they also played together in two different instances. At the end of the first quarter and at the end of the third quarter.

At the end of the first, they shared the floor from the 3:51 mark to the 0:15 mark. That's 3 minutes and 36 seconds. The score was 14-17 OKC when Chet entered the game and 20-24 when Hartenstein left. So, that's a +1.

At the end of the third, they shared the floor from the 1:13 mark to the 0:15 mark. That's 58 seconds. The score was 73-89 OKC when Hartenstein entered the game and 74-92 when he left. So, that's a +2.

All in all, they played together for 4 minutes and 34 seconds and they were +3.

Adding both of them together, it looks like they have played together 9 minutes and 45 seconds so the minutes part of the tweet appears correct. But the +/- part of the tweet seems a bit off. By the numbers above, it looks like they have only been a +4 together.

There is a chance that he's counting some FTs that took place in between the subs (players are often substituted during FTs, after all). If we were to count FTs that were taken after the sub but the foul resulting in these FTs happened before the sub then we'd go to +6 since we did have two of these occasions (in both cases during their third quarter stints). But even then, I still don't know how he gets to +7. Is he counting a FT that Hartenstein made before Chet was inserted in the game? Or is my math just off?

In any case, the point I'm trying to make here is this:

The double big lineup has been fine for the Thunder so far. But it hasn't really led to any runs. It hasn't turned any game around. It's just a solid lineup.

[Mrakar]

I didn't see this during the game, but how the **** did the ref miss it? He was like 3 ft from it. On purpose? Looked it to me.

Read on Twitter

Its OKC and its Dort, simple as that.

[The Corey's]

so the knicks lost to the champs. interesting

Beat the defending champs, lost to the eventual champs after being in the mix to knock them out too......not a bad look. Hope Knicks don't Knick and dismantle the squad for some disgruntled superstar...they need to run it back.

In what world were the Knicks in competition to beat the pacers?

They weren't even close.

[ball_takes23]

I didn't see this during the game, but how the **** did the ref miss it? He was like 3 ft from it. On purpose? Looked it to me.

Read on Twitter

when he's not trying to injure other players with his elbow he's trying to injure other players by kicking his leg out. Dirtiest player in the league.

Read on Twitter

[Nuntius]

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.

They haven't been uncompetitive on the offensive glass without Hartenstein. True they can play him more. Playing him in 4th quarter in both games they lost would that have helped them or hurt? Pacers shoot a lot of 3s or mid range. Those are long boards that guards usually pick up. Their buckets at the rim come from fast breaks in which case, Hartenstein isn't going to be a factor. Pacers' speed would kill him. So theoretically the move makes sense. OKC's issue is they don't have enough forwards or those 3/4 guys with length and quickness. Too many guards. This will be at the top of Presti's shopping list off season.

For the series, Hartenstein has 20 rebounds in 57 minutes. He's been a beast on the glass. He's definitely giving you more than Cason Wallace.

True but only 5 of them are offensive rebounds. He's not creating the same amount of possessions that someone like Mitchell Robinson was creating, for example.

[TroubleS0me]

The pacers are winning the right games...
they won one game on the road and one game at home. now its game 4....

[thelead]

I didn't see this during the game, but how the **** did the ref miss it? He was like 3 ft from it. On purpose? Looked it to me.

Read on Twitter

That looked intentional