2025 NBA FINALS: #1 Oklahoma City Thunder vs #4 Indiana Pacers (OKC leads 3-2)

[lethalizer]

Coming to terms with the fact that there are only 2-3 NBA games left until we all have to go outside and do something else.

Tbh I'm actually mentally and physically a bit tired from it all. Been a while since we made this deep of a run, and I usually get up at 4 a.m local time to watch the games.

I could use a little break, lol.

Yeah, I feel that. Tonight's game starts at 3:30 am local time. It doesn't end before 6:00 am. I have to leave home for work at 8:00 am. It's going to be no sleep to a 10-11 hour work day. I cannot keep that up for long

Yeah 3:30 a.m for me as well. At least I usually leave for work at 7:00 a.m which gives me enough time to shower and have my morning coffee before leaving lol.

[Castle Black]

OKC wins comfortably tonight.

[og15]

The gap between games is ridiculous… they gotta change this ****

It is? Seems like their aim is to give the players a full length recovery time, which is considered to be 48-72 hours. But I guess some people are anxious/excited and that extra day of no game is killing you

I despise that there is no game on tonight.

makes sunday lame as hell.

2 straight weekends I believe of no games ... just odd to me

Game 2 was the previous Sunday, and a possible game 7 would be on Sunday too

[Patches Perry]

Just saw a crazy stat that teams tied 2-2 go on to win the series 50% of the time.

[og15]

Just saw a crazy stat that teams tied 2-2 go on to win the series 50% of the time.

When tied 2-2 it is a 50% chance, sounds fun

[Patches Perry]

Just saw a crazy stat that teams tied 2-2 go on to win the series 50% of the time.

When tied 2-2 it is a 50% chance, sounds fun

Advanced statistics are so remarkable.

[ArksNetsSince99]

I get so tired of the talking heads. Mostly SAS and Perk. It almost seems they have something personal against Hali. Haliburton is a superstar one game and then he's a bum the next game, they can't wait for him to fail. I know he has had a few down games in every series, but he has been spectacular for most of the playoffs. He got screwed out of the ECF's MVP, he lead the team in almost every category. Yeh Paskal was good, love him, but Hali was better. 21 points, 10.5 assists, and 6 rebounds only 1.7 TO's in ECF according to StatMuse. Every advanced metric on earth tells you he's the Pacers best player and it's not even close.

Not many if any Pacer fans have called him a "Superstar" he's a great player though, that can not be denied. Everyone's definition of a superstar may be different. There are only 4 or 5 real superstars at the most, IMO. Hali's not gonna just create a shot at anytime and score, like most "superstars". Currently He is going against, stat wise, one of the all-time best teams/defenses. They made Ant "superstar" "the face of the league" look really bad most of that series.

A possible of 3 games left. I can already see the headlines. If Pacers lose, they got lucky to be there. Yes, we've had 3 very improbable wins, but we only lost 4 games total in the first 3 rounds. If the Pacers win, OKC was just too young and inexperienced. Afterwards Hali will either be a bum or a superstar.

It's been a great ride, regardless of the outcome. I'll never forget it, memories to last a lifetime.

No matter of the series outcome Pacers deserve to be in the finals this year

Now who cares if Hali have a Superstar label or not , I can assure you that all other 28 teams fans would love to have current Hali on their rosters

If you could build that perfect Indy 500 car , Hali would be a transmission block , he’s not always gonna rev the engine and get you first over the finish line , but he damn gonna try best all gears like Siakam Nembhard Naismith Toppin to put his team in a winning position

Amazing player , I really came to appreciate Hali this postseason accolades or not

GO Pacers !!! 2 more , 2

[CS707]

Agree that the gap between games is too much. No weekend game is pretty dumb for a championship series. The league seems to be doing everything possible to kill interest in the league.

[Jailblazers7]

I think we see a decent amount of SGA/J-Dub PnR since that was a good action for OKC to end the game. I’d look for them to use Caruso as a screener more too because he’ll have a weaker defender guarding him and he’s a good passer out of the short roll.

For Indy, I think they push the pace super hard tonight.

[Wingy]

I get so tired of the talking heads.

Then stop supporting them.

People bringing them up and complaining about them shows they’re doing exactly what the networks intend.

Watch on YouTube

Great summary from a commenter:

This perfectly sums up the recreational outrage we see online.

The haters are the true fans and they don't realise it.

[Wingy]

No NBA games on father days smh bad move by the NBA and they wanna talk about ratings.

So many days off between. Kills the fan’s momentum for caring.

I get the two day breaks for home court changes. There's travel time.

The only one that didn't make sense was the two day break between Game 1 and Game 2 in OKC.

Teams play back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights during the regular season.

I’m here on RealGM. I’m an outlier fan. If I’m losing interest and excitement after being jazzed for the start of the playoffs and through conference finals (and basically skipping the regular season), what’s this doing for the casual fan who actually cares about something else like baseball (I don’t)?

Attention spans are short, even for older generations. Too much going on, so many options.

A compelling game happens, and then it’s just days and days. The league should keep the momentum going.

[jkvonny]

Just saw a crazy stat that teams tied 2-2 go on to win the series 50% of the time.

Nice!

Did the stat nerds at E$PN figure this gem out?

[CS707]

So many days off between. Kills the fan’s momentum for caring.

I get the two day breaks for home court changes. There's travel time.

The only one that didn't make sense was the two day break between Game 1 and Game 2 in OKC.

Teams play back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights during the regular season.

I’m here on RealGM. I’m an outlier fan. If I’m losing interest and excitement after being jazzed for the start of the playoffs and through conference finals (and basically skipping the regular season), what’s this doing for the casual fan who actually cares about something else like baseball (I don’t)?

Attention spans are short, even for older generations. Too much going on, so many options.

A compelling game happens, and then it’s just days and days. The league should keep the momentum going.

Also just the sheer number of eyeballs they’d get from a weekend game vs. a Monday with a wonky start time for a lot of fans. Seems dumb, but maybe that’s why I’m not in charge of a multi billion dollar league.

[Helsbyte]

I hate to say it but the Pacers are probably done. It may go 7 but they are not winning in OKC again. I really feel like the officiating changed in the 4th quarter in game 4 and took the air out of them.

[phanman]

I get the two day breaks for home court changes. There's travel time.

The only one that didn't make sense was the two day break between Game 1 and Game 2 in OKC.

Teams play back to backs and 4 games in 5 nights during the regular season.

I’m here on RealGM. I’m an outlier fan. If I’m losing interest and excitement after being jazzed for the start of the playoffs and through conference finals (and basically skipping the regular season), what’s this doing for the casual fan who actually cares about something else like baseball (I don’t)?

Attention spans are short, even for older generations. Too much going on, so many options.

A compelling game happens, and then it’s just days and days. The league should keep the momentum going.

Also just the sheer number of eyeballs they’d get from a weekend game vs. a Monday with a wonky start time for a lot of fans. Seems dumb, but maybe that’s why I’m not in charge of a multi billion dollar league.

A 2 day break is custom when the games shift location. It's not just the two organizations that the league needs to worry about but also the international media coverage that comes with the Finals. Given how good this series has been, I don't mind the extended time off as it allows both coaching staffs to actually hold a practice and implement some changes to give a different look. Yesterday was rough but at least we got to see Caitlin's return on Saturday to end the 9 game win streak.

I'm hoping it's a competitive game tonight, but I could see the Pacers' getting slaughtered after giving up G4 and a stranglehold on the series.

[scrabbarista]

Let's go, Pacers! Time for some giant killing!

[xBulletproof]

So by complete chance I happen to be passing through Oklahoma City tonight. Actually went to Ticketmaster to buy tickets and if your billing address isn't close enough to Oklahoma City It denies your purchase or refunds it.

I guess that's one way to try to ensure it's all OKC fans

So got to my hotel. Now ticket search.

Good thing in Oklahoma, some highway speed limits at 80 MPH (128 KMH). Fastest I've legally gone since I was on the Autobahn. Bad thing, hey Oklahoma, when you finish road construction pick up your damn signs. Twice I saw construction signs, slowed down and everyone blew by me like I'm a moron. Was like what the hell, then I realized all of it is done. There is no construction. The third time I just sped through and sure enough, no construction.

[scrabbarista]

OKC wins comfortably tonight.

-9.5 on espn

[scrabbarista]

So by complete chance I happen to be passing through Oklahoma City tonight. Actually went to Ticketmaster to buy tickets and if your billing address isn't close enough to Oklahoma City It denies your purchase or refunds it.

I guess that's one way to try to ensure it's all OKC fans

So got to my hotel. Now ticket search.

Good thing in Oklahoma, some highway speed limits at 80 MPH (128 KMH). Fastest I've legally gone since I was on the Autobahn. Bad thing, hey Oklahoma, when you finish road construction pick up your damn signs. Twice I saw construction signs, slowed down and everyone blew by me like I'm a moron. Was like what the hell, then I realized all of it is done. There is no construction. The third time I just sped through and sure enough, no construction.

I drive every week between Houston and Dallas, and it's a constant internal struggle what to do in the "construction zones." I try to find the golden mean.

[Patches Perry]

So by complete chance I happen to be passing through Oklahoma City tonight. Actually went to Ticketmaster to buy tickets and if your billing address isn't close enough to Oklahoma City It denies your purchase or refunds it.

I guess that's one way to try to ensure it's all OKC fans

So got to my hotel. Now ticket search.

Good thing in Oklahoma, some highway speed limits at 80 MPH (128 KMH). Fastest I've legally gone since I was on the Autobahn. Bad thing, hey Oklahoma, when you finish road construction pick up your damn signs. Twice I saw construction signs, slowed down and everyone blew by me like I'm a moron. Was like what the hell, then I realized all of it is done. There is no construction. The third time I just sped through and sure enough, no construction.

I drive every week between Houston and Dallas, and it's a constant internal struggle what to do in the "construction zones." I try to find the golden mean.

My approach is just don't be the fastest guy.