2025 NBA Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers

Gotcha.

It seems a Carlisle philosophy to live with what Batman gets but to not be burned by the Robins, though. Be that Giannis, Mitchell, Brunson, or SGA. They don't have to hold SGA to 25. He can't shoot 60% though.

That being said, I don't know how you guard Brunson better than Nembhard did in game 6, and he did it really since Nesmith's ankle was still wonky. They need Nesmith at 100%, obviously

 

ESPN pundits:

Jerry Bembry: Thunder in 6
Tim Bontemps: Thunder in 5
Chris Herring: Thunder in 5
Zach Kram: Thunder in 5
Bobby Marks: Thunder in 5
Dave McMenamin: Thunder in 6
Neil Paine: Thunder in 5
Kevin Pelton: Thunder in 5
Omar Raja: Thunder in 5
Ramona Shelburne: Thunder in 5
Andre Snellings: Thunder in 7
Marc Spears: Thunder in 7
Jeremy Woo: Pacers in 7
Michael C. Wright: Thunder in 6
Ohm Youngmisuk: Thunder in 6

Final tally:
Oklahoma City 14, Indiana 1

 

Clutchfans are more optimistic about the Pacers than the pundits.

 

Jeremy Woo can always cash in.....those get the most money.

 

The pundits are idiots.

the pacers are the best coached team in the league and can catch fire

 

The Pacers should be a heavy underdog. I get that.

I don't get the analysis saying that it is hopeless. 5 games, maybe 4. In particular, the analysis based on the 0-2 record vs. OKC this year and Haliburton doing nothing in those games. That's a small sample size to rely on. For example, last year the Pacers were 2-0 vs. OKC. One game was without SGA, so I will call it 1-0.

And yeah, both teams are different last year and both are better now. But the key players were there and the styles were there.

This was that game: https://www.espn.com/nba/boxscore/_/gameId/401585569

The Pacers at OKC built a 58-46 halftime lead and won by 10. Is it a blueprint?

Fast break points 23-3 Pacers
Points in the paint 72-52 Pacers
Assists 34-24 Pacers
Turnovers Pacers 9, OKC 13

Pacer totals
Hali 18 pts / 12 assists. Yes, guarded by Dort.
Turner 24
Pascal 18
Nesmith 15
Nemby 14
Obi 10
54% shooting as a team

SGA 30 points but on 12-27 shooting
Chet 15 pts on 6-16
43% shooting as a team

It's not hopeless. This isn't the dream team. The Pacers have been better than Denver for months, and Denver took OKC to 7 games, with Jokic underperforming (LOL, only by his standards, but still).

 

I think the Pacers have a good shot at winning this. I'll be rooting for them.

 

The issue is HOW IS THIS GAME REFFED
If they allow Caruso and Dort to play football while calling every ticky tack foul on the other end
OKC in 4

Saikim is a different animal than what OKC has played in these play offs
Better than Randle Different that Jokic

Pacers hit their shots. . . . OKC will have to fight hard


Rocket River

 

I like the Pacers and the points in every game.

 

IMO, analyzing regular season matchups can be close to useless when predicting playoff series because the approaches taken by both teams changes so much in a 7-game series. This doubly applies in the Finals when they’ve only met twice because the teams don’t know each other very well.

 

On paper OKC looks like an advanced Pacers team with a 3 Center rotation that can all pass the darn ball around.

But the Pacers had surprisingly good stats in ball movement, player movement .....

I think the Pacers Big 3 are Hali Potter, Siakam and Myles .....and should be slowed down, esp. Pascal and Hali.

 

No Scott Foster or Tony Brothers? I'm not watching it!

 

"The extender" Scott Foster gets the call whenever there is a risk of the series ending too quickly

 

Since the 2017 NBA Finals, every championship-winning team has had a former member of the Washington Wizards on the roster. Indiana has Thomas Bryant and Quenton Jackson, both former Wizards, on the roster. The Thunder, however, currently do not have a former Wizard on the team.

 

How tf does OkC get away with this ****?

foul every play

 

Halliburton can't just be a walk the ball up and pass at half court dude. He kknows this going in, I'm kind of disappointed in him to be honest

 

People b**** about Dillon Brooks but ******* Dort gets away with murder every play