2025 NBA Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers

These playoffs are showing us how important a good offensive coach is. Even if you have better players and better defense you will still lose if your offense is bad.

Carlisle was the architect of the NBA best offense in Dallas before. He had some sort of falling out with Luka thats why he quit IIRC

 

You must be riding a crazy wave. Congrats, Indy fan base deserves it as does Carlisle and the rest of the team. Close them out!

 

Also the other team he helped mold that was the last great team without a star and played insane defense (Detroit 2003)

 

Game 2 was Wiggins and Caruso. Game 3 was Mathurin, McConnell and Toppin.

 

IMO, what flipped game 3:

Mathurin's explosion. 9/12, 2/3, 7/8 for 27 points was just insane. That's alpha stuff. Major props to him.

TJ McConnell's huge jolt of energy. I have so much respect for the guy.

OKC was clearly more fatigued in the 4th quarter than the Pacers. I've never seen that happen to them and didn't even think that was possible.

Lastly, OKC collapsed in the 4th quarter because of the Pacers.
The Pacers defense the last few mins was off the charts and it overwhelmed OKC. It's seemed like they took what OKC had done to them and copied it. When they took the lead with 4-5 mins left, it was over because both offenses could barely dribble without turning the ball over. Neither SGA nor J-Dub could deal with it.

Honorable mention to Chet for being the Invisible Man in the 2nd half. Talk about feast to famine.

 

OKC, and even SGA, looked a little gassed in the last few minutes. The wear them out formula, which is hard to do with OKC

Edit...

lol A-3PO beat me to the same observation

 

100% mathurin was lights ****ing out.

 

Want the Pacers to keep rolling. Don't hit pause. They may not have the "best" players, but they have grit and a really good coach.

 

If the Pacers can consistently defend OKC and get stops this is anyone's series. If they keep it close I'm leaning Pacers in the clutch until proven otherwise.

Just get stops, get a lead or at least keep it close to avoid blowouts. Pacers have offense down, ironically it's their defensive performance game to game that could win them a championship.

 

like this dude

 

Congrats on the win by the Pacers. But if I'm being honest, Mathurin's offensive explosion is kind of an anomaly that lifted them above OKC, and it's hard to expect that consistent offense.

OKC on the other hand kinda played to expectations. But Daigneault really pushed his starters too much instead of relying on his bench depth, which clearly showed by the 4th. He can probably play Hartenstein, Wiggins, and Joe a little more to give the starters a breather.

OKC did seem to get the benefit of the whistle this game.

 

Shet, OKC let go of the rope....

Pacers deserved it.

I don't think Mathurin is that consistent normally.

 

Bottom line for me is that Shai did not deliver the points in the 4th. That was the difference. It was a disappearing act. Gassed. It sure looked that way. He was panting, but no matter, he did not finish. The 10 points they were missing belong to Shai. Not the bench.

Mathurin brought it. But the Pacers as a whole were the same in terms of total output.

 

Of note, the '86 rockets were equally considered the same level of dormat to the Celtics. Olajuwon kept us in it. And they lost. But the Pacers have a real chance to finish an upset of epic proportions.

 

Completely agree with you, but the Pacers are now up 2-1 and only need two more "anomalies" to finish the job.

 

chet getting b!tchslapped like a ragdoll in the 4th was okc’s downfall imo

 

yup, nice win for the indians.

i’ll see yall brehs again in 6 months for game 4.

 

4th quarter defensive stats:

Thunder 18 points, 6 made field goals, 5 turnovers, Pacers with 5 blocks, Pacers with 4 steals.

OKC gassed. Now they get just 1 day off.

 

Lol...how does Chet get a 3pt blocked?

[eta sorry] Just realized I am way, way behind this live game.

Pay no attention to me.

 

I feel so lucky that i did tbh, i could cash out now and i'd already be well and truly up but i kinda wanna ride it out and ho0e they pull it all off