Somebody is ready to make historical past within the 2025 NBA Finals.
If the Indiana Pacers win the championship, it will mark the primary within the 58-year historical past of the franchise.
If the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder win it, it will be their first since transferring to OKC 17 years in the past. The group gained one title — in 1979 — because the Seattle Supersonics.
Each groups have been ready for this second, with the Pacers again within the Finals for the primary time since 2000 and the Thunder again for the primary time since 2012.
After a 68-win common season, the top-seeded Thunder enter as -750 favorites, based on ESPN Wager. Nevertheless, the fourth-seeded Pacers have thrived as underdogs this postseason, upsetting increased seeds within the Cleveland Cavaliers and Knicks alongside the best way.
Listed here are 5 storylines going into the NBA Finals, which start Thursday evening in Oklahoma Metropolis.
SOMETHING’S GOTTA GIVE
The Thunder-Pacers matchup options the NBA’s equal of an unstoppable drive assembly an immovable object.
Oklahoma Metropolis boasts a traditionally dominant protection that leads all groups this postseason in defensive ranking (104.7), steals per sport (10.8), opponent field-goal proportion (42.6%) and turnovers pressured per sport (18.0).
Extremely, Mark Daigneault’s Thunder are performing higher in all of these classes within the playoffs than they did within the common season, once they nonetheless led the NBA in every.
Rick Carlisle’s Pacers, in the meantime, rank second within the playoffs by scoring 117.4 factors per sport. Their 49.7% field-goal proportion is one of the best amongst playoff groups, as is their 40.1% clip on 3-pointers.
An X-factor on this collection figures to be how usually the Thunder are in a position to flip the Pacers over.
The Thunder are averaging 23.8 factors off turnovers per sport this postseason — accounting for 20% of their scoring — whereas the Pacers are conceding an NBA-low 12.5 factors off turnovers.
Pacers level guard Tyrese Haliburton is among the many NBA’s greatest at taking good care of the ball. He dedicated only one.6 turnovers per sport within the common season — 71 gamers averaged extra — and is averaging 1.9 turnovers per sport within the playoffs.
NEW ERA
There are many similarities between the Thunder and Pacers, too.
Each groups had been constructed round younger cores by way of savvy trades and the draft.
Each characteristic two of the fastest-paced offenses within the NBA.
Each revolve round their All-Star level guards — Haliburton for Indiana, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma Metropolis.
And each deploy deep rotations, utilizing as many as 11 males to put on down opponents and maintain their very own gamers contemporary.
“I think it’s a new blueprint for the league, man,” Pacers heart Myles Turner stated after Indiana’s conference-finals-clinching Recreation 6 win over the Knicks.
“I think the years of the superteams and stacking, it’s not as effective as it once was. Since I’ve been in the league, this NBA is very trendy. It just shifts. But the new trend now is just kind of what we’re doing. OKC does the same thing. Young guys, get out and run, defend, and use the power of friendship.”
STAR WATCH
Few groups discovered a lot success defending Gilgeous-Alexander, the NBA MVP who led the league with a really environment friendly 32.7 factors per sport.
However SGA was significantly dominant in two regular-season video games in opposition to the Pacers, averaging 39.0 factors on 55.6% capturing, 7.0 rebounds and eight.0 assists per sport. He totaled 23 free-throw makes an attempt in these video games, and the Thunder gained each.
Gilgeous-Alexander is among the many NBA’s greatest isolation gamers, scoring 7.7 factors per sport on isolation performs within the common season to rank second within the league.
That presents a problem for the Pacers, who’re permitting 1.25 factors per possession in isolation this postseason — the worst amongst any crew.
Andrew Nembhard had six steals in Recreation 6 of the Japanese Convention Finals and hounded Jalen Brunson, who shot 8-of-18 and dedicated 5 turnovers. At 6-4, Nembhard boasts a measurement benefit on the 6-2 Brunson, however not on the 6-6 Gilgeous-Alexander.
Haliburton, in the meantime, struggled in opposition to OKC within the common season, averaging solely 11.0 factors — together with a four-point dud in December — on 44.4% capturing with 3.0 rebounds and 5.5 assists per sport.
Oklahoma Metropolis has quite a few plus defenders, from Jalen Williams to Lu Dort to Alex Caruso, to throw at Haliburton.
BY GEORGE
Each the Pacers and Thunder benefited mightily from buying and selling away Paul George.
When Indiana traded George to the Thunder in 2017, they received again Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo.
The Pacers then despatched Sabonis to the Sacramento Kings for Haliburton in 2022; whereas their 2021 commerce of Oladipo to the Houston Rockets in the end resulted within the draft picks that become Nembhard and Ben Sheppard.
The Thunder, in the meantime, traded George to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019 for a haul that included Gilgeous-Alexander, in addition to a first-round decide that become Williams.
CHAMPIONSHIP PEDIGREE
Whereas the majority of each rosters shall be enjoying within the Finals for the primary time, each groups make use of no less than one notable NBA champion.
For the Thunder, that’s Caruso, who emerged as a precious function participant — and began the clinching Recreation 6 — for the LeBron James-led Los Angeles Lakers of their 2020 NBA Finals win over the Miami Warmth.
Identified for his tenacious protection, Caruso averaged 24.8 minutes per sport in these Finals, although his expertise was a singular one, contemplating that postseason befell within the COVID bubble with out followers in attendance.
Nonetheless, the Thunder can lean on the expertise of Caruso, who’s the one participant on the roster to even seem in a Finals.
“You don’t have to do anything special. You just have to be who we are,” Caruso stated. “That’s worked for us throughout this whole year. So, I’m just continuing to emphasize with the guys, just do what we’ve done all year. Compete at a high level, play together, play as a team. When we do that, we’re pretty good.”
The Pacers, in the meantime, have Pascal Siakam, who was a starter and the second scoring choice on the Toronto Raptors crew that gained the 2019 Finals. Siakam averaged 19.8 factors and seven.5 rebounds in 40.2 minutes per sport in that collection in opposition to the Golden State Warriors.
Indiana additionally has a championship-winning head coach in Carlisle, who gained the Finals with the Dallas Mavericks in 2011.
With a collection victory, Carlisle would grow to be the fifteenth head coach to win a number of championships — and the fourth to win a title with a number of groups.
Initially Printed: June 2, 2025 at 5:00 PM EDT
