The 2024-25 NBA season gave us a bevy of surprises and this year’s NBA Finals will feature an unlikely matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers. The action starts tonight (Thursday) and the Thunder are heavy favorites to win the championship.
At the start of the season, nobody expected the Pacers to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Even though they produced the league’s second-best record since Jan. 1 (48-18), Indiana’s run to the championship series has been one of the most surprising feats of the season.
One reason I think Indiana will be highly competitive in the series is that they know how to put points on the board. The Pacers are entering the Finals averaging 117.4 points per game.
Conversely, OKC features the top defense in the Association, a defense that propelled them to a franchise-best record of 68 wins.
The Thunder will have the best player on the court in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. SGA won his first MVP award this season. Everything with the Thunder starts and ends with him. Now in his seventh season, Gilgeous-Alexander will likely be considered an all-time player by the time his NBA career is over. SGA has maintained his MVP-caliber play this postseason, averaging 29.8 points on 47.1% shooting and 6.9 assists.
Tyrese Haliburton has to come up big if Indiana is to pull off the upset. Similar to SGA, everything for the Pacers starts and ends with Halliburton. Headlined by a pair of clutch shots against the Cavaliers and New York Knicks in the second and third rounds, Haliburton has been one of the NBA’s best players in the playoffs. He has averaged 18.8 points on 46.6% shooting, 9.8 assists and 1.4 steals through the first three rounds.
Haliburton may have a hard time maintaining his production against the Thunder. Oklahoma City will be the toughest defensive team he has faced this postseason, particularly in the one-on-one matchups against Alex Caruso and Lu Dort.
You know me. I almost always go with the team who has the best player. I like the Thunder in five games.
