2025 NBA Finals! New World Order: Shai vs. Hali

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thunder in 6

LFG PACERS

maybe it's crazy but I think this will be a really fun series

new blood!

i’m going to be optimistic and take thunder in 6…hoping indy can keep it close and interesting

I voted Thunder in 5, hoping for 6. I predict Indy will be able to split at home, so it's gonna rest on whether they can steal one of the first 2, bc I don't see them winning game 5 coming back to OKC.

Also this is my first time making a poll, didn't know how the timing would work out - if mods want to extend the voting a day until wednesday night that would be great

I vacillated between OKC in 5 or 6, but finally voted six bcz the Pacers vibes have been off the charts through most of their run to the Finals. those vibes could even take them all the way, if OKC has a couple turns of bad luck. always hard to vote against the vibe.

yea despite being a regular season behemoth OKC seem pretty beatable. Pacers are gonna give them a hell of a hard time. still think OKC in 5 probably the most likely scenario

I voted Thunder in 5. The teams are similar but Thunder have more star power, and are unlikely to lose barring injury. Chet's amazing and rounding back into form - he can shoot threes, play on the perimeter, and still offer top-notch rim protection.

It'll be interesting to see the Thunder defend the Pacers. In the other series, they've played against heliocentric players and have packed the paint, daring role players to shoot in the corners. But Pacers don't have anyone quite as individually threatening as Morant, Jokic, or Edwards, so they might use a more conventional defensive scheme.

They had mental hurdles to overcome against the Nuggets and gave up on one game after the Timberwolves shot hot from 3, but otherwise they've been rolling.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

The last time the Thunder lost at home to an Eastern Conference team was to the Pacers on 12 March 2024.

I voted Thunder in 6 but my heart's with Pacers in 7

voted okc in 5 but i think the actual games will be closer than that suggests

bise you are a mod yes? can you extend the voting deadline 48 hrs to 8pm thurs?

i don't think that's possible to do

i dont think i have that level of privilege tbh bc i am being silenced for my political views by ilx insiders

i'll have to get the latecomers' takes on the dark web i guess

stop the count

i voted entirely for what i hope will happen (Pacers in 7) not what i think will happen (Thunder in 5)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

hoops are back tonight.

indy has to steal game 1

i regret to inform you that hoops are in fact back tomorrow night

espn scoreboard takes another victim

hey salute to rick carlisle feel like his rep took a hit in the luka era but with this indy team its clear hes still one of the best out there still at the cutting edge despite being around forever, hes built the perfect system for his roster and the buy in from the team and him is as high as youll see in the league its really not easy to keep playing fast keep the ball popping in crunch time of playoff games its not easy to keep playing yr bench big minutes so everyone can stay fresh enough to play that style but theyre doing it and its played off two years in a row

totally agree i’ve always liked rick and this run should solidify him as one of the best coaches of his era, he’s done it a bunch of different ways with a bunch of different teams and while he doesn’t suffer fools he also seems pretty good at not making himself the main character

espn scoreboard takes another victim

― lag∞n, Wednesday, June 4, 2025 3:44 PM (thirty-six minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

FINE... stanley cup here we come

even more Canadians than the NBA finals

hoops are back tonight.

indy has to steal game 1

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Wednesday, June 4, 2025 5:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

rick carlisle is a great coach and probably the best coach at looking just like jim carrey

"somebody stop me" - rick carlisle

hoops are back tonight.

indy has to steal game 1

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Wednesday, June 4, 2025 5:24 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

― ヽ（´ー｀）┌ (CompuPost), Thursday, June 5, 2025 4:30 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

we back baby

its hoops

beating the Heatles in the Finals as a massive underdog was genuinely one of the most impressive coaching feats I've ever seen

that dallas team was so locked in jj barea and what not

Even more impressive in retrospect given what the next decade looked like for LeBron

Honestly outside of my own team winning that was probably the most satisfying chip I can think of. 04 pistons right there too

otm

Carlisle has been wildly successful at each stop. Fired by Pistons so Brown could coach that chip-winning Detroit team, then fired by Larry Bird after a potentially chip-caliber team got derailed by Malice in the Palace, and Indy wallowed in the JOB years. TBH it does sound like he was grinding everyone's gears in Dallas (and was just never going to work with Luka).

Extremely excited to finally see how these teams match up. Thunder probably the only defense that can stop the Pacers, and Pacers haven't really faced a team in 2nd half of season who looked like they could keep up, wonder which team's quickness will surprise the other. If Thunder can significantly cut the fastbreak points and disrupt the passing lanes, Pacers are absolutely toast.

Hali will be hounded worse than any other matchup, although he's handled that much better on this run compared to last year. Really up to everyone else on the court moving enough to keep the Thunder off-balance and not jumping passing lanes. Hard thing to do!

if the pacers can just not turn the ball over theyve got a shot, of course thats a really hard thing to do vs the thunder, but on the other hand the pacers are good at not turning the ball over

If Pacers are swinging the ball around and not getting shots/angles, they usually try to force it into Myles/Siakam at the end of the clock for a quick midrange shot, and Thunder were very effective at guarding that in the last matchup. Another interesting contrast is the Pacers "random" offense v Thunder mystery switching defense, worried I'm going to have to watch the Thunder just pick-6 Pacers into the ground.

def a sad possibility

100 tons of hardshai beyond zings, Thunder also told Pacers their age and height and birthday when they met *:?

fwiw Vegas seems to think OKC is a huge favorite but I'm not so sure. the Pacers are as locked in as any playoff team I can remember and OKC has not exactly demonstrated a steely resolve when things go bad. that said they are a much better team so I still expect them to win but hopefully it gets interesting

Cason Wallace starting, had trouble stopping Siakam.

OKC are playing more normally, protecting the corners and not packing the paint - seems the right idea against Indiana.

Obi :(

8 turnovers in 10 minutes for indy

yikes

uh oh

thunder defense is just so insanely active

SGA cooking

on pace for 48 shots

Thunder have played 10 guys so far - feels like they had to tighten their rotations against Minny and Denver, as smaller guys like Isaiah Joe were struggling.

who'd be the best nba player at pop-a-shot

Just rude when Caruso drives and scores

presti really cooked with the caruso and ihart additions.

OKC attacking the rebounder every time. Really disrupting Indy’s ability to get up court quickly

idk how indys not down 20

Insane turnover count. Down only 12 is a blessing

On pace for a cool 36 turnovers

yeah only being down 12 despite being minus 14 (!!!) turnover margin is impressive in a way. not sure if that portends regression to the mean or (maybe more likely) this is just how things are gonna go. they’ve been fine when they can actually get a shot off

Gotta hoist

TIL OKC has a tesla coil in the arena

Feel like ind has been down 12 for 95% of this game

basically

they have okc right where they want them

Brutal turnover by TJ oof

Playoff nembhard scared to hoist

Toppin vs Dort three point contest just how we drew it up

Let’s gooooo

pacers are crazy man

Insane block
By dort woooowww

nesmith made a mistake trying to drive there

lol

Woooooo!

omfg

Jdjsjsldjfjdjeijdjfjdieiwieifjfnnenwwn

Fuckin hell

hahahahahahhaha

YESCERRRRRRRS

Are you fucking kidding me??!

hell yeah baby that's pacers basketball

I thought you needed .04 to get a shot off?

holy shit man

.3 for a catch and shoot

0.3 is the minimum

beginning to think the pacers are a true team of destiny

these crazy motherfuckers

i watched the 4th and am not even sure how that happened, the pacers are so poised and methodical in their comebacks while also making completely insane shots

love to take my first lead of the game with .3 left

good to know they do this to everyone

This Pacers team is so much fun

Feel like ind has been down 12 for 95% of this game

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Thursday, June 5, 2025 9:31 PM (thirty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

basically

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 5, 2025 9:32 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

they have okc right where they want them

― petey, pablo & mary (m bison), Thursday, June 5, 2025 9:32 PM (thirty-eight minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Got a lot of bullshit out of miles turner

nembhard running the show for so much of crunch time keeps hali fresh for the crazy heroics

Keerthika Uthayakumar‬ keerthikau.bsky.social‬

Tyrese Haliburton is 6-for-7 (85.7%) when taking a shot to tie or take the lead in the final 90 seconds of the 4th or OT this playoffs.

That’s the most such shots in a single postseason since 1997.

hali, we can only conclude, either (a) made a deal with the devil or (b) is the devil

she had another good one

‪Keerthika Uthayakumar‬
✧@keerthi✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
· 4m
Indiana has come back from down 15 or more FIVE times, the most such comebacks in a single postseason in the play-by-play era (since 1997).

Pacers are 5-3 when they go down by 15 or more this playoffs.

thunder have a serious lack of trustworthy, non-sga crunchtime guys

meanwhile seemingly everyone on the pacers can iso and make tough 3s

Loved seeing the Thunder look a little gassed in that 4th quarter, wild to see that many TOs and offensive rebounds and Thunder lose, they didn’t even really choke, just never pushed their lead high enough.

Hali played like a C- game (until the final shot) and they still won.

yeah not getting a huge lead off all those first half turnovers was bad xp

That turner sidestep bank three >>>

that was a crazy shot

still can’t believe that happened

hali dark magic might just be real

hes a witch

Chet/Jwill 8/28 fg

yeah they needed to step up and carry more offensive responsibility (they didnt do that shit)

Squandered a big turnover advantage and a great Dort shooting night.

https://bsky.app/profile/bubbaprog.lol/post/3lqvxkxhs6s2s

amazing how comparatively subdued the US announcers are

too bad we couldnt have had harlan on the call

No bangs from Breen even :(

Pacers led for 0.3 seconds lmao

sometimes 0.3 seconds is all you need 😎

now this is how you do a postgame recap

https://www.facebook.com/reel/2509883969354730

lol the memes are evolving into supermemes

No bangs from Breen even :(

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Friday, June 6, 2025 11:30 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

he just acknowledged that he owed hali one, but really i think he owes him two

i write this at the 8:45 mark for the 4th with indy down 22 and...i dont think there's a comeback coming tonight

let the record show m bison is writing off the indiana pacers, it's hali time

it is pretty remarkable how passive hali looks when he has these dud games. so many possessions where the ball doesn't touch his hands, or just passes through them quickly. he clearly doesn't have it tonight so i don't think it would make a difference but still. there are other dudes like that but it is a funny juxtaposition with his insane heroics

you know I've kind of wondered of all the players who have managed to make the entire postseason about them (like Jimmy a couple years ago), Hali's overall stats really aren't impressive at all, I'm kinda wondering if he actually is just saving it for the 4th quarter

his assist to turnover stats are hard to beat though. 9.2/1.6 in the season, 9.5/2.0 in the playoffs. though this was not a great game in that department.

It's surprising that Hali is a career 19pt/gm scorer, it's surprising that his career statline (19/9/3) isn't closer to Jason Kidd's (13/8/6).

just looked it up chet isnt short for anything unfortunately how sick would it be if his name was chester

chesley

Goddamn Holmgren is such an insanely good dribbler for his size. He's not a wizard with the ball but there has never been someone that tall who could pass as a pg bringing the ball up the floor, would love to watch Robert Parish or Rudy Golbert try.

he and wemby are next level unicorns, and lets not forget about the famous joker

pacers defense very nice so far

TJ in full Alvarado mode with the backcourt robberies

love how the human race’s unicorn game keeps leveling up. in 5 years teams will be tanking for a 7’9” dude who shoots and handles like steph

dont want to see tjs red dad anymore i get it

Over the past 30 years I think only Steph and Shaq have been completely unique / no players on the horizon who could match the particular way they dominated. Giannis comes close but in some ways Wemby will be a more complete version of him; maybe Joker, but I think there will be newer versions of him soon. No one currently in the league/college who matches 90s Shaq busting backboards, and Steph's degree-of-difficulty shooting over a 10yr stretch will be tough to beat, feel like Maravich was in the same world but it was never championship-level dominant. At some point there's going to be some dude with Steph range from halfcourt, but we definitely aren't there yet.

Chet out here looking like Jonathan Bender 😢

lot of guys copped stephs style almost immediately, i mean who wouldnt want to play like that, none nearly as good tho and all of them left out the off ball game

nice half of good ball

very entertaining game, these teams are just a fun matchup when they're both going good

tight game

this is a hoop purists' final imo

John Hollinger‬
✧@johnhollin✧✧✧.b✧✧✧.soc✧✧✧‬
· 13m
Big ovation for Colts legend Edgerrin James during the timeout. (James's son, by the way, is a solid point guard prospect at Cincinnati who has a chance of being a pro).

just posting this to note that the son, edgerrin james jr., goes by jizzle james

same

good game 2nite

Clizzle Clay

toppin can jump high

exactly what I was worried about for OKC, if you're gonna get dominated by 4th quarter Pacers you gotta be up a bunch heading into it

wow miles turner

a defensive possession to make grown men weep right there

straight beautiful defense

okc can get stops but cant score

find myself rooting harder for this pacers team than any finals team in a few years!

they play the good ball

yeah this is a fun team, long suffering fanbase, underdog, classic neutral rooting interest

the absence of fear they have in close and late situations is crazy, i have no idea how they do it

perfect pacers moment they get the rebound up 6 with a minute and change left a situation where every team runs clock but they push it and get an easy bucket

what a fun game

xp yes! literally no other team does that because they're afraid of screwing up.

the pacers committed a couple TOs in this one trying to push the ball but they forget about them and stick to the plan.

Great finals so far

"Inbound a basketball against TJ McConnell" should be an all star break minigame

Caught it mid third, basically tied. Awesome game, and Indiana's pure, unadulterated "belief in self" is all time. Also the depth, 9-10 every night, switching up dudes on SGA trying to wear him down (and it's working), it's awesome to see. Kinda reminds me of the Warriors in spurts this last year, insane effort D, clutch play down the stretch and depth. And Hali has the Rizz as the kids say, super easy team to root for. Loved seeing Reggie out there enjoying the vibes too

If they somehow pull off this upset, I wonder where it would stand in the annals of Finals history?

Awesome game kudos pacers are a good time. Love that TJ McConnell gotta respect the shorties that carve out a nice nba role without a 3 point shot

pacers were +5000 preseason to win, same as the pelicans lol https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/1fvdyxj/202425_nba_preseason_odds/

that pass by Hali to Nesmith for the big three to make it 110 - 10something was tiiiiight. feel like most guys dump it down to Turner in the lane.

and yes, McConnell is awesome.

also, James Johnson legit looks like he's working security for Haliburton. always nearby, always watching.

Great to see TJ control a game, he swung so many games during the playoffs last year but has been one of the least effective rotation players for most of the year/playoffs. The Obi minutes late in the 4th were huge too.

Extremely curious what trajectory Mathurin's career/value takes over the next 2-3 years. He remains an awkward fit for the Pacers 1st team offense and still inconsistent on defense (but improved esp. on ball), and he's mostly starred as a 2nd team bucket-getter, a better-shooting, less athletic, waaaaaay less savvy Jimmy Butler. Seems like a good candidate to eventually jump in FA to a worse team for more shots/minutes and becomes a guy who wills himself to 20-25ppg. He's always felt like he was a little behind on his development, partly b/c he was the lotto pick in '22, meanwhile Nembhard from same draft class has been starting since day 1.

But it's tougher to say he's underdeveloped when he's putting up 27 in the finals against the Thunder, and I do wonder what he could bring to a team defensively-loaded team that needed a starting primary bucket-getter.

If they somehow pull off this upset, I wonder where it would stand in the annals of Finals history?

― octobeard, Thursday, June 12, 2025 12:25 AM (twelve hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

def be one of the weirdest champs ever at the very least

that pass by Hali to Nesmith for the big three to make it 110 - 10something was tiiiiight. feel like most guys dump it down to Turner in the lane.

― alpine static, Thursday, June 12, 2025 5:47 AM (seven hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

hes so good at finding the skip pass when you think hes not going to

2011 Mavs come to mind but Dirk really was the best player in that series, can't really say the same for Hali despite his heroics

I think it would have to be the most surprising finals winner since the merger. on quick check on basketball-reference, only the 23 nuggets and the 95 rockets are in the same ballpark in terms of net rating, and both were still significantly better in that regard

rockets were reigning champs too

personally I think if Carlisle pulls this off his two rings will be more impressive than all of Phil Jackson's combined

rockets were reigning champs too

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 12, 2025 10:09 AM (seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

and the nuggets were the 1 seed by several games. I really do think it’d be easily the most surprising winner ever

Yeah 2011 Mavs is the closest to this.. I remember how shocking that win was, Dirk being the best player on the court spoke more towards how poorly LeBron played if I recall at the time.

Yeah the NBA rarely if ever has a Cinderella team like the Pacers come out of nowhere like this and upset so many teams. Miami recently comes to mind but they lost the Finals. If these guys pull it off it feels all time to me. A very significant "parity era" champion.

i'm struggling w/ the idea that the pacers are a "cinderella" team or the "most surprising winner ever" given that the league has intentionally reshaped itself to encourage this exact thing to happen. i think the public is "surprised" because we have a very rigid understanding of the history of the NBA and what kind of teams win titles, and i think in 2035 when we're looking back on the previous decade of NFL style parity i'm not sure that any of the history from the 2010s and before will feel all that relevant. the fact that we're currently in a period where the defending champs suddenly just don't even make it past round 2 leads me to believe that a lot of that history isn't even relevant right now. i think we're only starting to adjust to this reality

when measured by gambling odds and stuff like that people will say this is one of the biggest upsets ever, and certainly everyone thought OKC was going to smoke the pacers. but this OKC team historically speaking is pretty light. they had one of the "most dominant regular seasons ever" or whatever people have been saying but i think that is more of a comment on the state of the league than it is OKC themselves. i was thinking yesterday that if you put this OKC team up against champions of the last 10-15 years, i don't think OKC would be favored in a series vs a single one of them. maybe the lakers team that won in the bubble? maybe the 2011 mavs? but those are debates. there isn't a single best team from the last two or three decades where you'd go, oh yeah OKC handles them

i would agree w/ the general notion that the league is "better" now because it's obviously much deeper in talent that it ever used to be, but that also means that the very top of the league is watered down compared to previous eras. so while it has been a generally surprising run and the crazy comebacks and stuff lend it a "cinderella" feel, the notion that this would surpass i.e. the 2011 mavs, who existed in a league where the heatles could materialize w/ basically no sort of penalty, feels myopic to me

like, the 2011 mavs beat OKC in the west finals that year 4-1

that OKC team was KD, russ, ibaka, and harden all 22 years or younger. they won 55 games that year. if you put that team on the floor vs this OKC team i'd be like, maybe it's a toss up? just to be somewhat deferential to this OKC team

if you put this OKC team on the floor w/ the 2011 heatles, the worst version of that team, i think the heatles wipe the floor w/ them

if you put this year's knicks or cavs teams on the floor w/ either of those two teams i'm not sure they win a game. so i just don't think the level of competition at the top is the same, which, again, is entirely by design. adam silver just gave an interview on espn last week where he was like "me & the owners' master plan to turn the NBA into the NFL has come to life"

getting rotation players on rookie deals gonna be the name of the game

it's still a huge if at this point, despite the Pacers playing one of their best games of the season and forcing more turnovers than OKC's had all season (I think?) it was still really close with OKC leading most of the time up until the last few minutes.

the thing with OKC is roster wise you're right they're not particularly impressive for the "best team in the league" (nor were the Cavs who were also a contender there) but they do play a really smart form of ball and have a well-crafted roster. could say the same for the Pacers too of course. anyway I do think they could handle the 2018-2019 Raps at least :)

that version of kawhi is so far and away better than any player in this series that, even tho historically speaking they're one of the weaker champs, i would still favor them comfortably over either of these teams

i think the warriors team that beat boston w/ steph, wiggins, jordan poole and the corpse of draymond is prob the weakest of the recent bunch, but i'd still favor that version of steph

getting rotation players on rookie deals gonna be the name of the game

― lil $CHUB (Spottie), Thursday, June 12, 2025 2:09 PM (eighteen minutes ago)

for much of NBA history a guy like mathurin wouldn't even see the court in the finals let alone swing a game. i respect the notion that it's "cooler" or "better" for guys further down the bench to be able to get run in the finals -- i personally would not agree but i understand not everyone needs to see the sport thru the same lens. but when we're talking quality of teams/play historically, then i think it starts to become relevant

it felt telling to me that mathurin scored the most points off the bench in a finals game since jason terry in 2011. basically one of the best sixth man scorers of all time and.... ben mathurin. yeah

damn jordan going kendrick perkins mode

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkd8FodiizM

i mean idk about lie but i dont think the argument is super coherent

that version of kawhi is so far and away better than any player in this series that, even tho historically speaking they're one of the weaker champs, i would still favor them comfortably over either of these teams

he was def on one for that run but idk is he really that much better than SGA?

i will allow that we live in an era of greater parity but just being like of course youre going to have a so called cinderella like the pacers when its never happened before is a bit much

i dont think the argument is super coherent

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 12, 2025 2:55 PM (one minute ago)

what's not coherent about my argument that the notion of the pacers being "the most surprising champion ever" falls flat because the stated goal of the NBA now is for this exact thing to happen

youll have to point to where thats the stated goal

well one pretty big factor is the increasing physicality of the game leading to half the NBA's biggest stars getting injured in any given playoff run. if Tatum, Brown, and Porzingis weren't all hurt maybe we wouldn't be having this conversation at all. hell I would argue a healthy Dame might've taken them out.

injuries are up but its not by that much but yes healthy celtics probably would be in the finals which is kind of fluky but also kind of the new normal with previous years champs not coming close the next year which is prob related to the physicality/work rate of todays game, and parity too

i'm on board with a lot of j0rd's parity argument and the notion that the way the league has reshaped itself makes against-the-odds things like this a lot less improbable. that being said some of the shade you are throwing at okc is deranged and you are looking at all those other teams with the benefit of hindsight. i absolutely think this okc team could have contended with any of the past several champs since the initial run of the dubs dynasty.

the underplayed narrative is not that they're not that good imo, it's that they're showing their youth. one difference in the parity era is that teams don't have extended runs to gel and grow from setbacks the way they used to, if you look at perennially great teams of our childhood led by HoFers like the 90s Rockets, Jazz, Pacers, Knicks, it took them years of being in the playoffs to grow to the point of making finals. OKC is way "ahead of schedule" by that comparison point but being ahead of schedule also means that you've missed out on some possibly key growth, and yet bc of the parity and aprons and what not you don't really have the option to follow the 90s template, being ahead of schedule may be requisite

youll have to point to where thats the stated goal

― lag∞n, Thursday, June 12, 2025 3:01 PM (five minutes ago)

“We set out to create a system that allowed for more competition around the league,” Silver said Thursday night in his annual news conference before Game 1 of the finals. “The goal being to have 30 teams all in the position, if well managed, to compete for championships. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”

as i said earlier, i don't think when we look back on this series in 2035 that it will feel historically anomalous. i think we're far more likely to look at it as a harbinger for what the league would become

some of the shade you are throwing at okc is deranged and you are looking at all those other teams with the benefit of hindsight. i absolutely think this okc team could have contended with any of the past several champs since the initial run of the dubs dynasty.

well, sometimes hindsight is clarifying. but also my point isn't that OKC couldn't "contend" with *some* of the past recent champions, only that i don't think there are any recent champions who you would say are definitive underdogs in a series vs this OKC team. which to me doesn't really align w/ the stuff people have been saying about their "historical dominance" which is the basis for the idea that we are potentially watching a historically significant upset

i think one thing to consider when comparing todays nba with previous years star studded teams is that those super top heavy teams yr brian shaws and derek fishers filling out the roster just dont work as well anymore teams are too good at exploiting weak players now and the physicality/work rate situation doesnt allow stars to carry teams like they used to, there is greater parity but also the game has changed players have changed there arent really many role players left even bench guys have to be able to ball now shoot handle defend the skill level of regular nba guys has gone way up and thats changed the team building formula

“We set out to create a system that allowed for more competition around the league,” Silver said Thursday night in his annual news conference before Game 1 of the finals. “The goal being to have 30 teams all in the position, if well managed, to compete for championships. And that’s what we’re seeing here.”

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, June 12, 2025 3:11 PM (eleven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

ok coceeded, that is a post facto statement tho, and not even adam silver believes that all 30 teams can compete

it's not post facto, he's been saying this stuff for a while... this is from september

“It’s not necessarily artificial parity where we keep moving the chips around and saying we want to go into every season and make sure every team has an equal chance,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last month. “It is parity of opportunity in that you want each team to be in a position where if, well managed, they’re in a position to compete.”

this is from 2023

“It’s the most compact our standings have been literally in the history of the league,” says Silver. “And that’s something that we see from the league-office standpoint as very positive.”

I take j0rdan’s point that zooming out and looking at trends over the past 7-8 years and where the league is likely headed, in retrospect we might see indiana as part of a larger pattern rather than a bizarre outlier. but it still has to be said that in terms of net rating they’re on the brink of being the weakest finals winner ever, just objectively

i do think the pacers are doing something special here, tho if you wanted to discount it just because you enjoy that sort of thing i think the more accurate argument would be that they were actually just a really good team that got off to a slow start for whatever reason, but realistically theyre making a unprecedented run no matter which way you slice it, jordan will have to come back in 2035 to tell us we were wrong to think this is cool

and one thing thats so compelling about them is how they are good team which is they play the beautiful game play a lot of guys arent star dominated, everyone talking about that dallas team but i think the closer analogue is the final spurs championship, people dont think of that spurs team as being low on stars cause they had duncan parker manu kawhi but none of them were in their prime parker lead them in scoring with 17 points a game

they beat the heat too the impossible super team

they probably would've beaten them twice had Ray Allen not hit that shot

worst shot ever

they had one of the "most dominant regular seasons ever" or whatever people have been saying but i think that is more of a comment on the state of the league than it is OKC themselves. i was thinking yesterday that if you put this OKC team up against champions of the last 10-15 years, i don't think OKC would be favored in a series vs a single one of them. maybe the lakers team that won in the bubble? maybe the 2011 mavs? but those are debates. there isn't a single best team from the last two or three decades where you'd go, oh yeah OKC handles them

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, June 12, 2025 1:55 PM (one hour ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is trying to have it both ways, a historically dominant regular season is actually more impressive in a league with greater parity, the question that should arise from this is whats different about the playoffs now, idk maybe nothing i mean the thunder are in the finals after all, tho tbf there are things about this thunder team specifically that could lead to some playoff underperformance

realistically theyre making a unprecedented run no matter which way you slice it, jordan will have to come back in 2035 to tell us we were wrong to think this is cool

definitely not saying anyone is wrong to think it's cool, i just think the idea that it's one of the biggest upsets ever is overblown and a function of people overrating this OKC team's place in history

should they win it they will easily be one of the least likely champions ever, one of the biggest upsets ever too, as to whether theyre #1 on those lists idk interesting conversation, i feel more strongly about the first than the second

a historically dominant regular season is actually more impressive in a league with greater parity

this may be true but i also don't think that historically speaking NBA teams have been measured by what they've done in the regular season, w/ a few rare exceptions. and this OKC team's playoff resumé is just not very impressive. now, that is *not* OKC's fault, they can only play the teams they are lined up against, but again i do think it's a comment on the league overall (not even in a bad or good way, necessarily, just... the way things are now)

you don't have to see OKC as historically dominant (though they again objectively were) for this to be one of the biggest upsets ever. the bar is kinda low in the nba for historic upsets because it has been so dominated by dynasties

well as for the second...a team getting dominated by a much better team all game before hitting a ton of unlikely 4th quarter shots and winning by 1 point is kind of a textbook 'upset', feels different from what say the Heat did to the Celtics two years ago, where they actually did look like the better team most of the time. obviously the Pacers have looked incredibly good at times (last night for instance) but that's not what people are gonna remember about this run

tbd i'd say

as far as what ppl are gonna remember about this run. i mean they'll remember the amazing comebacks and heroic shots but whether those happened in the course of an "upset" is tbd. they dominated cleveland beyond even how you described Miami-Celts, and how the next games go is gonna determine the narrative of the finals in that respect

and things of that nature

now if were set for a future of five and six seeds winning it all that would change things but i kinda dont think we are, were def deep in a no dynasties era but so far the best regular season teams have still been winning the rings, and that could continue tbf and okc could even kick off a new dynasty, there has been a little bit more cinderella action with the one heat run to the finals and now indy but thats still not like its happening left and right, tho obvs the team building situation is getting even more difficult now

should they win it they will easily be one of the least likely champions ever, one of the biggest upsets ever too

both of these statements are objectively true, however the second one is more contingent on people just misreading this match up and not in a completely unpredictable "lebron james forgets how to play basketball and is shut down by jj barea" kinda way

yeah like i said im not as sold on the upset/matchup part, and its not as interesting to me either, the whole cinderella run is more fun

overall i would say between the parity injuries exhaustion 3pt variance and super skilled non stars i do think were prob in an era where upsets are more likely but prob not nearly to the extent that an indy chip this year would be the new normal

the repeated historically unlikely comebacks aspect of the pacers run is the part that makes it sorta unquantifiable. however i think they were just simply better than either the cavs or the knicks, and that *is* a hindsight driven statement (well at least as it pertains to the cavs) but none of these series went to the brink or really anywhere that close

what even is an upset

(personally I think upsets are usually judged at the time, based on the perception of the teams going in)

Right, that the teams are more closely matched than previously thought is exactly why it's an upset.

a lot of people liked indy over the knicks so idk if that was an upset maybe a small one, indy completely running over cleveland was pretty left field tho

what about this indy team is allowing them to perform so well in the playoffs, prob a number of things but roster wise having a bunch of guys who can create for themselves and others is really good, then okc is not nearly as flush with creators, which could be a recipe for an upset

seems like they’ve also had a pretty decided coaching advantage which in some match ups is predictable but not in all

for much of NBA history a guy like mathurin wouldn't even see the court in the finals let alone swing a game. i respect the notion that it's "cooler" or "better" for guys further down the bench to be able to get run in the finals -- i personally would not agree but i understand not everyone needs to see the sport thru the same lens. but when we're talking quality of teams/play historically, then i think it starts to become relevant

it felt telling to me that mathurin scored the most points off the bench in a finals game since jason terry in 2011. basically one of the best sixth man scorers of all time and.... ben mathurin. yeah

― slob wizard (J0rdan S.), Thursday, June 12, 2025 2:34 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

i'm sorry i don't understand this at all? bennedict mathurin plays 30 minutes a night in the regular season. the first three guys off the bench on the 96 bulls in the finals were steve kerr, bill wennington, and randy brown. at what point in history would bennedict mathurin not be in a rotation in the finals?

yeah i was gonna call out the mathurin slander too. he's on track to be a really good player!

i'm not even defending him as a player, but less talented people have played in the finals regularly. if you wanted to relate his big game last night to trends in the league it would be that playoff series are as matchup-driven as they've ever been and right now okc has demonstrated that for whatever reason he's a matchup issue for them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSX-7eHf3tI

ok sorry my apologies to ben mathurin. i think my point would be better served by being stated as, i think there are higher level finals in which ben mathurin would not have played much. but perhaps i am wrong, i'm not really going to get into an argument about ben mathurin

and with respect to roy hibbert, i did watch him... repeatedly lose to lebron james, dywane wade, and chris bosh

So tonight … predictions ? Most obvious would be a bounce back game from OKC to even the series.

I think it'll be a close game with an OKC win, but honestly, it feels like any "close game" falls the Pacer's way. If there's one thing I absolutely, positively don't is going to happen, it's the Pacers blowing out OKC (barring injuries, of course)

interesting game from a playoff adjustments angle indy has to be smelling blood after they ran okc into the ground last game, okc has to do something to counter knicks ended up going deeper into their bench last series which did help with their exhaustion but was dicey since they rely on brunson being in the game so much, similar situation with okc and shai

its interesting, okc is rly deep, but not so much for offensive creation. this is where they could use a bruce brown type dude.

OKC offense gets really gummy in crunch time, part of the issue is that daignault has been playing dort and caruso together and the pacers are just happy to not guard those guys. last game dort played 36 mins, caruso played 32, wallace played 24, wiggins played 10, joe played 4. i'd think about recalibrating that so the latter two are on the floor more, and i would def seriously consider breaking up the caruso/dort pairing in crunch time to get more shooting on the floor

yeah indy was doubling shai all game and okc couldnt really make them pay

wiggins def seems like he needs a little more burn

indy getting some nice looks from 3 to start here

indys offense now compared to 1st half game one when okc was stealing the ball every time is pretty different

raptors super fan there in a canada jersey supporting all the candians lol

double big lineup mightve not been the look

OKC looks a bit rattled with their defense not seeming to bother Indy. Not sure OKC has it in them to use their offensive to get them going

good first quarter not sure how the thunder matched indys scoring but they did

indy still hassling shai fullcourt but theyre not bringing the double and hes getting to the stepback easy

Bullshit flagrant call

some dubious calls going against indy here

How do they call that and not the one in the last game?

raptors super fan there in a canada jersey supporting all the candians lol

Nav Bhatia! Apparently he is mostly there for Pascal

pacers fans have been bitching about the refs all series but they've been right this game

this quarter in this series feels like a tipping point in the pacers favor

do we have any intel on the guys in powder blue and orange formalwear on the baseline?

toppin is good now i guess just one of those things

pacers just never miss the threes they need. if they need it, they’ll hit it

the more i see him i have to say if you don't like obi toppin you don't like fun cool guys

OMG these Pacers are just insanely beautiful to watch right now

toppin time

shai not really getting to rim its all middies

nembhard is really good at not going for his fakes

they're making shai a pretty inefficient player

first double digit indy lead this series

nemhard was picked one spot after peyton watson

sideline bros are apparently dumb snd dumber and have perk and stephen a faces on their chests

xp

hmm not what i would do if i had those seats

i would just be normal and enjoy the game personally

yes i would not make a spectacle of myself

having fun at the nba finals with my pal

https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:f5vknjyo6v6ctlf7hernwc3q/bafkreifpeskvzs7g2s7xkfaytuye6edjuakdhxkyp37xuiabi4pckae5ay@jpeg

no one on the broadcast crew knows youre not allowed to face guard on rebounds i guess

some serious crunch time here

ugghhh

MVP making the shots you need to make if you’re the MVP

tight game

okc really amped up the defense over the course of this half

chet has been awesome in this quarter

it's been a bad time for myles turner to forget how to shoot

damn pacers really messed crunch time up

caruso sneakily one of one of the least clutch guys ever

to say nothing of mathurin lol

thunder pulled this one out of their ass, can only tip your ass cap

pacers were unusually shook on offense. the thunder made them play slow and hunt for decent shots.

ultimately that game came down to shai and haliburton picking their match ups down the stretch. shai wanted nesmith and hit some tough shots but he also used nesmith’s aggressiveness against him to get to the line. haliburton wanted chet and just couldn’t really get free.

chet’s defense was major down the stretch, nembhardt tried him too. the pacers got what their offense is designed to get — they had OKC spaced out, their two guards got OKC’s center on an island, but in this case the center was up to the ask of guarding 1 on 1 in space

the three that shai hit flipped the game

Well ended up calling it with a close OKC win

I don't think I'll ever stop being fascinated by what a strange looking human being Chet is

Huge mvp shai performance, j will really solid cutting and pressuring the rim. pacers kinda choked

just so many terrible halfcourt possessions in crunch time for indy

i missed the game due to housing my family at dominoes, but this box score of okc is nuts. as a team:

- 11 assists for the entire game
- 34/38 from ft (.895)
- 3/16 from 3 (.188)

That is pretty wild

i know i won 9 of the 13 games, i was on one

just wanna say that I’m glad this series has been close, hope it goes 7

Yeah but have the finals always taken like whole month to play?

kinda? it takes like 19 days if it goes 7 games

def seems like not a lot of buzz/hype around this matchup but the timing is the usual

it’s weird that they spend a month getting you in this rhythm of each series having a game every other day and then the finals happen and the schedule seems to have no order and it’s hard to remember when the games are

honestly cant believe they have game 6 on a monday instead of sunday fathers day very dumb

maybe they don’t want to go up against the US open? idk, that was over by early evening wasn’t it

too hard for NBA teams to get from Indianapolis to Oklahoma City in two days

When you consider how many games these players have played since the season started, giving them some extra rest between games should help to make the finals less like the end of a death march and improve the quality of play.

This kind of feels like an elimination game for the Pacers. If they lose, I dont think they'll be able to win the series.

Indy playing like they want to follow the G1 formula. Doubt it’s going to work out for them in G5

xp yeah 100% and i think they're going to lose

Ugly quarter for Indy, they are lucky they're not down by a lot more

indy just cannot generate decent looks right now

Not looking good for the Pacers, hope Haliburton is ok

I’m on west coast time and was cooking dinner for a lot of the first half but I feel like hali should try scoring more than 0 points

everyone wanted to crown him the clutch king after game 1, now hes shitting the bed, maybe he'll score 30 in the second half

chet’s defense is one of the biggest difference makers in this series. the pacers actually have perimeter defenders that somewhat compare to OKC’s but chet is much better on defense than myles turner. his ability to switch onto any of indiana’s ball handlers but also be the best big in the series around the rim is constantly showing up in the last two games

McConnell is playing out of his mind

gonna have to rename him torenthal james bc hes killing it out there

this is not a new thought but the tj mcconnell experience is really something

was really hoping he’d make that there

three*

would have been the perfect cap on that quarter

guys are supposed to be well past their athletic prime at age 33--no one tj mcconnell this

no one *told

(stealing this from a podcast from last week) TJ mcconnell is the michael jordan of matthew dellavadovas

― brony james (k3vin k.), Monday, June 16, 2025 7:49 PM (three seconds ago) bookmarkflaglink

OKC is just too good

jw is such a fun player, glad he’s getting a signature game

He's made so many crazy off-balance shots

okc too much

just amazing performance from jdub

Yah he’s ascended

tyrese with an 0-fer, rough

just wanna say ESPN's halftime show fuckin blows, I miss the Inside the NBA guys so much already

good news is next year the inside guys are espns show

Pacers vibes are still formidable, but OKC clearly has the edge over them with their tough defense, especially by forcing beaucoup turnovers. Now with Hali struggling instead of transcending OKC ought to take this in 6.

feels like halliburton might be hitting a wall physically, nagging injuries and just buckling under the weight of carrying such a big offensive burden this late in the playoffs vs a team with a bunch of good defenders to throw at him. in a way it reminds me a bit of what happened with luka last year tho obv there isn’t the flagrant lack of effort stuff etc

hali strained calf mri coming. surprised he kept playing, thats one thats not worth the risk to mess with.

i believe windhorst mentioned a week or two ago that his calf was bothering him

he also had an i believe still unexplained lower leg injury in the olympics, wonder if it’s the same muscle

That’s too bad, would love to see a Game 7 chock full of Pacer bullshit but 90% of it comes from one dude

ban the olympics

hoops on

friends this could be the last game of the season :(

Not if TJ McConnell has anything to say about it

Pacers defense has been hyper-energetic.

The Pacers are looking better, but they really need to learn how to close out a play.

tj mcconnell is "my main man"

Really impressed that he managed to grab the ball after deflecting that inbound pass.

hali not looking too bad on that calf

yeah that was an awesome play, was thinking he better hit that 3

Wow Halis hitting the Curry shot

And the Harden shot

i tell you what this indy teams got a lot a verve

guys this is awesome

swagged the fuck out

Don't know what made the difference but easily the best they've looked this series.

It’s wild Hali was clearly bothered last game now he’s like better than ever

thunder continue to refuse to shoot 3s

if neither team scores in the second half the pacers will win

clank clank clank

ok that one did not clank tbf

what is going on here

the oklahoma city thunder are "paying their dues"

wonder at what point daignault throws in the towel to save legs for game 7

20 point lead isn’t exactly safe

i mean at some point it is safe, thats why i wonder when he'll do it

I guess, I mean it’s not bad variance the Thunder just don’t have that dog in em today

Kinda reminds me of that one weird game they had vs. Minnesota. Who knows if this means anything for game 7

30 point lead my lord

Well that was just rude

The fact that they can sit Hali and other starters for the rest of the game is huge.

i think i am still picking the thunder in game 7 but if they lose the series after this it feels like there could be some ripple effects. a little reminiscent of when luka decimated the 64-win suns. obviously these thunder feel like a more solid built-to-last team than they were but hindsight is playing a role in that too

The towel has been thrown

Harking back to the voting:

Pacers in 7 got 4 votes
Thunder in 7 got 0 votes

^^ auspicious! ^^

tbc when i say ripple effects i don't mean okc is gonna trade for durant or anything, but maybe they feel pressure to upgrade their shooting in a way that fucks with their blueprint a little, or more likely just that other west teams see more of an opening and shift their own calculus to be more win-now. anyway that's all premature, let's celebrate that we've got a game 7 baby

This series all hinges on the Pacers nabbing Game 1 from OKC by a point.

I had a feeling the Pacers were going to win but nothing like this

So far they've both won... 3 games. Game 7 here we come!

That factoid that Carlisle is the oldest coach to ever coach in the finals was really interesting

yeah I had a hard time believing that but apparently so

hardly as interesting as So far they've both won... 3 games.

SGA just said it's one game for all the marbles...and he's right

Rik Smits!

game seven thats what its all about

Kind of disappointing that after all this, all they can get is a bag of marbles.

yeah but...they get ALL of them, no sharesies

first finals game seven since the cavs 3-1 comeback vs the warriors

16 steals by da pacers tonight, sga with 8 turnovers tonight

wasnt really a matter of cold v hot shooting at all, pacers just took way more 3s and did ok (15/42, ~36%) and okc didn't (8/30, ~27%) but overall fg% was almost identical. pacers forcing turnovers and running was the big difference.

majority of those okc makes were in garbage time, but i'd still say the thunder were out of rhythm as much as they were cold.

yea they had kind of a regular season energy about them while the Pacers played like an unstoppable unit

personally i'm looking forward to "game 7"

9 boards for McConnell tonight

First game seven since that cursed 2016 series... Crazy it's been that long. I looked it up and it's not the longest gap between game 7s, that's 9 years instead of 8 and it's happened twice. Going to savor this one as a neutral!

I can't be neutral anymore. I want the Pacers to finish the job.

From seeing the highlights it looked like Hali was moving ok? Couple of nice steals must have required reasonable mobility.

yea if not for the announcers I wouldn't have suspected he was hurt, definitely not the case in Game 5

McConnell for mvp of finals

yeah hali looked fine they were talking about itd normally be a two week injury before the game maybe just a lil gamesmanship by indy

obv you can roll the dice a little more when you got at most 2 more games to play

OKC's offense was very static and sluggish last night. Over and over again they'd put the ball in SGA's hands, then all retreat to the periphery to watch him drive and instantly get triple-teamed and turn it over before he could dish off an assist. Compared to the energy of the Pacers players OKC was sleepwalking. No one on OKC rose to the occasion and lifted the team.

biggest hole in shais game is his passing its just not that good

the biggest hole in OKC's overall game is the reluctance of the coaching staff to change tactics during a game

ya it would open up the okc offense a lot if shai would ever drive with intent to pass, it's always his second choice and the pacers know that

maybe he needs shooters more like nesmith and less like dort haha

the biggest hole in OKC's overall game is the reluctance of the coaching staff to change tactics during a game

In hindsight, you can sort of see it with the overcorrection of switching up the starting lineup to start the series. they are not averse to being flexible and making changes, they just wield that option like a blunt instrument rather than a refined and dynamic one

what shd the thunder do schemewise idk

make more shots imo

just might work

Cers naysh

Ready to watch McConnell play himself into an MVP tonight ---->

game 7 time

da big game

the final nba game

give us the game

I'm bringing my A game tonight

hali!

i know why they call him hali the way he's berrying these 3s

ayye

Nooooooo

shit

oh noooooo i watched the replay

shit

yeah his calf did the thing

terrible terrible

fucking hell

that's his achilles innit

yeah

it sure af snapped like one

Stay mentally tough Pacers. They can still win this, but RIP that achilles

this is so sad

thanks to espn for cutting away during that moment in game 7 of the finals too

siakam is gonna put the team on his back

i'm sick over this

great playoffs this year but too many catastrophic achilles injuries to stars imo

yeah, dame, tatum, hali...am i missing anyone?

think thats all of them, absolutely crazy its a rare injury

and its the worst injury

Terrible 😔

league gotta look at this

some bad misses by jdub so far

yeah bummer this locks it in as the story of this year overshadowing some good series

pacers struggling to create any space, defense so tight

Man they gotta do it for Hali

They're doing a good job of hanging in there so far

Makes me happy Steph didn't rush back, honestly, seeing all this mayhem. League is going to be different missing these stars next year

Legalize HGH lol

Someone tell McConnell it's ok to pass the ball once in a while.

not sure how indys got the game tied with all these turnovers

gotta stay true to the mcconnell name and obstruct

xp

Reminds me of that Lakers Celtics game 7 where both teams were just gassed

hmm dont recall that one

damn just logged on and seeing the hali news. these guys take crazy risks trying to win it all.

I know I'm the 27th millionth person to complain about this but this halftime crew is so unpleasant

got them on mute

I go for 15 minute walks at halftime now.

Sick for hali and pacers fans. Three Achilles to major players in these playoffs is insane, ruins the current run and next year for their teams.. and maybe beyond. Devastating. No one should rush back from a calf strain but can’t say I blame him being this close to the promised land.

Wonder how the Pacers will approach next season, although I imagine they'll just stick w/ their current roster and let I guess Shep step up as the 3rd rotating pg, although he doesn't fill the same role offensively as TJ/Nemb/Hali.

Game has felt disjointed, wouldn't have guessed Pacers were up by one, wonder if Thunder go on a mega-run in the 2nd half, feel like it's just hanging there.

No one should rush back from a calf strain but can’t say I blame him being this close to the promised land.

I really wanted them to sit him Game 6/7 but I guess this is as close to once-in-a-lifetime moment as you can get.

OKC making some ridiculous shots all the sudden

Terrible pass

tj

Good job driving to the hoop

Slippin away a bit… gotta find the sauce for one more magjc finish

And you know SGA is ready for a big finish

okc is suffocating them

Halftime killed them. They maybe shoulda not gone to the locker room

indy just doesn't have enough

Ugh. Looks like it's not gonna happen. I'll watch until it's a non possibility though

Fucking achilles man. Next year is going to be weird because of all these injuries

huge bummer man. what a run by indy though

okc winning feels like the outcome that makes the least amount of fans happy across the world which should be recorded for posterity

rip pacers

Indy is still fighting

mathurin won’t quit

that call cmon lol

pacers have to just bomb threes as of like 4 minutes ago

congrats to OKC, best team all year

yup they did the job end to end, can't argue with it

sga mvp, finals mvp, 68 win team, just an insane run

funny how bad their offense was trying to close out a game 7 with a 12 point lead. really goes to show how badly these games freak these guys out

haliburton on crutches waiting for all of his teammates is some emotional shit

it makes sense that OKC won the title however they very well could have lost that game, we got no indication that indiana was going to shrink from the moment. so i’m not sure what to do with that. this feels different a lot different than the KD injury to me

I feel bad for Hali, but not for the result. Pacers played hard against a truly dominant team.

it's fair to point out, indy had it within 6 in the third but i tend to think they were on borrowed time once hali got hurt....every time okc turned up the defense they had enough to win

isaiah hartenstein needs to give his son to another grownup, sorry but he's too tired to participate

Hali's halftime speech must've fuckin sucked

given how bad OKC looked trying to close it out vs the B team — between their own bad offense, missing FTs, repeatedly getting scored on by mathurin — i have a hard time believing it wouldn’t have gone down to the wire with haliburton in there. there are injuries in every playoffs etc etc but i don’t know it unfortunately sorta feels like this one fell into OKC’s lap

After Hali left the game I thought the refs tilted a bit to favor Indy and called some touch fouls on OKC that they didn't call on Indy, but in the third they started letting both defenses play pretty rough, reaching, grabbing, banging. That worked in OKC's favor. The turnovers piled up on Indy and they couldn't get a rhythm. McConnell's high usage bought them some high degree of difficulty baskets, but their ball movement dropped off. Hali would have kept the ball cooking. All in all, an excellent Finals and a pretty good game 7 that didn't get as ugly as they often get. Good hoops, good season, good offs, good finals.

xp its weird to concede that okc had the best team all year and were deserving but also yeah that totally tracks

It felt like it was falling into place for OKC after they got through Denver, and the Cavs and Celtics were knocked out.

But the Pacers put up a great fight in the final, McConnell, Haliburton, and Siakam were all amazing.

Thunder were pretty jittery at times. Young coach was sometimes outfoxed by Carlisle. And three of their seven core players are still in their first three seasons - Cason Wallace, JDub, and Holmgren are all still on rookie contracts and it showed sometimes, especially on offense.

Also, Thunder had a great run with injuries in the post season. JDub's wrist seemed to trouble him sometimes, but noone significant missed time.

A contrast with that period near the start of the season when Chet, Hartenstein, and JWill were all injured, and JDub was the centre.