{"id":113138,"date":"2025-06-20T23:03:11","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T23:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/113138\/"},"modified":"2025-06-20T23:03:11","modified_gmt":"2025-06-20T23:03:11","slug":"udonis-haslem-picks-winner-of-nba-finals-without-hesitation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/113138\/","title":{"rendered":"Udonis Haslem Picks Winner of NBA Finals Without Hesitation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Udonis Haslem Picks Winner of NBA Finals Without Hesitation<\/a> originally appeared on Athlon Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Indiana Pacers<\/a> picked up a massive 108-91 victory in Game 6 of the 2025 NBA Finals over the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, forcing the NBA’s first Game 7 in the Finals since 2016.<\/p>\n

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Indiana’s star duo of Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> and Pascal Siakam<\/a> will be looking to cap off one of the greatest postseason runs in NBA history with a championship win.<\/p>\n

The Pacers’ undying grit and overwhelming determination has pushed the group this far, and they’ll now have a chance to take home the franchise’s first-ever NBA title.<\/p>\n

With plenty in the broader NBA sphere still predicting the Thunder to claim the Larry O’Brien trophy by the conclusion of Game 7, a former Miami Heat<\/a> legend and 3-time NBA champion has vocalized his decision to back Indiana.<\/p>\n

\"Miami<\/p>\n

Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem (40) reacts after entering the game during the first quarter at the Kaseya Center.Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

“I think Indiana believe that they can win this championship, regardless of what anybody else thinks,” Udonis Haslem<\/a> shared during a Friday morning appearance on ESPN’s Get Up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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“I’ve been in locker rooms where we listened to the chatter of the media where they say, ‘that team doesn’t have a chance,’ and, ‘this team should be up,’ and ‘this series should be over.’ I’ve been in those locker rooms. They’ve been using that as gasoline.”<\/p>\n

As a former 20-year veteran with plenty of NBA Finals experience, Haslem argued that Indiana’s camaraderie and teamwork will push them over the top.<\/p>\n

“The power of the brotherhood has brought this team together…The leadership, the coaching, the brotherhood, the connection.”<\/p>\n

“No, they do not have a superstar, but everybody on that team stars in their role. I believe in this team, I am a believer.”<\/p>\n

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The Pacers will be facing a Thunder group that won 68 games in the regular season for a Game 7 in front of their raucous fans. As an added kicker, the reigning MVP of the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, stands in their path.<\/p>\n

Still, Haslem has supreme confidence in the Pacers because of their reputation for silencing doubt while playing fast-paced, team-oriented basketball.<\/p>\n

The Heat have taken a trip to the Finals seven different times in the Haslem-era, and he’s served as both an integral defensive force and wise veteran presence throughout his career.<\/p>\n

With an NBA championship on the line, Haslem is sticking with the underdog Pacers prior to Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

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Related: Potential Heat-Suns Trade News Surfaces Amid Kevin Durant Rumors<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: NBA Champion Names \u2018Perfect\u2019 Spot for Kevin Durant<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Udonis Haslem Picks Winner of NBA Finals Without Hesitation originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Indiana Pacers picked…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,126,189,6,1220,11,179,279,209,2957,278,4785],"class_list":{"0":"post-113138","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana-pacers","10":"tag-miami-heat","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-finals","13":"tag-nba-playoffs","14":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","15":"tag-pascal-siakam","16":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","17":"tag-the-pacers","18":"tag-tyrese-haliburton","19":"tag-udonis-haslem"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114718192727783308","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113138"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113138\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}