{"id":73748,"date":"2025-06-03T10:44:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T10:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/73748\/"},"modified":"2025-06-03T10:44:08","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T10:44:08","slug":"will-sga-thunder-beat-pacers-for-first-title","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/73748\/","title":{"rendered":"Will SGA & Thunder beat Pacers for first title?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> and the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> against Tyrese Haliburton<\/a> and the Indiana Pacers<\/a> in the 2025 NBA Finals<\/a>. Who will win?<\/p>\n

Here’s how The Oklahoman sports staff see the NBA Finals<\/a> playing out:<\/p>\n

More: How original Paul George trade between OKC Thunder, Pacers created unlikely NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Pre-order book on Thunder’s run to NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Thunder in 5: I’m on the fence about whether it’ll be five or six games, but I’ll go five out of selfishness for Thunder fans. Winning the title at home would be way cooler than having it happen on the road. The Pacers will be a challenge, no doubt about that. They beat some really good teams in the East. But really good teams in the East aren’t as good as really good teams in the West, and the Thunder has already come through a gauntlet and lost just four playoff games. The reason? A defense that plays like a pack of wolves. It attacks, and the Pacers simply won’t have an answer for it. \u2014Jenni Carlson, Columnist<\/p>\n

Thunder in six:\u00a0If Denver and Minnesota couldn\u2019t do it, I\u2019m not sure Indiana can. You say the injury-riddled Nuggets? Well, yes, the lone team to push the Thunder past five games, perhaps deploying the only player worthy of so much of their attention. You say the one-win Timberwolves? Yes, the best defense OKC has played these playoffs, perhaps with the best individual game of any single Thunder opponent (Game 4) that still ended up in a loss.\u00a0The Pacers have a lovable identity. Their path here, their core, that they stay true to a play style befitting of their name. NBA fans should enjoy what comes out of this series, which should at least feature one more signature Tyrese Haliburton moment. But I\u2019m willing to bet one is all this stingy Thunder defense will allow.\u00a0This team known for ball control has yet to face these Oklahoma City thieves. The Pacers have shot well down to their role players, but it\u2019s not like outshooting the Thunder from deep has meant much. I\u2019ll take Indiana in a game, maybe two, just off variance. \u2014Joel Lorenzi, Staff writer<\/p>\n

Thunder in six: On paper, this is probably a five-game series. The Thunder can blitz Tyrese Haliburton with a wave of elite defenders, and its transition defense can slow down the appropriately-named Pacers. Indiana\u2019s shaky rim protection should also get exploited by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of an OKC offense that drives a ton. But I\u2019m picking the Thunder to win in six games instead of five. The Pacers have an almost-magical quality to them with four 17-point comebacks this postseason, which is the most by any team in a single playoff run since 1998. They find ways to win games, and I think they\u2019ll win two in this series. \u2014Justin Martinez, Staff writer<\/p>\n

Thunder in five: You can talk me into the Pacers winning a game, but taking four out of seven from a Thunder team that has lost four games all playoffs? I don’t see it. The Pacers’ offense is great, but it’s not as good as the Thunder’s defense. And for all the talk about the Pacers’ pace, the Thunder has actually played faster in these playoffs. OKC has better top-end talent, more depth and has been the elite team in the NBA all season. The Pacers have little hope of making this a competitive series, much less winning it. \u2014Joe Mussatto, Columnist<\/p>\n

More: NBA Finals 2025: From Loud City to Pacers Nation, get to know OKC and Indianapolis<\/a><\/p>\n

Thunder vs Pacers schedule for NBA Finals<\/p>\n

Best-of-seven; Games 5-7 if necessary; All times are Central.<\/p>\n

MUSSATTO: How did OKC Thunder get back to NBA Finals? Timeline from Paul George trade to now<\/a><\/p>\n

BetMGM<\/a>: OKC (-800) is the favorite to win the NBA Finals series vs Indiana<\/p>\n

OKC opened as a -800 favorite to beat Indiana in the NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Series winner: OKC -800 | Indiana + 550Win in 4: OKC +375 | Indiana +8000Win in 5: OKC +190 | Indiana +3500Win in 6: OKC +375 | Indiana +1300Win in 7: OKC +425 | Indiana +1600<\/p>\n

More: Celebrate OKC Thunder’s amazing season and run to NBA Finals with our commemorative book<\/a><\/p>\n

Sign up for\u00a0The Thunder Sports Minute newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to access more NBA coverage.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder against Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers in the 2025…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[59,7,311,57,56,80,60,1501,113,126,54,79,6,1220,11,310,179,58,114,34,65,55,64,312,63,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-73748","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-affiliate","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-city","11":"tag-commerce","12":"tag-contains","13":"tag-contains-commerce-or-affiliate-content","14":"tag-content","15":"tag-finals","16":"tag-indiana","17":"tag-indiana-pacers","18":"tag-modular","19":"tag-modular-story","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-nba-finals","22":"tag-nba-playoffs","23":"tag-oklahoma","24":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","25":"tag-or","26":"tag-pacers","27":"tag-playoffs","28":"tag-point","29":"tag-story","30":"tag-the","31":"tag-thunder","32":"tag-to","33":"tag-to-the-point"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114619027562740547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73748","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=73748"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73748\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73748"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73748"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73748"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}