{"id":79336,"date":"2025-06-05T20:14:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/79336\/"},"modified":"2025-06-05T20:14:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T20:14:17","slug":"2025-nba-finals-game-1-pick-prediction-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/79336\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 NBA Finals Game 1 pick, prediction, odds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\tGambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our links. Read our <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting-editorial-standards\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">editorial standards<\/a> for more information.<\/p>\n<p>Tyrese Haliburton has been about as stingy with the ball as one can get.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Pacers\u2019 point guard is averaging just 1.9 turnovers per game during this Indiana playoff run.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>His turnover ratio is sitting at just 7.0, a ridiculous number for a player who handles the ball as often as Haliburton does.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It won\u2019t be that easy in the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/nba-betting-sites\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NBA Finals<\/a>, which tips off Thursday night in Oklahoma City.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder have been absolutely dominant on the defensive end in the postseason, forcing a whopping 18 turnovers per game, which is nearly 2.5 more than any other team in the playoff field.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>OKC has a rotation full of athletic wings that could cause problems for Haliburton, who didn\u2019t exactly have the toughest of tests during the Pacers\u2019 run through the Eastern Conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In the first two rounds, the Pacers took on two teams \u2013 the Bucks and Cavaliers \u2013 who lack the guards and wings to stop a player like Haliburton on the perimeter.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"36141252\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/2216920018.jpg\" alt=\"Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 &amp; Luguentz Dort #5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder smile during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves during Game Five of the Western Conference Finals on May 28, 2025 at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.\" class=\"wp-image-36141252\"  \/>Shai Gilgeous-Alexander #2 &amp; Luguentz Dort #5 of the Oklahoma City Thunder smile during the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves during Game Five of the Western Conference Finals on May 28, 2025. NBAE via Getty Images<\/p>\n<p>Despite some strong defenders on paper, the Knicks were a below-average defensive team all season before Haliburton carved them up in the East finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Thunder, who are being talked about as one of the best defensive teams in recent NBA history, are a different story.<\/p>\n<p>Betting on the NBA? <\/p>\n<p>They\u2019ll likely send out a murderer\u2019s row of Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Alex Caruso against Haliburton, with switchables bigs like Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein on the back-end.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>If the regular season is any indication, Dort will likely guard Haliburton to start out the series.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Bet on Haliburton to give the ball up at a much higher rate in this series than he has the rest of this cinderella run.<\/p>\n<p>The play: Tyrese Haliburton Over 2.5 turnovers (+110, <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/betting\/bet365-bonus-code\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">bet365 Sportsbook<\/a>)<\/p>\n<p>Why Trust New York Post Betting<\/p>\n<p>Dylan Svoboda is a versatile writer and analyst across many sports. He\u2019s particularly knowledgeable about the big three \u2014 MLB, the NFL and the NBA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gambling content 21+. The New York Post may receive an affiliate commission if you sign up through our&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":79337,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[7,212,126,6,214,1220,11,197,179,66,215,216,278],"class_list":{"0":"post-79336","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-playoffs","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-betting","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-nba-betting","13":"tag-nba-finals","14":"tag-nba-playoffs","15":"tag-nba-playoffs-2025","16":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","17":"tag-sports","18":"tag-sports-betting","19":"tag-sports-picks","20":"tag-tyrese-haliburton"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114632593675314859","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79336","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=79336"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79336\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}