The first week of June is officially here which means the start of the NBA Finals. The Eastern and Western conference finals have finally wrapped up which gave us the Oklahoma City Thunder winning the West and the Indiana Pacers winning the East. The Thunder ended up beating the Minnesota Timberwolves in a dominating five game series. During this series Shai Gilgeous-Alexander got named the NBA MVP for the regular season and ended up getting the Western Conference Finals MVP. SGA and the Thunder have been on a roll all season long and they look to carry that into the NBA Finals where they take on the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers won a hard fought series against the New York Knicks in a six game series. Their defense was absolutely insane against Jalen Brunson and the Knicks which inevitably won them the series. We saw Pascal Siakam take home the Eastern Conference Finals MVP by beating teammate Tyrese Haliburton by one vote (Siakam-5 votes, Haliburton-4 votes). The Pacers were one of the most underrated teams in the playoffs this year which definitely gave them the fuel to find themselves in the NBA Finals against the Thunder.

Now that we have the groundwork of how these two teams got to The Finals let’s start building this series. The Thunder had the best record in the NBA this year at 68-14 which propelled them to the number one seed in the playoffs where their only “real” competition was the Denver Nuggets who took them to a seven game series. SGA has been simply outstanding this year and is growing in to the next real superstar of the league. However, this team’s roster may be one of the best assembled/built by a team with young talent and a few savvy veterans. They have their “Big 3” in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams but the Thunder also did an absolute perfect job by adding players around these guys like Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, and Cason Wallace. When you look at their roster unless you watch the NBA religiously you may only recognize SGA on this roster but man what a group of young, talented, and athletic players that have come together under one of the best new coaches in the NBA Mark Daigneault. Daigneault has these players locked in and ready to win the NBA championship with defense as the anchor.

Let’s shift focus to the Eastern Conference Champions the Indiana Pacers. The Pacers had great but under the radar season going 50-32 which got them the fourth seed in the playoffs. This “under the radar” team absolutely took the playoffs by storm in dominating their first and second round opponents, Milwaukee Bucks (again) and Cleveland Cavaliers (number one seed), by winning both series in five games. Their only competition, if you want to say that, was the New York Knicks which they had to have six games to clinch the series win instead of five in the previous series. Even though the Knicks won two games against the Pacers the series really wasn’t even close, the Pacers dominated the Knicks (and the Eastern Conference playoffs) with tremendous defense and absolutely blazing pace of play. The Pacers have their own version of the “Big 3” in Tyrese Haliburton, Pascal Siakam, and Myles Turner but I think the best part of their roster is in the “role players”. The Pacers depth is unheard of with players like Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, and T.J. McConnell just to name a few. The Pacers are a young and determined team led by Rick Carlisle, one of the most hard nosed strategic coaches, along with a play style which is “organized chaos” has these players playing free and fast which resulted in the Pacers reaching the Finals to take on the Thunder. 

In ending, it is time to get down to giving my predictions and opinions about this Finals matchup between the Pacers and Thunder. All honesty, I like both of these teams and think it’s good for not only the NBA but basketball in general. These teams have some stars of the NBA there is no doubt there (especially with one winning MVP this season) but this time they are young players on “small market” teams fighting for a championship, who doesn’t love that? I think you could argue both teams could win the championship this year with no clear cut favorite. I do see the Oklahoma City Thunder are the clear betting favorites with a -699 projections to win with the Indiana Pacers at +500. Personally I think it’s a lot closer than that crazy lopsided project, but that definitely plays into the Pacers “underrated” storyline. Maybe its because the Thunder have everything going for them, number one overall record in the regular season, number one seed in the Western Conference playoffs, SGA winning MVP, and one of the best younger coaches in the NBA? However, this is going to be a tough and fast grind it out series that I believe play into (if not favor) the Pacers. That all being said this is a tough choice, I like both of these teams being small market teams, I like players on both sides, I like both play styles of defense with control (Thunder) and defense with organized chaos (Pacers), and I like both coaches. This series is going seven games in one of the more entertaining Finals matchups that we have seen in a long time which will give the winning team’s city their first championship. So with Pat McAfee hyping the stadium and the people of Indiana,  give me the Indiana Pacers to win the 2025 NBA Championship, with Tyrese Haliburton winning the Finals MVP.