Bettor’s Guide to NBA Betting in 2025

After that tough loss in Game 2, the Indiana Pacers made use of home-court advantage as they rallied to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder with a crucial scoring stretch in the fourth quarter. Pacers come out on top with a 116-107 win, but most of all, a 2-1 series lead with still one more game to play in front of their home crowd.

The Thunder led by 89-84 entering the fourth quarter, but the Pacers were undaunted by those leads – as they have been in the entire postseason. Indiana hammered and outscored OKC, 32-18 in the closing frame to put the game to bed, hampering the team on both ends of the floor all the way to the final buzzer.

Fans in Indiana celebrated as they went on to win their first NBA Finals home game since 2000, which says a lot about the passionate fanbase that has its crowd roaring for most of the game. It was a blast, and now the Pacers are moving two wins away from their first NBA title with the hopes of showing that they can prove their worth as a dominant team in the league.

A Pacers Burst

As expected, Tyrese Haliburton stepped up his level of play after scoring just 31 points combined in the first two games. He flirted with a triple-double of 22 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds – and Indiana improved to a 20-1 record whenever he goes for 20+ points and 10+ assists for the team. But what made him more lethal was his ability to dictate the pace of the game, which certainly happened for most of the night.

Pascal Siakam scored 21 points and nine boards, but it was the explosive bench performance from Bennedict Mathurin that proved to be the difference. The guard dropped 27 points in 22 minutes, along with TJ McConnell scoring 10 points that felt like more with the way he has impacted the game.

The Thunder looked lost for most of the game and could not find answers to the surging Indiana offense, which is certainly the best that the game has seen since January. OKC did try to come up with some runs of their own, but the Pacers always clapped back and poked holes in the majestic OKC defense.

The Bench Battle

Indiana’s strength rests in its depth aside from its star power. In this Game 3 win, the Pacers outscored OKC in bench points at 49-18. That is a huge difference considering that both teams have been always lauded for having a deep rotation. However, the difference was that Indiana was playing at home – which was always a factor in bench performance.

McConnell finished with five assists and five steals as well. Three of those steals came from the Thunder inbounding the ball. No player has ever managed to do that in an NBA Finals game, so the guard has certainly earned his spotlight.

It is also the first time that we have seen the most points by a player off the bench with Mathurin dropping 27. The last time we saw an elite performance from a bench player was by Jason Terry back in 2011 against the Miami Heat.

The bench battle has been the deciding factor for the series so far, and Indiana has won them twice, and now holds a 2-1 series lead.

Oklahoma City started out strong and then kept its foot on the gas for the rest of the game as they came back from a disappointing loss in Game 1. OKC was not slowing down this time, and they made sure that they would not blow another colossal lead in the fourth quarter as they claimed their first win in the NBA Finals – the team’s first since the 2012 edition.

The Thunder controlled pretty much everything in the game, and it was seen as the perfect answer from a team that has never lost the second game after a loss. OKC has gone 6-0 in that regard and has now evened up the series – an impressive outing that showed their massive potential as the youngest team in the league.

OKC’s big three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren combined for 67 points, and they are starting to meet the moment with the elite level that many fans and critics are looking for. Now that the series is shifting to Indiana, there’s a lot of pressure for the West champions to prove that they are actually born to play in the moment.

So, What Changed?

OKC was certainly looking for a lot of answers following that tough finish in Game 1. Is Cason Wallace starting the game? Retained. OKC playing with a strong pace? Still the same. Is Indiana turning the ball over a lot? Nope, not this time. The turnover battle was still won by the Thunder, but it was just by two.

Oklahoma City did, however, win the points in the paint at 42-34, and so is the battle of the glass – controlling the boards at 43-35. Everything was going right for the team, and it worked well for the team as they now tied the series at one apiece. They narrowly avoided an 0-2 hole, and that’s what the best team in the league has done so far.

Game 1 showed Indiana’s depth and promising level of play, but OKC dominated them and did not allow any Pacers player to score more than 18 points. Tyrese Haliburton had 17 points, but he was only five points at the half.

The Thunder’s bench, however, was blazing hot with Alex Caruso scoring 20 points and Aaron Wiggins finishing with 18. Everything was in favor of OKC, and they did not hold back to come up with some of the most impressive performances in the NBA Finals.

A Sen-Shai-Tional Night

Speaking of a promising Finals performance, SGA was all over the place in the Thunder’s win. After putting up 38 points in Game 1, the 2025 MVP kept the same pace and had 34 points – totaling 72 points for the first two games, which is the most in the history of the Finals.

SGA did a bit of everything, he scored 34 points, eight assists, five rebounds, four steals, and a block – and his co-stars also stepped up to the plate. He is also the fourth player to have back-to-back Finals games with +30 points and more than three steals since LeBron James (2016), Dwyane Wade (2006), and Rick Barry (1975).

What makes it even better is that Gilgeous-Alexander has also tied the record for most games with 30+ points and 5+ assists in a single playoff run at 11. The elite company that he runs with? LeBron James (3x) and Michael Jordan (2x).

This series is shaping up to be one of the highly competitive NBA Finals clash so far, and it is definitely going to be a blast with both teams grinding it out to make the best adjustments heading to Game 3 in Indianapolis.

As expected, the Game 1 of the NBA Finals did not fail to impress in what was hyped to be the best matchup of the decade – featuring the league's best offense and the all-time best defense in a seven-game series.

This time, a shocker was yet seen by fans as Tyrese Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers escaped with a 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. It was a picture perfect finish. The Thunder led the whole game by as many as 15 points, and yet the Pacers managed to stick around – answering those OKC runs of their own.

No one could have written a better ending. The Thunder were looming to finish strong with a 106-96 lead heading to the finish, only for Indiana to cap off a closing rally and eventually take the lead on Haliburton’s wing jumper with 0.3 seconds left to play.

The Comeback Stories Continue

This win by Indiana marks the third 15-point comeback mounted in the fourth quarter since 1971, and the fifth comeback by the Pacers this postseason. If you have been watching them closely, these comebacks have been their theme in the playoffs, and to see it continue down this stretch in the Finals is a testament to their grit and mindset to win it all.

Indiana had no player scoring more than 20 points, and Pascal Siakam was the leading scorer with 19 points and 10 rebounds. However, their depth was on display as they had six players in double figures, and all players who logged minutes scored at least a basket.

As predicted, this is a battle of depth, and OKC has flexed its own deep rotation, but only had four guys in double figures. It is safe to say that there will be a lot of adjustments to make heading into Game 2, especially with the Thunder losing homecourt advantage.

OKC found their shots and even forced a season-high 26 turnovers for the Pacers, and yet they could not capitalize on those fronts. The Thunder usually come up with the scoring avalanche that the home crowd feeds off for an added energy – and that was missing tonight for Oklahoma City.

The MVP Needs Help

No one would have expected OKC to lose at home, considering that they were 7-1 heading into this clash. As usual, the 2025 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to work and was aggressive all night, dropping 38 points, five rebounds, three assists and steals apiece.

However, SGA was the only player to show up well in the game. Jalen Williams had 17 points but struggled mightily, and even Chet Holmgren looked out of place in the game as he finished with six points.

"It is a 48-minute game,” said SGA of the one-point loss to the Pacers. “The Indiana Pacers teach you that lesson more than anyone else in the league the hard way.”

This is the Finals – a series of adjustments as said before, is needed every now and then. It is safe to say that this looks very reminiscent of the Denver series, and the Thunder went on to win that in seven games.

One game after another, the Thunder have adapted, improvised, and overcame their opponents after every adjustment. This just says a lot about how this series is expected to turn out to be a long one for the Thunder as they seek to be the second-youngest team to win the NBA Finals.