NBA Finals Games 1 and 2 Recap and Analysis

Photo by Christine Tannous/IndyStar

The first two games of the 2025 NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder are complete, with the series all-square at one game a piece as the series shifts to Indiana.

The Pacers entered their first finals since the turn of the century as the largest finals underdog since the 2018 Cavs, according to oddsshark. But what did they do to open the series with this information? Punch the Thunder in the mouth in their own arena via yet another historical comeback. The Pacers found themselves down double digits in the fourth quarter for what seemed like the millionth time this postseason, which is not a formula to win a championship – unless you’re the Indiana Pacers. With 9:42 remaining, Jalen Williams got a steal and transition dunk to put the Thunder up 15 and looked to be the nail in the coffin in the Pacers’ game one hopes. But timely shots by all five Indiana starters, capped by Tyrese Haliburton’s fourth game winner of the playoffs, lifted the Pacers to a 111-110 win despite only leading for the final 0.3 seconds of the game and the Pacers snatched home-court advantage.

The Thunder responded in game two, however. Despite a back-and-forth first 10 minutes of action where the Pacers gained a 20-17 lead, Oklahoma City showed its’ spurtability that got them to this point in the next 10 minutes of game time, going on a 35-9 run and never looking back. Despite being down 23 after the run, the Pacers did what they do best and quickly cut the lead in half and hung around, staying between a 10-15 point margin for most of the remaining game. But the Thunder learned their lesson from game one, not letting their foot off the gas and (somewhat) cruising to a 123-107 victory to tie the series up.

But even with the Pacers seizing home-court advantage from the Thunder in game one, I believe they're under just as much pressure as the Thunder – maybe more. Indiana used its’ one free-trial of a comeback in game one, and now have Oklahoma City’s full attention no matter the score for the rest of the series, as seen with OKC’s intensity for the full 48 minutes in game two. The Pacers are going to have to find a way to control the Thunder defense by dictating things early offensively, and control their spurtability throughout the game while making runs of their own. I do believe they’ll have a much easier time doing this in their own building compared to doing it in OKC, but that puts the pressure on to win, at bare-minimum, one of the next two. However, there’s just as much pressure on the Thunder as the Pacers, as they now have to win at least one of the next two road games to take home-court advantage back and avoid going down 3-1. OKC has to find a way of keeping up its’ defensive pressure and find shotmaking from its’ role players, which they’ve struggled with on the road this postseason compared to in its’ home arena.

I originally predicted this series to be over in five games (which is still technically possible), with the Pacers only win coming in game three; but after seeing the Pacers’ ability to come back and still find ways to make their magic against this great Thunder team, I’m extending my prediction to seven games, but still have the Thunder taking home the title.