Category: Basketball

Oklahoma City Thunder face the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals, starting on Thursday night.

The Thunder booked their place in their first national finals since 2012 with a 4-1 series win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.

In the east, the Pacers beat the New York Knicks 4-2 to reach their second national finals and first since 2000.

Before the final, BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team looks at what to watch out for in during the best-of-seven series.

NBA finals fixtures

• Game 1 - at Oklahoma Thursday, 5 June - 20:30 local time (01:30 Friday 6 June BST)
• Game 2 - at Oklahoma Sunday, 8 June - 20:00 local time (01:00 Monday 9 June BST)
• Game 3 - at Indiana Wednesday, 11 June - 20:30 local time (01:30 Thursday 12 June BST)
• Game 4 - at Indiana Friday, 13 June - 20:30 local time (01:30 Saturday 14 June BST)
• Game 5 - at Oklahoma Monday, 16 June - 20:30 local time (01:30 Tuesday 17 June BST)
• Game 6 - at Indiana Thursday, 19 June - 20:30 local time (01:30 Friday 20 June BST)
• Game 7 - at Oklahoma Sunday, 22 June - 20:00 local time (01:00 Monday 23 June BST)

How to watch the NBA finals

All seven matches of the NBA finals will be showing in the United Kingdom via TNT Sports and discovery+.

First-time hopefuls vs a 46-year wait

As far as historic NBA longevity goes, a final between the Thunder and the Pacers is one that is a surprise to many.

The Pacers are only here for the second time in their history, while the Thunder are only making their fourth finals outing themselves.

Spearheaded by Olympic champion Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers are among the 10 active franchises never to win the NBA's national championship.

The Thunder's only NBA finals crown came in 1979 when they were the Seattle Sonics, meaning no Oklahoma-based side has won the competition.

The Larry O'Brien Trophy will head to a new state for the first time in either Indiana or Oklahoma.

Will SGA join the exclusive MVP club?

This season, Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first Canadian to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award since Steven Nash in 2006.

A finals win with Olkahoma could also see him join an exclusive club with some of basketball's all-time greats.

Not since 2015 has the season MVP gone on to win the finals with their franchise that season, with the last being Steph Curry.

Better known as 'SGA', Gilgeous-Alexander is the third Thunder player to be named MVP after Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017).

SGA could join the likes of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird as an MVP and NBA champion.

Thunder's 2-0 record vs Pacers

The two finalists have met twice already this season, coming in December in Indiana and March in Oklahoma.

On both occasions, the Thunder came out on top.

Between Christmas and New Year, the Thunder were 120-114 winners on the road and they beat the Pacers 132-111 in March.

During the play-offs, the Thunder recorded wins in 12 of their 16 games, including a 4-0 sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round. The Pacers have an identical record.

Pacers' outstanding comebacks

A major factor in the Pacers reaching a first finals in 25 years has been their ability to overturn games that have at times, seemed close to impossible to do so.

In game five of their play-off first-round meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers found themselves 118-111 down with 40 seconds of overtime remaining, only for Andrew Nembhard to nail a three-pointer and Haliburton to score five unanswered points for a 119-118 victory.

Trailing by 14 points in the third quarter of game two in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Thunder were 119-112 down with 57 seconds left, but recorded a 120-119 victory as Haliburton found a three-pointer with one second remaining.

A hat-trick of memorable play-off comebacks again had Haliburton at the heart of it. In the first game of the Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers trailed 121-112 to the Knicks with 52 seconds remaining of regular time. As the buzzer sounded, Haliburton's long-range shot with one foot on the three-point line bounced up off the rim and dropped in for two points, sending the game to overtime before the Pacers won 135-134.

The Pacers could need their ability to dig deep into games against a Thunder side that averaged 3.1 more points per game than them in the regular season.

Thunder's home-court advantage

The Thunder have got the home-court advantage for the seven-game series, meaning they will host games one, two, five and seven, should all seven matches be required.

This is because the Western Conference champions had a significantly better record during the 82-game regular season, winning 68 matches to the Pacers' 50.

Since the Pacers' previous finals appearance in 2000, 16 of the 25 teams with home-court advantage have won the finals.

However, each of the 2024, 2023 and 2022 finalists with home-court advantage failed to make it count.

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Will Celtics trade Hauser? Three potential landing spots for sharpshooter originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The Boston Celtics enter the 2025 offseason facing a harsh reality: If they want to get under the second apron of the NBA’s luxury tax to avoid highly-restrictive penalties, they’ll need to cut at least $20 million in salary.

That means potentially trading multiple rotation players — one of which could be veteran wing Sam Hauser.

While Hauser is one of the league’s best 3-point shooters — his 42 percent clip from deep since 2022-23 ranks second in the NBA among players with at least 500 3s made in that span — his four-year, $45 million extension kicks in this summer. If the Celtics believe 2024 first-round pick Baylor Scheierman can develop into a serviceable rotation player, they might explore trading Hauser as one way to cut costs.

In fact, Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix identified Hauser as the “most likely” Boston player to get traded during NBC Sports Boston’s The Off C’season YouTube show Wednesday. So, which teams may have interest in the 27-year-old wing based on their team needs and financial situations?

Here are three potential options, as discussed by Mannix, NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics Insider Chris Forsberg, NBC Sports Boston’s Celtics play-by-play announcer Drew Carter and Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor on The Off C’season.

San Antonio Spurs

Forsberg floated a hypothetical trade in which the Celtics receive Julian Champagnie and a second-round pick from San Antonio in exchange for Hauser. Champagnie would be a downgrade from Hauser offensively, but he averaged 9.9 points per game for the Spurs last season while playing in all 82 games and would save Boston $7 million against the cap.

“There are going to be teams out there that are looking for shooting that don’t love the free agent market, so I look at the Spurs … who have very real pathway to being a legit contender really quickly, and part of that is adding shooting in the form of Sam Hauser,” Forsberg explained.

“I know you guys are looking at Champagnie and a second-round pick like, ‘That’s what we’re doing?’ It’s the cost savings that are most important to Boston at this point. Again, it sucks. It’s not fun that these are the paths we’re navigating. It’s just reality.”

Orlando Magic

Forsberg noted the Celtics could explore a deal like the one above with “any team in the league” that needs a shooter like Hauser, and the Magic certainly qualify after ranking dead-last in the NBA in 3-point percentage in 2024-25. Mannix also mentioned Orlando as a team to watch this offseason as it aims to bolster its offense.

One note about the Magic: They’re over the first apron of the luxury tax and would need to match 100 percent of their outgoing salary in trades. So, if the Celtics want to trim salary in a deal that sends Hauser to Orlando, they’d need to get a third team involved to acquire a lower-cost player.

Detroit Pistons

Like the Magic, the Pistons are a young team with upside that could emerge as a legitimate Eastern Conference contender with the addition of more offense and veteran experience, making Hauser a natural fit.

Forsberg mentioned Detroit as a possible destination for Hauser, while Omari Sankofa of the Detroit Free Press listed Hauser as a potential offseason trade target for the Pistons.

“You can trade him to Detroit — find a young player who makes manageable money and will help you cut costs and hope that you get back a pick as well,” Forsberg said. “That’s essentially what you’re looking for.”

Detroit has two players on its roster making under $5 million next season — Marcus Sasser and Bobi Klintman — who project as the most likely targets for Boston if it wanted to cut significant salary.

Watch the full episode of The Off C’Season in the video below:

How important is home-court advantage in the NBA Finals? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The 2025 NBA Finals will start in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center on Thursday for Game 1 off this year’s Finals. The two franchises had different paths to the championship stage, but the Thunder’s regular season dominance earned them home-court advantage in the series.

How exactly does the NBA determine where the Finals begin? Here’s a glimpse at how home court works for the NBA Finals, as well as how important it is in determining a champion:

How is home-court advantage determined in the NBA Finals?

Unlike the first three rounds of the playoffs, where home-court advantage is granted based on seeding, the team with the better regular season record gets it in the NBA Finals. 

This year, the Thunder have the advantage in both seeding and record. They earned the West’s No. 1 seed with a 68-14 regular season record, while the Pacers were the East’s No. 4 seed with their 50-32 record.

In most cases, the team with the higher seed also has the better record. Since 2008, only two teams have started the Finals on the road despite being the higher seed. In 2019, the 57-25 Golden State Warriors were the No. 1 seed in the West but had to play Game 1 of the Finals in Toronto against the 58-24 Raptors, who entered the playoffs as the East’s No. 2 seed. Three years later, the No. 3 Warriors went 53-29 during the regular season and the No. 2 Boston Celtics went 51-31, so home court was granted to Golden State.

While the method for determining home-court advantage differs in the Finals, the series layout is consistent through all four rounds of the playoffs. The team that hosts Game 1 also hosts Games 2, 5 and 7. The team that begins the series on the road hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.

How often does the team with home-court advantage win the NBA Finals?

It definitely helps to have home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.

Excluding the Orlando bubble in 2020, 56 of the 77 teams with home-court advantage in the NBA Finals went on to win the championship — including last year’s Celtics.

How often does the home team win Game 1 in the NBA Finals?

Home-court advantage plays an even bigger role at the start of the Finals.

Fifty-nine of the 77 teams that began the series at home won Game 1, good for a .766 win percentage.

How often does the home team win Game 7 in the NBA Finals?

Home court has a similar effect on Game 7s in the Finals as it does Game 1s.

Of the 19 Game 7s in Finals history, the home team came out on top 15 times (.789 win percentage). The Celtics (1969 and 1974), Washington Bullets (1978) and Cavaliers (2016) are the only teams to ever win a Finals Game 7 on the road.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024.

How important is home-court advantage in the NBA Finals? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

The 2025 NBA Finals will start in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center on Thursday for Game 1 off this year’s Finals. The two franchises had different paths to the championship stage, but the Thunder’s regular season dominance earned them home-court advantage in the series.

How exactly does the NBA determine where the Finals begin? Here’s a glimpse at how home court works for the NBA Finals, as well as how important it is in determining a champion:

How is home-court advantage determined in the NBA Finals?

Unlike the first three rounds of the playoffs, where home-court advantage is granted based on seeding, the team with the better regular season record gets it in the NBA Finals. 

This year, the Thunder have the advantage in both seeding and record. They earned the West’s No. 1 seed with a 68-14 regular season record, while the Pacers were the East’s No. 4 seed with their 50-32 record.

In most cases, the team with the higher seed also has the better record. Since 2008, only two teams have started the Finals on the road despite being the higher seed. In 2019, the 57-25 Golden State Warriors were the No. 1 seed in the West but had to play Game 1 of the Finals in Toronto against the 58-24 Raptors, who entered the playoffs as the East’s No. 2 seed. Three years later, the No. 3 Warriors went 53-29 during the regular season and the No. 2 Boston Celtics went 51-31, so home court was granted to Golden State.

While the method for determining home-court advantage differs in the Finals, the series layout is consistent through all four rounds of the playoffs. The team that hosts Game 1 also hosts Games 2, 5 and 7. The team that begins the series on the road hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.

How often does the team with home-court advantage win the NBA Finals?

It definitely helps to have home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.

Excluding the Orlando bubble in 2020, 56 of the 77 teams with home-court advantage in the NBA Finals went on to win the championship — including last year’s Celtics.

How often does the home team win Game 1 in the NBA Finals?

Home-court advantage plays an even bigger role at the start of the Finals.

Fifty-nine of the 77 teams that began the series at home won Game 1, good for a .766 win percentage.

How often does the home team win Game 7 in the NBA Finals?

Home court has a similar effect on Game 7s in the Finals as it does Game 1s.

Of the 19 Game 7s in Finals history, the home team came out on top 15 times (.789 win percentage). The Celtics (1969 and 1974), Washington Bullets (1978) and Cavaliers (2016) are the only teams to ever win a Finals Game 7 on the road.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024.

Would the Pacers be the lowest-seeded champion in NBA history? originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia

The Indiana Pacers entered the 2025 NBA playoffs as the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.

Now, Tyrese Haliburton and Co. are just four wins away from a championship.

Indiana reached just its second Finals in franchise history thanks to an impressive run through the East playoff bracket. The Pacers first eliminated the No. 5 Milwaukee Bucks before upsetting the No. 1 Cleveland Cavaliers, with both series going just five games.

In the East Finals, Indy took the first two games from the No. 3 New York Knicks before closing out the series in Game 6 at home.

While the Pacers have already secured series upsets this postseason, they’re now faced with their toughest challenge yet — an NBA Finals showdown with the No. 1 overall-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.

But if Indy is able to knock off OKC, would the Pacers be the lowest-seeded champion in NBA history? Here’s what to know:

What’s the lowest-seeded team to ever reach the NBA Finals?

The Pacers aren’t the lowest-seeded team to ever reach the Finals — a pair of No. 8 seeds share that title.

In the lockout-shortened 1998-99 season, the Knicks went 27-23 to grab the East’s eighth and final playoff spot. In a win-or-go-home Game 5 against the No. 1 Miami Heat in Round 1, Allan Houston hit a go-ahead shot with under one second remaining to push the Knicks into the conference semifinals.

Patrick Ewing and Co. met the No. 4 Atlanta Hawks in the second round and rolled to a four-game sweep. Then, in a conference finals where five of the six games were decided by single digits, the Knicks defeated the Reggie Miller-led Pacers to punch their ticket to the NBA Finals.

New York ran into the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals and fell in five games, as Gregg Popovich and Tim Duncan combined for their first of five championships over a 15-year stretch.

The Heat in 2023 became the second No. 8 seed to make an NBA Finals run. Miami’s postseason actually started in the play-in tournament following a 44-38 regular season. The Heat fell at home to the Hawks in the 7-8 game before rallying past the Chicago Bulls to claim the No. 8 seed.

After nearly missing the playoffs, Jimmy Butler and Co. proceeded to take down the No. 1 Bucks in five games and the No. 5 Knicks in six games.

Then, in a rematch of the previous year’s East Finals, Miami jumped out to a 3-0 series lead over the No. 2 Boston Celtics. The Heat dropped the next three games but avoided an epic collapse by winning Game 7 in Boston.

Miami’s historic run came to an end in the Finals, where Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets rolled to a five-game series victory.

What’s the lowest-seeded team to win the NBA Finals?

Even if the Pacers beat the Thunder, the 1994-95 Houston Rockets will continue to stand as the lowest-seeded champion in NBA history.

As the reigning NBA champions, Houston entered the 1995 postseason as a No. 6 seed following a 47-35 regular season. The Rockets went the distance with their opponent in each of the first two series, first beating the No. 3 Utah Jazz in five games and then the No. 2 Phoenix Suns in seven games. 

Hakeem Olajuwon and Co. actually came back from a 3-1 deficit against Charles Barkley and the Suns. The second-round triumph was capped by a one-point road win in Game 7, where Mario Elie drilled a tie-breaking 3-pointer in the final 10 seconds that became known as the “Kiss of Death.”

After splitting the first four games in the West Finals versus San Antonio, Houston took Games 5 and 6 to make it back to a second consecutive NBA Finals. The Rockets beat the Knicks in seven games the prior year, and this time they were matched up with Shaquille O’Neal’s Orlando Magic.

Hakeem got the better of Shaq in the series, powering the Rockets to a sweep and a historic repeat.

This year’s Pacers, however, could become just the second No. 4 seed to win it all. The 1968-69 Celtics — winning their eighth straight title — are the only No. 4 seed to pull off the feat. Four other No. 4 seeds have made the Finals and lost: the 1977-78 Seattle SuperSonics, 2005-06 Dallas Mavericks, 2009-10 Celtics and 2017-18 Cavaliers.

INDIANAPOLIS — The scene spoke to this team’s hard luck history, all the way back to the night it nearly died.

The Indiana Pacers were on the verge of collapse in July 1977, broke and bereft of hope, desperate enough to host a 16-hour telethon on local TV in hopes of selling a preposterous number of tickets — 8,000 of them — just to climb out of debt and live to see another season.

Nancy Leonard wasn’t just there that night; along with her husband, coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard, she was the reason the Pacers survived. They sold 8,028.

The NBA’s first woman general manager sat courtside this past Saturday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, the second game Leonard has attended all season due to health concerns, and watched the team she saved from being sold and shipped out of town punch its ticket to the NBA Finals. Amid the celebration, the Pacers’ longest-tenured player weaved his way through the crowd and found the 93-year-old for a long embrace.

“You were with us every step of the way,” Myles Turner told her.

The path of these Pacers, embodied by the Leonards’ resolve in the late 1970s and Turner’s five decades later, has them four wins from their first NBA title, with Game 1 tipping off Thursday night in Oklahoma City. The franchise’s most improbable postseason run hasn’t merely stirred echoes of the past, from Slick’s three ABA titles to Reggie Miller’s 1990s heroics. It’s delivered a proud basketball state a moment it has craved for years.

In Indiana, hoops are as hot as ever.

“This is the first time I have real, real confidence we can win the whole thing,” said Matt Asen, whom Pacers owner Herb Simon has long referred to as the team’s No. 1 fan. (You probably know Asen as Sign Guy. Or Flamingo Guy. Or Hard-Hat Guy. He’s had seats under the Pacers’ basket for over three decades, and he’s hard to miss.) “After Reggie left, there was this big lull there … and it was really hard. But this has been so fun. The city’s pumped. It almost feels better than the Reggie days.”

Meanwhile, the biggest draw in the women’s game, Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, sat courtside for the Game 6 clincher over the Knicks. When she returns from a quad injury in the coming weeks, the raucous crowds that have filled the Fieldhouse recently won’t taper off. Same as the Pacers, the Fever pack the place.

Midway through last season, Clark’s first in the WNBA, the Fever reported staggering spikes in ticket sales (up 264 percent), jersey sales (up 1,193 percent) and corporate sponsors (up 225 percent). So far, there has been no Year 2 letdown.

“It’s hard to put a finger on a more unique sports moment here,” said Chris Gahl, executive vice president at VisitIndy, the city’s lead tourism agency. “The Pacers are in the NBA Finals. The Fever are red-hot. The WNBA All-Star game is coming, on the heels of (2024’s) NBA All-Star Game. It’s a very unique moment in our city’s history, and it’s tipping tourism to record-setting levels.”

Gahl noted that fans are traveling from all over the world to watch the Fever in person, and when his staff pitches convention organizers from across the country on which sporting events they can take in while in town — the Big Ten Championship Game? How about the NCAA Tournament? Or the Indianapolis 500? — it’s the Fever that are often “the most compelling invitation in luring people to our city.”

Not that the Pacers lack appeal. More than 10,000 are expected to fill Gainbridge Fieldhouse for Games 1 and 2 watch parties before the series shifts to Indianapolis next week. (Team brass also offered to fly out every full-time staffer to Oklahoma City for Games 1 and 2.)

After the Pacers dusted the Knicks in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals — or as Asen’s sign read, “Hicks in Six” — fans lingered outside the arena well past midnight, roaring as players pulled out of their parking spots. Truth told, the party has lingered for weeks in the Circle City: an estimated 350,000 were on hand for the 109th running of the Indy 500 on May 25, the same day the Pacers hosted Game 3. Some were brave (read: lucky) enough to pull the double: racers in the afternoon, Pacers in the evening.

“It’s bringing back the old days,” said Craig Emmons, a lifelong Hoosier who owns SOS Pub, a bar that sits across the street from Gainbridge Fieldhouse that has tripled its business over the last month.

Beyond Turner’s embrace with Nancy Leonard, another hug amid the celebration spoke to the Pacers’ tortured past and booming present. During the trophy presentation, Miller pulled in Tyrese Haliburton for several seconds. This was the franchise’s greatest icon and lone NBA Hall of Famer showing respect for the man who now carries the mantle. It was two weeks ago, after Haliburton’s Game 1 heroics in Madison Square Garden — complete with a Miller-esque choke sign that blanketed the tabloids the following morning — when Miller asked Haliburton during a TNT interview what it would mean to lead the Pacers to their first NBA championship.

“It was something I was never able to do,” Miller conceded, “and it haunts me to this day.”

For a moment, Haliburton weighed the possibility. The fifth-year guard smiled and tilted his head, his mind dancing at the thought. He went back to a ride he took during the Indianapolis 500 parade a few years back, and how the city’s streets were lined with swaths of people, too many to count.

“Triple that,” Haliburton finally said, imagining a championship celebration. “It would be ridiculous.

“It to happen.”

The torch has been passed, and even New York writers have noted the striking similarities between the two: string-bean shooter, awkward jump shot, late-game assassin. “The Curse of Reggie Miller is still very much in full force around here,” the New York Daily News’ Mike Lupica wrote after Haliburton connected on three consecutive fourth-quarter runners late in Game 6 that stretched the Pacers’ lead. A moment later, he drained a 32-foot dagger to seal it.

TNT duties aside, Miller had to be beaming. His team was .

He had dropped 34 in the Game 6 clincher in 2000 that sent the Pacers to their first finals; Haliburton dropped 22 and dished out 13 assists Saturday to send them to their second.

Indiana’s won six of its last seven playoff series against New York. Few things make this fan base happier.

“There’s a lot of fans who’ve never seen this kind of success from this organization,” Haliburton said. “They’ve never been alive for it.”

More than anyone on the roster, it’s Turner who can appreciate the long road here. The years of middling seasons and middling records, the persistent trade rumors and perennial disappointments, the superstars who had the city at their fingertips — Paul George and Victor Oladipo — only to decide they wanted out. Turner’s 10-year NBA odyssey feels like 15. To think: when he was drafted in 2015, Frank Vogel was still the coach. He survived the Nate McMillan and Nate Bjorkgren eras and now is thriving under Rick Carlisle.

There was a certain level of conviction — a conviction Turner has earned — when he spoke late Saturday about how the Pacers have climbed from mediocrity to contention for the first time in a decade.

This group, Turner pointed out, was “a new blueprint for the league.”

In other words: the anti-superteam.

Selfless leaders. Stoic coach. Dogged demeanor. Some late-game guile.

“I’ve done this for a long time,” said TV play-by-play man Chris Denari, who’s in his 19th year calling games for the team. “This is the closest locker room I’ve ever been around.”

The Pacers have been wholly embraced by a city and state that has long cherished the game. At one point, 12 of the 13 biggest high school gyms in the country were in Indiana. In 1990, more than 41,000 — still a national record — packed the Hoosier Dome to watch a high school state championship game. The list of icons goes on and on: Oscar and Larry, Wooden and Knight.

The game runs deep here. It always has.

Which is why, during the trophy presentation Saturday night, Carlisle spoke to the fans who’ve waited years for a moment — and a team — like this one.

“In 49 states, it’s just basketball,” Carlisle said. “But this is Indiana …”

Four more wins and the Pacers will celebrate something that would’ve been unthinkable the night of July 3, 1977, when Slick and Nancy Leonard saved the franchise from collapse. Without that telethon, the team would’ve been sold and shipped to another city. Indianapolis would’ve lost a part of its identity.

Carlisle knows simply getting here isn’t enough. Bring home an NBA championship, and his team will live forever in these parts.

“It’s an all-or-nothing thing,” the coach said. “This is no time to be popping champagne.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

Indiana Pacers, Oklahoma City Thunder, Indiana Fever, NBA, WNBA, NBA Playoffs

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How important is home-court advantage in the NBA Finals? originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

The 2025 NBA Finals will start in Oklahoma City.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Indiana Pacers at Paycom Center on Thursday for Game 1 off this year’s Finals. The two franchises had different paths to the championship stage, but the Thunder’s regular season dominance earned them home-court advantage in the series.

How exactly does the NBA determine where the Finals begin? Here’s a glimpse at how home court works for the NBA Finals, as well as how important it is in determining a champion:

How is home-court advantage determined in the NBA Finals?

Unlike the first three rounds of the playoffs, where home-court advantage is granted based on seeding, the team with the better regular season record gets it in the NBA Finals. 

This year, the Thunder have the advantage in both seeding and record. They earned the West’s No. 1 seed with a 68-14 regular season record, while the Pacers were the East’s No. 4 seed with their 50-32 record.

In most cases, the team with the higher seed also has the better record. Since 2008, only two teams have started the Finals on the road despite being the higher seed. In 2019, the 57-25 Golden State Warriors were the No. 1 seed in the West but had to play Game 1 of the Finals in Toronto against the 58-24 Raptors, who entered the playoffs as the East’s No. 2 seed. Three years later, the No. 3 Warriors went 53-29 during the regular season and the No. 2 Boston Celtics went 51-31, so home court was granted to Golden State.

While the method for determining home-court advantage differs in the Finals, the series layout is consistent through all four rounds of the playoffs. The team that hosts Game 1 also hosts Games 2, 5 and 7. The team that begins the series on the road hosts Games 3, 4 and 6.

How often does the team with home-court advantage win the NBA Finals?

It definitely helps to have home-court advantage in the NBA Finals.

Excluding the Orlando bubble in 2020, 56 of the 77 teams with home-court advantage in the NBA Finals went on to win the championship — including last year’s Celtics.

How often does the home team win Game 1 in the NBA Finals?

Home-court advantage plays an even bigger role at the start of the Finals.

Fifty-nine of the 77 teams that began the series at home won Game 1, good for a .766 win percentage.

How often does the home team win Game 7 in the NBA Finals?

Home court has a similar effect on Game 7s in the Finals as it does Game 1s.

Of the 19 Game 7s in Finals history, the home team came out on top 15 times (.789 win percentage). The Celtics (1969 and 1974), Washington Bullets (1978) and Cavaliers (2016) are the only teams to ever win a Finals Game 7 on the road.

Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article was published in June 2024.

What the Thunder need to do to win

The Thunder’s path to victory is to continue to be the most fearsome defensive unit we’ve seen in recent years. They play an uber-aggressive, hyper-switchable form of defense that has suffocated opponents all year long. It means they give up a lot of fouls, but they also get away with a bunch and force turnovers more than anyone else in the league. Keep that up and, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander getting his customary 32 points a night, they won’t be stopped. Ryan Baldi

It may sound overly simplistic to say make shots, but if Oklahoma City don’t end up hoisting the trophy when all is said and done, it will be because they, quite frankly, did not. They are the better team by every metric, with the better best player, better defense, and home court advantage. But their jump shot has been their only achilles. If shots fall, so will the confetti when all is said and done. Claire de Lune

Set the tempo and harry Tyrese Haliburton. OKC thrive on dictating pace and forcing turnovers, the sort of pressure that Indiana’s disciplined offense has yet to face at this intensity in the postseason. With waves of defenders like Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace swarming the ball on the perimeter and inside, the Thunder can derail the Pacers’ rhythm, cool their three-point barrage and win the possession battle. If they do that, SGA will take care of the rest. Bryan Armen Graham

Play their game and take the Pacers out of theirs. The Thunder thrive in transition. If they can shut down Halliburton and Pascal Siakam and turn those defensive stops into easy buckets, they control the series. Their roster is so deep, so talented, so high-energy and so well-coached that you wonder if anything short of an act of god will deny them in their quest for the franchise’s second championship. Andrew Lawrence

Schedule

Best-of-seven-games series. All times US eastern time (EDT). 

Thu 5 Jun Game 1: Pacers at Thunder, 8.30pm

Sun 8 Jun Game 2: Pacers at Thunder, 8pm

Wed 11 Jun Game 3: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm

Fri 13 Jun Game 4: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm

Mon 16 Jun Game 5: Pacers at Thunder, 8.30pm*

Thu 19 Jun Game 6: Thunder at Pacers, 8.30pm*

Sun 22 Jun Game 7: Pacers at Thunder, 8pm*

*-if necessary

How to watch

In the US, all games will air on ABC. Streaming options include ABC.com or the ABC app (with a participating TV provider login), as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, fuboTV, DIRECTV STREAM, and Sling TV (via ESPN3 for ABC games). NBA League Pass offers replays, but live finals games are subject to blackout restrictions in the US.

In the UK, the games will be available on TNT Sports and Discovery+. As for streaming, NBA League Pass will provide live and on-demand access to all Finals games without blackout restrictions.

In Australia, the games will broadcast live on ESPN Australia. Kayo Sports and Foxtel Now will stream the games live, while NBA League Pass will offer live and on-demand access without blackout restrictions.

What the Pacers need to do to win

They need to keep playing fast and take care of the ball. It’s something they are remarkably good at: they have the third-lowest turnover rate in the league. But they’re up against a turnover juggernaut and an outstanding transition defense. This could be an irresistible-force-v-immovable-object type of deal. RB

While they’re an indisputably great team, Pacers are, in many ways, a lesser version of their finals adversary, the Thunder. To win it all, their best players are going to have to bring it. They need sensational star performances from Siakam and Haliburton, and they need them nightly. That, and to not turn the ball over. That’s something they’re typically fantastic at, but that the Thunder are even more fantastic at disrupting. CDL

Keep the ball moving and keep their composure. Indiana lead the playoffs in three-point shooting percentage and rarely turn the ball over: two trends need to preserve under OKC’s relentless pressure. Haliburton’s turnover-averse style will be tested like never before. If the Pacers can maintain their pace and exploit mismatches when the Thunder go small, Siakam’s versatility could help tilt the series in their favor. BAG

Get boards, something they struggled to do all season and could well struggle to do again against the Thunder’s foreboding frontline. But if Siakam, Turner, and Benedict Mathurin are willing to get scrappy in the paint, they might find that they actually have a toughness advantage over Oklahoma City’s “tall” men. AL

Is having two small-market teams in the NBA finals a problem?

Give Adam Silver a dose of truth serum and I’m sure he’ll tell you he was rooting for the Knicks to get to the finals. This one probably isn’t going to break any viewership records. But it is a fascinating match-up between two unique teams with a star of the league on either side. What’s not to love? RB

There’s this weird, very online plague of the “Couch GM” that seems to be constantly preoccupied with NBA ratings, as if they directly affect their own lives in any meaningful way. The truth is, they don’t even affect the NBA itself much: a new $76bn television rights deal was just negotiated and expansion is coming. The league will be just fine, even if the casual fan doesn’t find an Indianapolis v Oklahoma City final scintillating. True basketball diehards know this should be a wildly entertaining series.CDL

Only if you think TV ratings matter more than basketball. This is a stylistic dream matchup between two fearless, homegrown teams. The NBA should celebrate franchises that built smartly and play joyfully. This series is a vindication of substance over star-chasing. BAG

Only for the small-minded. Indiana have an NBA pedigree and a state basketball lore that would make for an epic underdog story and a great redemption story for Rick Carlisle, who may well have won his lone NBA title in his first stint with the Pacers if the Malice at the Palace hadn’t happened. As for Oklahoma City, they certainly didn’t have trouble attracting a crowd when Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden were leading the championship charge. (Sure, they were facing the Heatles, but still.) Even old-timers like me, who still feel like this slickly run operation should be in Seattle, won’t be able to stay away just because we’ve been invested in this story for too long and need to see where it ends. AL

The coaching advantage goes to ...

Mark Daigneault was Coach of the Year in 2024 and probably should have won it again this year. But Rick Carlisle is a former Coach of the Year, too. And although his award came more than two decades ago, his work in Indiana has proven he remains one of the league’s best. And Carlisle has one thing that Daigneault does not: championship experience. The edge goes to the old guy. RB

This one is actually a push. Carlisle obviously has the more storied resumé and the championship pedigree, but Daigneault’s Coach of the Year win last season was well deserved: he’s done a bang-up job of getting the youngest roster in the NBA to buy into the egoless, defense-driven identity that made them a 68-win team on the doorstep of a championship. CDL

Mark Daigneault, just. Carlisle may have the best total body of work of any coach that’s not in the Hall of Fame (yet), but Daigneault’s adaptability and calm control have guided OKC’s young core beyond expectations. He’s leaned into their defensive versatility and late-game composure: two areas that could tilt the margins in a long series. BAG

Mark Daigneault. He who has the best players has the advantage. AL

Unheralded player to watch

Aaron Nesmith came into the league with a reputation as a deadly three-point shooter, only for his shooting to desert him in his first stop in Boston. With the Pacers, he’s reinvented himself as a lockdown wing defender who plays with OKC-like intensity. And he came make shots now, too. RB

Andrew Nembhard, the third year guard out of Gonzaga, is probably a name with which the average NBA fan is unfamiliar. But if the Pacers are able to pull off a shocking upset in this series, it will almost certainly be, in part, due to Nembhard’s key contributions on the defensive end. The defensive pest had Jalen Brunson in the seventh circle of hell in the Eastern Conference finals, and he’ll need to bring the same pressure against Gilgeous-Alexander for Indiana to have a chance in this series. CDL

Jalen Williams. Everyone talks about his defense and playmaking, but he’s due for a scoring breakout. With Indiana selling out on SGA, Williams will feast on open threes and scrambled closeouts. If he starts hitting at his usual clip (38.2% career from deep), OKC’s offense becomes near unguardable. BAG

Alex Caruso. Talk about a man who contains multitudes: Caruso doesn’t just keep the OKC offense on pace when SGA is out of the game while providing elite defense. (His shackling of Nikola Jokić helped the Thunder pip Denver in the West semi-finals.) He’s the veteran in the Thunder huddle with championship experience, winning his ring with LeBron’s Lakers inside the Covid bubble in 2020. If at any point the young Thunder begin to doubt themselves, the Carushow will be where they turn to for succor. AL

The finals MVP will be …

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It’s the consistency. The foul-baiting can be grating but it’s impossible not to admire how SGA appears to have figured out the game of basketball over the last couple of seasons. He has his spots and he knows exactly how to get to them. It’s also nice to see a masterful offensive guard who isn’t a complete zero on the other side of the ball. RB

It is rare for a player to win both regular season and NBA finals MVP in the same season; it’s only happened 15 times in league history. But Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the slinky, shifty guard with shades of Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant in his deep bag, is about to do it. While Oklahoma City have a deep team, and both Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren have gotten shine this postseason, if they win it all, it will be on the back of Gilgeous-Alexander, and he’ll get rewarded accordingly. CDL

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He’s been the steadiest closer in the playoffs, turning midrange mastery and calm isolation into winning basketball. If Oklahoma City win the title, it will be because SGA took over in crunch time and made the leap from All-NBA to undeniable superstar. BAG

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He’s been dominant all season, and his playoff level has yet to drop. In his two regular-season games against Indiana, he averaged 39 points (on 56% shooting), seven boards and eight assists against one turnover – total. Put simply: this is his year, and he won’t be denied. AL

Your winner will be …

Thunder in five. They’ve been utterly dominant all season. That’s mostly been the case for the playoffs too, allowing for some Jokić magic in the second round. The Pacers have been a ton of fun to watch, have impressive depth and a rising star in Haliburton. But the Thunder are deeper, more talented and have the best player in the series – that’s a recipe for a gentleman’s sweep. RB

Thunder in five. If the Pacers had drawn literally any other Western Conference foe, I would give them a better chance in this series. But unfortunately for Indiana, they drew, in my estimation, the far better version of themselves. Indiana is great at forcing turnovers: Oklahoma City do that better. Indiana take great care of the ball: OKC even moreso. The Thunder have the MVP, the better defense, the better bench. They have been the best team in the league at home this season, and they have home-court advantage in this series. While the Pacers’ run to the finals has been impressive all the way, and I see them winning a game, I think the Thunder will make relatively quick work of them en route to a Larry O’Brien. CDL

Pacers in seven. I picked the Thunder at the start of the playoffs (flex) and my inner Dean Oliver is still inclined to think their historically good metrics will see them through. But management wants someone to make the case for Indiana so here we go. The Pacers’ blistering pace, surgical ball movement and deep rotation give them a real shot at disrupting Oklahoma City’s rhythm. Haliburton’s vision fuels an attractive, crowd-pleasing offense that doesn’t rely on isolation or volume threes. If they can turn it into a track meet while taking care of the ball like they have all year, Indiana’s chaos could outlast OKC’s control. BAG

Thunder in six. Again: they’re loaded, high-energy, extremely well-coached and hungry as hell. Denver needed the world’s best player to take OKC to seven games. While the Pacers have their virtues, and a bona fide go-to guy in Halliburton, they don’t have enough to stop a team that seems like it has been on an inexorable march toward a championship since the season tipped off in October. For me, the question isn’t if Thunder will win, but whether GM Sam Presti can keep this squad together long enough to make a dynastic run for the ages. AL