By TIM REYNOLDS
The seeds for the 2025 NBA Finals started getting planted unknowingly in 2017, again when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was about to enroll at Kentucky and Tyrese Haliburton was preparing for his senior yr of highschool in Wisconsin.
That was the yr the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder. The Pacers landed Domantas Sabonis out of that deal. The Thunder would commerce George in 2019 to the Los Angeles Clippers for a package deal that included Gilgeous-Alexander. The Pacers would commerce Sabonis in 2022 to Sacramento for a package deal that included Haliburton.
And right here we’re.
Gilgeous-Alexander is the NBA’s MVP and Oklahoma Metropolis’s greatest participant. Haliburton is an Olympic gold medalist and Indiana’s greatest participant. They’ll lead their groups into Sport 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday evening — Indiana at Oklahoma Metropolis, the beginning of a sequence that may resolve who hoists the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
“Man, I’m just so proud of this group,” Haliburton mentioned within the on-court televised interview with TNT after the Pacers’ 125-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Saturday in Sport 6 of the Japanese Convention finals. “I don’t even have words right now. It’s really exciting. We’ll enjoy this one for now. There’s four more, there’s a lot more work to do, against a really tough team.”
The Thunder — relying on the way you depend — are within the finals for both the second time or the fifth time. The franchise, when it was in Seattle, misplaced what was then referred to as the NBA World Championship Collection to Washington in 1978, then received the title in a rematch in opposition to the then-Bullets in 1979 and misplaced within the NBA Finals to Chicago in 1996. Oklahoma Metropolis acquired to the finals in 2012, shedding to Miami.
The Thunder are 80-18 this season, after going 68-14 within the common season after which 12-4 within the playoffs — sweeping Memphis in Spherical 1, surviving seven video games in opposition to Denver in Spherical 2 after which ousting Minnesota in 5 video games for the Western Convention title.
“When you win, that’s a special thing,” Thunder ahead Chet Holmgren mentioned. “It’s not guaranteed in this league. If everybody was guaranteed to win, it’d be a participation trophy instead of a Larry O’Brien. So, you have to kind of take it in and understand what you’ve accomplished to that point, but then the next day you have to start turning the page, get rid of the emotions and start focusing on preparation and what you have to do to conquer the next step. And that’s where we’re at.”
Indiana is within the NBA title spherical for the second time, having misplaced to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2000. The Pacers franchise received ABA titles in 1970, 1972 and 1973. They acquired out of the Japanese Convention because the No. 4 seed, beating Milwaukee in 5 video games in Spherical 1, beating top-seeded Cleveland in 5 video games in Spherical 2 after which beating New York within the convention finals.
The Pacers had been 10-15 by the primary 25 video games of the season — then went 40-17 to complete the common season. They’re the fourth workforce to start out 10-15 or worse and go on to win a convention title, becoming a member of Seattle in 1977-78 (8-17), the 1956-57 St. Louis Hawks (10-15) and the 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers (10-15). None of these groups went on to win the NBA title.
“In 49 states, it’s just basketball,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle mentioned. “But this is Indiana. … Our guys earned this. Congratulations to our guys.”
Oklahoma Metropolis swept the season sequence with Indiana 2-0, a part of an everyday season the place the Thunder — who completed with the NBA’s greatest report — went 29-1 in opposition to the Japanese Convention. That doesn’t embody a loss to Milwaukee within the NBA Cup last, a recreation that didn’t depend in any standings.
So, the matchup is about. It’s the Paul George finals, albeit with out Paul George — who had arguably the very best season of his profession with the Thunder, averaging 28 factors and ending third within the MVP voting for 2018-19 — beginning at OKC on Thursday.
“Obviously, he wasn’t here long but he had great years here,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault mentioned Saturday when requested about George’s influence. “I mean, one of the best years of his career was here, one of the best individual seasons a player’s had here — which is saying something here with the guys they’ve had. So, I have a lot of respect for him.”
