NBA Season 2024-25

[Atzar]

I give Turner credit.  He looked ghastly trying to do anything with the ball in the first half but he found some timely buckets (and a bankshot three) in the second half and I thought his defense was a major thorn in OKC's ass all game long.  Hopefully he got the 6-turnover games out of his system though, lol. 

[radiohead]

Absolutely unreal.  They looked BAD for a lot of this game.  Found a way. 

Let's go!  Get three more!

I?ve always liked Carlisle as a coach. If he wins again that would be 2 underdog teams for him to win the finals!

[Who]

Some OKC fan responses

I love leading a game for 47 minutes and 59.7 seconds. That?s great

Wack ass lane violation ends up being the difference. Lame. On to game 2

60% from 3 in the 4th quarter. Simple as that. If that happens 3 more times, then fair play to em and theyre champs. but I doubt it will.

[Moranis]

Holmgren was bad, just like I thought he would be (he was +4, but that had very little to do with him).  SGA was his usual self and the entire rest of the team was bad.  That is how I thought Indy would win the series.  Just let SGA do his thing and don't let anyone else beat you.  I have no idea what will happen in game 2, but OKC has to win it or they aren't winning the series.  That is alot of pressure on a team in the 2nd game of a series.

[bdm860]

Indiana?s advantages are shooting and coaching experience. Offense in general, they?re comparable (OKC actually outranked them in the regular season), defense goes to OKC, depth is a wash, pace goes to OKC (quicker pace in both the regular season and playoffs). The Pacers winning this series will depend on those two factors.

Shooting and coaching. Called it.

What's funny about the coaching, final possessions Carlisle doesn't call timeouts (not just this game, but on multiple of their last second wins). That's a constant complaint about why Joe is a bad coach. Of course it helps when your guys actually hit the shot.

[Moranis]

14 live ball turnovers, 7 points.  50 ORTG.  That is worst team in the league type numbers.  Pacers got back on defense EVERY SINGLE TIME.

And why the heck did Ajay Mitchell play in this game?

[Phantom255x]

I don't hate OKC or their fans, and I respect the hell out of that fanbase for wearing the shirts and bringing it every playoff game.

But man, it was also very hilarious seeing them get so nervous every time IND got it close in the 2nd half, and of course it got dead silent in the final seconds 

I still think OKC in 6 as I predicted from the start but yeah, game on. IND may truly be the team of destiny in 2025.

[CelticSooner]

Pacers had 25 turnovers, hung around all game, and closed it out. We may be looking at a team of destiny. I'm not even sure OKC wins Game 2 now lol

[Phantom255x]

It goes hand in hand. IND had 24 turnovers, but they also had 17 more rebounds than OKC and a lot of it was them getting back on defense, forcing stops and making sure OKC didn't get too many second chance points. Quite a few "one and done" possessions even after turnovers.

As crazy as it sounds, IND looked like the bigger team out there and looked very active with the rebounding especially in the 2nd half.

Which leads me to say, they need way more from Chet. Or maybe have him come off the bench and let Hartenstein start. Idk but Chet to me is just a bit inconsistent. The numbers are there but not always in the "big moments". Long series to go but it feels like this is a series where he could get exposed. He finished a +4 but it looked like he was dreadful out there and he didn't play as much in the 2nd half either. 24 minutes total.

Chet/Hartenstein is a great frontcourt but they got outplayed by Turner/Toppin tonight and even Thomas Bryant to me looked solid in some of the minutes he played.

[Atzar]

It goes hand in hand. IND had 24 turnovers, but they also had 17 more rebounds than OKC and a lot of it was them getting back on defense, forcing stops and making sure OKC didn't get too many second chance points. Quite a few "one and done" possessions even after turnovers.

As crazy as it sounds, IND looked like the bigger team out there and looked very active with the rebounding especially in the 2nd half.

Which leads me to say, they need way more from Chet. Or maybe have him come off the bench and let Hartenstein start. Idk but Chet to me is just a bit inconsistent. The numbers are there but not always in the "big moments". Long series to go but it feels like this is a series where he could get exposed. He finished a +4 but it looked like he was dreadful out there and he didn't play as much in the 2nd half either. 24 minutes total.

Chet/Hartenstein is a great frontcourt but they got outplayed by Turner/Toppin tonight and even Thomas Bryant to me looked solid in some of the minutes he played.

Holmgren and JDub are really young.  It's fair to question whether they're ready for this stage.  Odds are good that SGA will drag them to a title ahead of schedule but most feature players need more experience before they finally get over the top.  We saw that with our guys. 

[bdm860]

In our dream BOS/OKC Finals match up, how many turnovers does Jaylen average?

[Who]

Chet had a bad game. He could have had a half dozen dunks but blew them repeatedly. Got stripped several times to deny him. Went up soft a few other times and blew the layups when it should have been a dunk.

[Birdman]

Indiana are the Rodney dangerfield of NBA, no respect

[Moranis]

Chet had a bad game. He could have had a half dozen dunks but blew them repeatedly. Got stripped several times to deny him. Went up soft a few other times and blew the layups when it should have been a dunk.

I feel most confident in all my takes that that will continue.  The Pacers are not a good match up for him.  He probably will have 1 maybe 2 good games, but he will mostly have a bad series. It is why I thought he'd be a detriment to the Thunder winning. 

[Endless Paradise]

I don't get why OKC decided to go small in the last 3 minutes if they were also simultaneously trying to slow the tempo. They gave up so many rebounds at the end for no real benefit.