2024/25 NBA in-season thread

[17 Seconds]

i actually yelled when he hit that shot

[Sammy Sofa]

We Must Consider Whether The Pacers Have A Pact With Beelzebub Himself

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Here are some relevant statistics from Game 1 of the NBA Finals: The Oklahoma City Thunder had 18 fewer turnovers than the Indiana Pacers; the Thunder attempted 16 more field goals than the Pacers and took exactly half of their shots at the rim; 14 of the Pacers' 24 turnovers were caused by Thunder steals; the Pacers led the game for 0.3 seconds. Here is the most relevant of them all: This morning the Thunder find themselves down 0-1 in the NBA Finals, having fallen to the Pacers, 111–110.

For about 47 minutes, this game looked like nothing other than a win for the Thunder. All those pre-series questions about whether the Pacers' chaos-forward offense could somehow undermine the Thunder's brutal attacking defense started to feel very silly, very quickly. The Thunder held the Pacers to 20 points in the first quarter and ripped away 12 steals in the first half, setting a record for most steals in a half during the play-by-play era. OKC's defense was doing exactly what it did to the Timberwolves and Nuggets, and it was doing to Tyrese Haliburton exactly what it did to Nikola Jokic and Anthony Edwards—shoving him into the margins of the game as a bully shoves a victim into a locker. Haliburton finished the first half with three turnovers and six points on four field goal attempts.

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The Pacers are not a normal team, though, and we are long past the point of acknowledging there is something genuinely strange and inexplicable behind their proficiency for winning games that were never really in their grasp. I am now realizing that we are several hundred words into this blog post and I have yet to show or even describe the game-winning shot that was hit by Haliburton with 0.3 seconds left on the clock. Forgive me, it's just that when a shot like that goes in, one so incredible and improbable that it immediately alters the reality of everything that came before it, some time is needed to come to grips with the fact that 2 + 2 suddenly equals 5.

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Haliburton has now made four game-winning or game-tying buckets in the final five seconds of a game during this postseason. That shot also gave the Pacers their fifth 15-point comeback victory in this postseason, and we are now at the point where a generation's worth of miraculous shots and outcomes have been produced by one team over the course of two months. Haliburton's shot from last night deserves to be the first thing that anyone thinks about when the 2025 Pacers are mentioned in the future, but it will have to get in line behind eight Points In 47 Seconds and Down 14 With 2:51 Left To Play.

If you seek an explanation for how this particular game ended up a Pacers' victory, there are places to look. You can start with Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault inserting Cason Wallace into the starting five and sticking to a small-ball lineup that allowed the Pacers—a team without a particular acuity for rebounding—to finish the game with a 17-rebound advantage. You can point to Obi Toppin hitting five threes off the bench and mutter something about shooting variance. You are welcome to note that the Thunder shot just 43 percent at the rim and then wager all the lint in your pocket that such a thing will not happen again this series.

I spit on your attempts to find explanations for this outcome in physical reality. Pwah! It is obvious to me now that reasons for the Pacers' success can only be found in the metaphysical realm, and that they are carried forward by an accord with forces beyond our limited understanding. The fact of the matter is that once the Pacers fall behind by 15 points, the game in question comes under the dread influence of the Lord of Flies. A sickly haze falls over the arena and suddenly the game is being played according to rules that do not adhere to our physical laws. The court is plunged into a reality where Myles Turner side-stepping into a corner three can yield no other result than the ball banking off the backboard and into the hoop; where an Andrew Nembhard airball can end up nowhere other than Pascal Siakam's mitts; where one of the putziest attempts at a game-winning shot I've ever seen ends up cash. Watch that last play again—Haliburton lurching over half court with five seconds left to play, hesitantly dribbling himself into a dead end on the right wing, and then flailing his way into an awkward pull-up jumper. Pause that sequence on any frame before the one in which the ball passes through the hoop, and ask yourself if you really believe there's a logical explanation for how the Pacers won that game.

 

[tfarks]

Well this has easily been the most enjoyable stretch I've had as a Pacers fan. At this point I really do expect them to make the comeback almost every time. This stretch of late 4th qtr blitzes and Haliburton game tying/winners is like a team-wide Linsanity run, but better. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

Each team in the Bulls division is set up for a nice run and aside from the Bucks its basically been from moves made over the last 2 years. 

 

As far as viability they are about on par with the 2000 squad. 

[Derwood]

The Athletic had an article ranking the most overrated players in the league, and Haliburton was #1 on the list

[gflore34]

3 hours ago, tfarks said:

Well this has easily been the most enjoyable stretch I've had as a Pacers fan. At this point I really do expect them to make the comeback almost every time. This stretch of late 4th qtr blitzes and Haliburton game tying/winners is like a team-wide Linsanity run, but better. 

Reminds me a of the run the Heat went on in 2023 big difference is the Pacers are actually a good team. Think they've a legitimate chance to win the Finals.  Believe many knew the magic would eventually run out for the Heat facing yet another superior opponent in the Finals.

[soccer10k]

The 99-00 Lakers weren’t as dominant statistically, but the Thunder remind me of that team a bit. Dominant regular season team (LA was 67-15, Thunder 68-14), never made the finals before (this was OKC’s first conf finals, Lakers were swept in 98 in the conf finals) and struggled a bit in the playoffs (Lakers more so than the Thunder so far as they were 11-6 entering the finals and ended up 15-8).

[CubColtPacer]

Sometimes I wish I was a sports better.  The Pacers are 14-5 in the playoffs so far.  They've been favored in 6 of those 19 games.  This is going to be the second series they aren't going to be favored in a single game in.

And while I get some of it, some of it doesn't make sense.  OKC was favored by 5.5 last night.  They won one road game in the playoffs by 6 points, that was the game in Memphis where Ja Morant got hurt.  Other than that they have won by 5 or less or lost every other road game.  The Pacers meanwhile have been a very good home team both in the regular season and the playoffs.

I completely, 100% get why OKC is seen as the better team.  The analytics are clear.  But with their home/road splits, last night's game should have been seen as a complete tossup.

[17 Seconds]

average regular season record of the 4 indiana postseason opponents : 58-24

the pacers record against these teams in the playoffs: 14-5

i know they are better than their 50-32 record, but still, what the hell

[bukie]

Stephen A Smith really focused in the 4th quarter of a close Finals game, so he can provide that hard hitting analysis we all expect.

[17 Seconds]

I think the pacers blew the title tonight

[soccer10k]

21 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

I think the pacers blew the title tonight

Yeah, I kind of felt like this was almost a must win for both teams. Indy got their road win in G1 in what was fairly lucky fashion. Now they've got to win another game in OKC where they've crushed teams all postseason outside of 2 games. And for OKC, even knowing they had G5 and G7 at home, it's still a 3-1 deficit which is pretty hard to come back from, even for a 68 win team.

I'm definitely not writing Indy off at this point, but I agree that was a big missed opportunity for them.

 

[NorthsideAvenger]

I really dislike how the NBA schedule the finals. 

[Sammy Sofa]

Goddamn, what an awesome series.

[CubColtPacer]

That was rough.  Great defense by OKC.  Some Pacers players going cold.  And really poor officiating last night.  I certainly hope this is the last Scott Foster game.

And yup, in 4 minutes the Pacers went from IMO 80-85 percent to win the title to 75 percent to lose.  I think one of the three games remaining will be an OKC blowout, so the Pacers need to win the other two, and that's a hard recipe.  This team doesn't ever lay down and die though, so I think they will make it interesting.

[soccer10k]

Kind of seems like 2-2 is where we should be. OKC should have won G1 and Indy should have won G4.

[imb]

This is probably the most fun matchup you could design out of this playoffs and both teams are more than living up to it. Great finals so far, as good as it gets

[Brian707]

When did the Finals go from 2-3-2 to 2-2-1-1-1?  I was hoping game 5 was in Indiana so they had a better shot of going up 3-2

[soccer10k]

25 minutes ago, Brian707 said:

When did the Finals go from 2-3-2 to 2-2-1-1-1?  I was hoping game 5 was in Indiana so they had a better shot of going up 3-2

2014 they went back to 2-2-1-1-1.

[soccer10k]

I have no idea what to expect in G7. Logic says the Thunder will play better, they won't be terrible from 3 and they'll force some turnovers, but I'm prepared for just about any result. A blowout either way would shock me but that's about it.

[champaignchris]

The people who aren’t watching this because they aren’t “name brand” teams are missing one hell of a series. 

[NorthsideAvenger]

9 minutes ago, champaignchris said:

The people who aren’t watching this because they aren’t “name brand” teams are missing one hell of a series. 

Maybe but I was not interested in the matchup. It did not help that Finals scheduling of games sucks.

[17 Seconds]

horsefeathers it, i'm picking indiana in game 7. they've got all the juice now

[champaignchris]

1 hour ago, 17 Seconds said:

horsefeathers it, i'm picking indiana in game 7. they've got all the juice now

I’ve been trying to come up with a comparable run to what the Pacers have done in this year’s playoffs and drawing a blank. 

Maybe the 78 Sonics?  Got off to a slow start. Got their coach fired and replaced by Lenny Wilkins.  Their best players, Sikma and DJ were 22 and 23 years old and far from establishing themselves as future HoFers.  Lost to the Unseld Bullets who were in the midst of a 4 finals in 9 years run before beating them in the rematch the next year.  

 

 

 

[BigbadB]

18 hours ago, champaignchris said:

I’ve been trying to come up with a comparable run to what the Pacers have done in this year’s playoffs and drawing a blank. 

Maybe the 78 Sonics?  Got off to a slow start. Got their coach fired and replaced by Lenny Wilkins.  Their best players, Sikma and DJ were 22 and 23 years old and far from establishing themselves as future HoFers.  Lost to the Unseld Bullets who were in the midst of a 4 finals in 9 years run before beating them in the rematch the next year.  

 

 

 

There's some names I hadn't heard in a long time. Sikma played for Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington IL.