Tip-off: 7:30pm @ Paycom Center, Oklahoma City | Broadcast: ABC
⚡Pod Preview
Brandon and John preview Game 5 in the latest Daily Thunder podcast:
⚡idk man
The strategy between OKC and Indy has been wild, with Rick Carlisle pushing the Pacers to championship-level execution and effort on both sides of the ball, challenging SGA and the Thunder to keep finding new answers as they've played their 100th game and counting of this season. It would be foolish for me to try and guess how the Carlisle/Daigneault chess match plays out from here on. But for a break down of the strategy that played out in Game 3, I recommend this thread from Michele Conti:
Dort was incredible: no screen or handoff was safe, Holmgren directing back line to stay as low man, Caruso on Nembhard limit guard-to-guard actions. That OREB seal from Siakam reminded the crucial one in G1 (clip 2). Both Haliburton & Nembhard created separation, did not punish pic.twitter.com/w2BQFU5vav
— Michele Conti (@MicheleConti00) June 15, 2025
⚡Prediction: OKC 126 IND 110
Oklahoma City is still an obvious favorite, but it shouldn't be this hard. I'm very predicting another avalanche win at home featuring recovered shooting powers and the mental edge that made OKC dominant in the regular season but has waned during the postseason. When you win a title, all is forgiven. But I won't forget. As I said in this weekend's cartoons, the offense has been bugged for two straight postseasons. It's not the Giddey effect or the three-point variance effect impeding OKC's title run, it's just what happens to this team against the best competition. If the Thunder could score reliably to close out the Finals, that would be nice.