On Monday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder are hosting the Indiana Pacers for Game 5 of the NBA Finals, as each team sits just two wins away from winning a championship.
The Pacers got to the Finals relatively easily, as they took down the Milwaukee Bucks in five games, the Cleveland Cavaliers in five games, and the New York Knicks in six to win the East. The Thunder, however, had their backs against the wall at one point on their way to the Finals.
The Denver Nuggets took a 2-1 series lead over the Thunder in the second round of the playoffs, and even though Oklahoma City eventually won in seven games, it was a nail-biting series for both sides.
The Nuggets tested the Thunder far more than any other team did on their way to winning the West, and Oklahoma City star center Isaiah Hartenstein recognized how that series helped the team grow in a recent interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio.
"We've grown a lot, I think. We've matured. The Denver series helped us the most," Hartenstein said. "Just going through that. Going through that grind. Learning on the fly. It helped us a lot. What a lot of people don't know is that we're young, but we're mature enough in the way we approach each thing throughout the playoffs... It's pretty special."
“The Denver series helped us the most”
Isaiah Hartenstein talks about the maturity with this overall young OKC team@TermineRadio | @JumpShot8 | #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/R1VstcKMJm
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) June 16, 2025
The Thunder and Nuggets were undoubtedly two of the best teams in the Western Conference, and either could have been deserving to come out of that series and fight for a title. However, the Thunder outlasted Denver and now sit just two wins away from crowning themselves champions, a position that the Nuggets could have been in.