The NBA Finals are on the docket. The No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers will visit the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in what is a positively thrilling matchup. Indiana has been one of the hottest teams in the league since the All-Star break. OKC is an all-time defensive wrecking crew.
OKC will be heavy favorites, and deservedly so, but we should not discount the Pacers. Anyone still doubting Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam on this stage has not been watching the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Both teams have tricks up their sleeves. Here are the matchups that will define the next couple weeks and determine which franchise takes home its first NBA championship.
Pascal Siakam vs. Chet Holmgren
The focus with Indiana tends to skew toward Tyrese Haliburton, but Pascal Siakam just won ECF MVP. He was incredible against a stout Knicks defense, winning a variety of matchups and affirming his place among the very best second bananas in the NBA.
Siakam has been on the Finals stage before with Toronto. Experience can play a big factor at this point in the playoffs. OKC's defense is mostly airtight, but Siakam presents a singular equation — one even this Thunder defense may struggle to solve.
He's such a unique slasher. At 6-foot-9, Siakam's movements are pure-but-controlled chaos. People lampoon the spin move, but it's impossible to time when exactly Siakam will break out his patented spin cycle. He looks skinny, but Siakam plays with equal parts finesse and force.
Holmgren will probably get the primary Siakam assignment — at least to start games when OKC goes with two bigs. Chet a tremendous rim protector and fleet of foot on the perimeter, but Siakam is going to test Holmgren's ability to move in space. Plus he's going to go straight through Holmgren's chest, which is something the second-year forward has struggled with in the past. If Siakam can create fissures in OKC's swarming coverage, this series will get interesting.
Tyrese Haliburton vs. Lu Dort
OKC will throw a long line of physical on-ball stoppers at Tyrese Haliburton. He expertly handled the pressure of guys like OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges, but there isn't a single defender in the East quite like Lu Dort. He's built like a tank, and he sticks right on your hip. Haliburton is a thinner guard. Will Dort overwhelm him with strength and physicality? It's not out of the question. This will be the ultimate challenge for Haliburton in his ascent to superstardom.
If Haliburton solves the Lu Dort riddle, OKC will throw Cason Wallace at him. And Alex Caruso. And Jalen Williams. There will be no breathers for Haliburton on the floor. No easily exploitable matchups. Shai Gilgeous-Alexande can get in a stance and guard. Both Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein can slide their feet on switches. This will be a multi-pronged, collective effort for OKC.
It begins (and probably ends) with Dort, though. He has been the NBA's most effective isolation defender this season. He gets a chance to lock up the league's hottest star now, with a Finals win on the line. This is basketball, folks! Gotta love it.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Aaron Nesmith
On the other end, the Pacers will task Aaron Nesmith with slowing down the league MVP. OKC's offense has been just okay in these playoffs. This is a team that wins by keeping points off the board, not pouring them on. That said, SGA is the most dynamic slasher in the sport — a twitchy, gangly 6-foot-6 guard who has fine-tuned his repertoire to become unpredictability incarnate.
This Pacers defense is a real force, but SGA has proven that he can win almost any matchup. No one has really figured out how to defend him straight up, much to the chagrin of social media posters. Ryan Nembhard was the key to slowing Jalen Brunson in the conference finals, but he lacks the size to put a lid on SGA. That's why Nesmith is bound to spend a lot of time with basketball's toughest isolation assignment in this series.
Nesmith was all over the place in the New York series. He has the size and strength to give SGA problems at the point of attack, so long as he can remain in legal guarding position and avoid letting Gilgeous-Alexander tilt the defense. That is easier said than done, of course. Nesmith can just as easily turn this series on its head with his shooting, but his defense on SGA will be the real deciding factor.