The NBA Finals are set, and the Indiana Pacers will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday in Game 1.
Both teams are searching for their first title, and neither team has even made the Finals in the last decade. They are both deep, fast, and able to defend, although the Thunder boast league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, giving them an edge over Indiana.
The Thunder are heavily favored and have every right to enter the season with supreme confidence as the best regular-season team in the league, although SGA doesn't want to get ahead of himself.
"No matter what your route is, no matter who's on your team, like, to get this far in the NBA playoffs, you have to be a really good team," he said of the Pacers on ESPN.
"And every team's going to have their strengths and their weaknesses, and they're going to go about the game differently. But to get to this point, you have to be a really good team, and that in itself is strong enough."
The Thunder were far and away the best team in the league, although both OKC and Indiana lost four games in the playoffs, with the Denver Nuggets taking the Thunder to seven games.
Game 1 will tip off on Thursday, and the Pacers are heavy underdogs, although perhaps no one knows to take that with a grain of salt more than the Thunder and their star.
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