Thunder vs. Pacers: Who Dominated GIPHY Search During the Playoffs?
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After weeks of buzzer-beating dunks, unexpected comebacks and nail-biting three-pointers, the 2025 NBA Playoffs will come to a head this month with the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder facing off for the top title.
As the NBA Finals tip off, millions will seek a second-screen experience as they turn to search to look up star players on GIPHY. According to recent data, June is a peak month for searches for the NBA on GIPHY every year, with searches first spiking in April at the start of the playoff season.
In anticipation of the 2025 NBA Finals, we took a look at data over the past five months and pit the Indiana Pacers and OKC Thunder teams against each other to see who came out on top in terms of search growth and volume. We also took a granular look at day-to-day data and unearthed some unexpected insights regarding trending search terms that coincided with select games this season.
Are you ready? Dive into our GIPHY Search Trend Report for the 2025 NBA playoff season.
OKC Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers
When broken down by volume, searches for the team name “Indiana Pacers” outpaced searches for “OKC Thunder,” with the former leading the latter from the start of the playoff season.
Searches for both teams spiked dramatically in May, with searches for the Indiana Pacers spiking by 518% and searches for the Oklahoma City Thunder spiking by 183%.
When broken down day by day over the last two weeks, spikes in searches for both teams mirrored high-stakes game nights, with the biggest spikes happening when either team won their respective game during the conference finals. Both teams’ biggest spikes occurred during their conference wins, with searches for the Pacers jumping by 704% on June 2 and searches for OKC Thunder jumping by 656% on May 30.
Notably, spikes in searches for both teams also led to spikes in searches for other terms, such as “buzzer beater,” “choke,” “making my way downtown,” and “reggie miller” (of Pacers fame) trending on May 22 as searches for the Indiana Pacers spiked.
Thunder vs. Pacers: Player Search Power Rankings
When we broke down player-specific data over the past five months, we noticed several NBA stars from both teams’ rosters on the rise among our users, from established veterans to up-and-coming rookies.
In the spirit of the NBA Finals, we identified three players from both teams with the highest year-over-year growth compared to 2024. We also assembled a power ranking of the five most popular players in the NBA Finals by search volume on GIPHY this year (January–May 2025).
Indiana Pacers
1. Quenton Jackson: +771% YOY
2. Tony Bradley: +279% YOY
3. Thomas Bryant: +170% YOY
Oklahoma City Thunder
1. Jaylin Williams: +858% YOY
2. Ajay Mitchell: +582% YOY
3. Dillon Jones: +466% YOY
Most Popular Pacers–Thunder Players By Search Volume
1. Jaylin Williams (Thunder)
2. Jalen Williams (Thunder)
3. Aaron Wiggins (Thunder)
4. Tyrese Haliburton (Pacers)
5. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Thunder)
June is peak NBA season, driving millions of consumers to GIPHY as they search for the perfect GIF to send to their group chats in the heat of a game. Want to explore ways your brand can tap into the courtside fervor and drive engagement with consumers where they’re already chatting? Get started at ads.giphy.com.