Only Indiana knows how to win in Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City Thunder are the heavy favorites ahead of the Finals against the Indiana Pacers. Apart from the series against the Denver Nuggets, which went to seven games, Mark Daigneault’s team practically cruised through the Western Conference. The Thunder are clear favorites in the final series, as evidenced by the fact that nearly all analysts and experts have picked the best team of the regular season to win the title. However, if any team knows the Thunder's weak spot, it’s the Indiana Pacers. Rick Carlisle’s team is the last Eastern Conference team to defeat the Thunder on their home court, which is quite impressive. That happened on March 12, 2024, when the team from Indianapolis won 121–111. It remains Oklahoma’s only home loss to an Eastern Conference team since then — they’ve won their last 29 home games against teams from the other conference.

In that game, all the Pacers' players were on point. Myles Turner dominated with 24 points, Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton each scored 18 — the power forward grabbed 11 rebounds, and the point guard dished out 12 assists. Aaron Nesmith added 15, Andrew Nembhard scored 14, and Obi Toppin came off the bench to contribute 10 points. That was over a year and three months ago, but the Pacers’ roster remains nearly the same. The Thunder, on the other hand, are not quite the same — Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso weren’t on the team back then, while the starting five included now-retired Gordon Hayward and Chicago Bulls guard Josh Giddey. Everything else remains the same for the Thunder. Now it remains to be seen whether Indiana can repeat what only they have managed to do in the past 15 months.