OKLAHOMA CITY — The NBA Finals feel like new blood, and new blood usually means an unpredictable series, but the Oklahoma City Thunder are overwhelming favorites over the Indiana Pacers.
Pick a metric.
Whether it’s the 68 regular-season wins that put them in hallowed territory or the all-time net rating, the Thunder are four wins from putting together one of the more complete and dominant seasons in NBA history.
[NBA Finals preview: Pacers-Thunder key matchups, schedule, X-factors and prediction]
It’s not that the Indiana Pacers are some slouches. These two are the best teams in the NBA since Jan. 1 — but there appears to be such a gap between them, it must be acknowledged.
“They’re historically great on both sides of the ball,” Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton said. “They have the MVP. I mean, there’s so many different things that you could go up and down the list of why they are so great and what they do, and why they’re such a great team.”
Last year’s Boston Celtics broke the math, and it was easy to see. They took the most 3s and knew you couldn’t keep up. Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were seasoned and hardened through the fire of playoff failure, supplemented by so many veterans that the romp through last season and the postseason almost felt ordained.
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams speaks to the media Wednesday ahead of Game 1 of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
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These Thunder don’t overwhelm you in that way, but the power is unrelenting. The Thunder defense is as close to dominant as any team the league has produced in this millennium, and as Haliburton mentioned, the Thunder employ the NBA’s Most Valuable Player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Having been off for nearly a week, time could’ve allowed the Thunder to reflect on how great they’ve been to this point.
“Honestly, not really. I’ve been so focused on Game 1,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Being the best version of myself for this group and trying to make sure we’re clicking on all cylinders on the biggest stage for our careers, that’s been the front of my mind.”
Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned he tries to take his mind off basketball during his idle time, so he’s not inundated with thoughts and information and attention.
“That’s all I’m really worried about, when I do worry about basketball,” he said. “I haven’t taken the time to look back, see all the things we’ve done. But I will when it’s all over, for sure.”
Haliburton’s words aren’t mere platitudes, it just feels like he acknowledges how the series is viewed from 30,000 feet.
“We know the odds are stacked against us, but you know, it is what it is,” Haliburton said. “We want to be here. We want to play against the best, and this is the best. So we’re looking forward to challenges.”
The Pacers knocked off the favored New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference finals, and before that, the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers. This isn’t new, the public viewing the Pacers as the lesser team for the third straight round.
“I think we focus on ourselves,” Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said. “I think I don’t think we expect anyone to pick us up. And that’s been like that the whole playoffs. It’s been like that the whole season. So I think for us, nothing really changes. It’s always been us against anyone, so it doesn’t change.”
But these Thunder are different. They have basically the same odds to win it all as the 1986 Boston Celtics and 2004 Los Angeles Lakers as betting favorites, two totally different squads. The Celtics were arguably the best of the Larry Bird-led teams, as he won the last of three straight MVPs, and they waxed the Houston Rockets in six games.
The 2004 Lakers were a drama-filled mess, and yet most believed they would run over the Detroit Pistons. Instead, it was a five-game win by Detroit — and the Lakers were lucky to win one.
Oklahoma City doesn’t fit either bill, but the dominance is closer to the Celtics — it’s just those Celtics had been champions twice over by that point. These Thunder are still searching for their first title since moving to Oklahoma City in 2008-09.
Thunder forward Jalen Williams can’t recall exactly when, but he believes it was midseason when he realized the type of run this team was on. Again, they were the top seed in the West last season, tied with the Denver Nuggets for 57 wins, but this year has been an all-around thrashing of the competition.
“Not having bigs, Hart and Chet were out the majority of [this] season,” Williams said, remarking of a stretch when starting center Isaiah Hartenstein had missed time early in the season and a few games around January, along with Chet Holmgren missing significant time with a hip injury from November to early February. Yet, they were 40-9.
“I think for us to be as successful as we were during that. I think was a big moment for us.
“But at the same time, it’s a very, like, weird position you get put in because you want to … you want to look back at the regular season, but you really don’t get any regular-season awards. I think just the playoffs come up so fast, you can’t really look back at it.”
Williams has elevated to being an All-NBA third-teamer as well as a second-team defender. His growth has raised the ceiling to something immeasurable in a short period of time. Even he can’t fully chart his own growth — well, he can in a way, attributing so much of this to a growth spurt in college that took him from being a guard to a wing.
Going from 6-foot-1 to 6-6 means one has the best of both worlds. He can defend his position or switch onto guards without much trouble — and he’s always been used to defending bigger players, so the added height was a bonus.
“So I was short for a long time,” Williams said. “Obviously, the taller you are, you can guard more positions. I think I was in a really good position where, as a rookie, I was able to do like, trial and error and do a bunch of stuff like that.
“So when I get to these moments now, I’ve had more years under my belt. So I learned how to guard bigger guys, learn how to guard smaller guards.”
Haliburton isn’t exactly small, but he’ll see Williams and his bag of tricks at some point this series.
“If we’re gonna win a championship, I don’t wanna win any other way,” Haliburton said. “I don’t wanna go around or go over. I wanna go through the best team. They’re well-coached. There’s no shortcuts with this team.”
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