2025 NBA Finals: Key Matchups to Follow
by Tyler Doty | by Tyler Doty
An eventful first three rounds of the NBA playoffs have produced a surprising Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. This is the second Finals appearance for both franchises with the Thunder losing in 2012 and the Pacers falling to the Los Angeles Lakers a dozen years earlier.
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is looking to complete one of the greatest guard seasons in NBA history. Tyrese Haliburton is aiming to finish off his own spectacular playoff run, featuring a catalogue of clutch performances, and bring Indianapolis its third championship in any major sport.
This series has already been framed as SGA against Haliburton. A lot has been and will continue to be made of these teams being constructed by trading away Paul George.
The contest is far more complex than two point guards going toe-to-toe. And the George angle could quickly get tedious.
So, we’ve looked a little deeper at the areas where this series should be decided.
Mark Daigneault vs Rick Carlisle
The impressive young coach goes against the wily veteran. Mark Daigneault has excelled in the early stages of his coaching career, but there have been a couple of notable slip-ups in the first three rounds of these playoffs.
Rick Carlisle has been there and done it. Any notion he was past his best in Dallas has been emphatically disproved as he’s moulded a talented, yet far from perfect, Pacers roster into a Finals team.
How deep does Daigneault go into his bench? Does he step away from the two-big lineups if the five-out offense of the Pacers stretches them?
Carlisle has to make sure one of Haliburton and Pascal Siakam are on the floor at all times. How does he adjust if the Thunder consistently control the glass? How long a leash does Bennedict Mathurin get off the bench?
As is the case in every Finals, both coaches are going to face pivotal decisions in this series. Daigneault has more talent at his disposal, but Carlisle has outwitted plenty of less adaptable coaches throughout his lengthy career.
Thunder Frontcourt vs Myles Turner
Myles Turner has never been a big-time rebounder. The Conference Finals were particularly quiet for Turner on the glass, however, with only 3.2 boards per game as Mitchell Robinson and the New York Knicks fought to earn extra possessions.
Oklahoma City was undersized last season. Rebounding was their biggest weakness. That has been addressed by pairing Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein in the frontcourt, enabling their own brand of bully ball in the paint.
Carlisle’s rotations become complicated if Turner, along with Siakam, cannot hold his own on the glass. Tony Bradley and Jarace Walker suddenly start to get minutes and the Thunder are able to dictate the course of the series.
Alternatively, Turner’s three-point shooting could force Daigneault to step away from his two-big tandem. The first coach to blink in this duel will give us a signal for the rest of the series.
OKC Perimeter Defense vs Tyrese Haliburton
It’s going to be a team effort from the Thunder when it comes to slowing down Haliburton. The former Sacramento King might not have won Eastern Conference Finals MVP, but he’s the engine of their offense and has driven this team to the last series of the year with his selfless play.
OKC, like other teams, will want to make Haliburton into a dribbler and scorer. He can do it. It’s not when he’s most effective, though, as it drags Indiana out of its normal offensive rhythm.
The Pacers want to get teams into off-ball rotation with the ball pinging around the court. The Thunder have plenty of defensive options who could stick with Haliburton one-on-one, potentially forcing more static halfcourt plays and leading Haliburton to dribbling the ball deeper into the shot clock.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs Aaron Nesmith
Aaron Nesmith has been one of Indiana’s biggest player development success stories. From a rotation afterthought in Boston, Nesmith has shot 50% from beyond the arc in this postseason while providing above-average perimeter defense.
Indiana’s defense has been 2.6 points better per 100 possessions with Nesmith on the floor in the playoffs. He won’t take full responsibility for the Gilgeous-Alexander assignment – that will be shared with Andrew Nembhard – but he has a massive role to play against the MVP.
Keeping Gilgeous-Alexander under control forces Jalen Williams into a bigger offensive role. It’s been an up-and-down playoffs for the All-Star wing.
Carlisle might prefer the length of Nesmith on Gilgeous-Alexander. No one has really been able to trouble SGA on a consistent basis in these playoffs, but size and quickness like Nesmith possesses is the kind of combination that could work out for the Pacers.
