How to tie a series

Kelly Dwyer

09 Jun 2025 — 5 min read

NBA Finals tied, 1-1

If there was any doubt in the Oklahoma City Thunder, the team that beats its opponents by an average of 13 points per game, the Thunder fans shook it out. Clapped it out, stomped out, probably sweated it out.

The Thunder arena is unlike anything else in NBA basketball and Sunday night was its shake 'em on down therapy session. The crowd wasn't nervous or angry or upset or even disappointed, just loud. Ready to make enough noise to remind everyone of why we are here: Oklahoma City's coronation as NBA champions.

The home team didn't need any of this but it helps, the NBA's MVP admitted as much after the game. The building is hot and some of the attending dudes are a little stanky, even after the Thunder gave them a free t-shirt to replace the old one. That's the way the home team wants it, two-shirt confusion is encouraged, the Thunder require working frantically and borderline recklessly in order to succeed.

It puts the onus on the referees to make the calls, and it encourages the kids. It's why Chet Holmgren tried to dunk on everyone to start the game, why he kept going back to it. Why he still looked like he wanted to dunk a few times postgame, wandering the arena in his uniform like a Little Leaguer heading to the concession stand after the game for a free pop, looking for the table where he's supposed to talk to Shaq.

Holmgren started at center, Cason Wallace remained in the starting fold and good, it was fun to watch Wallace, a rare youngster who does everything without being extra. The Pacers immediately established space and vision in the game's opening moments, the ability to reach any part of the court with a pass. The Thunder just as quickly took it away.

In the first quarter the visiting team realized it could play with the Thunder, and that it could lose to them, but not lose badly. Indiana is cooking, the team talks and moves the ball and feels as if it is just getting started, Pascal's only had one training camp with the team. There is a movement to these Pacers and the Thunder simply snuffed it out. Didn't dissuade them, or mock Indiana when it was down. OKC simply got in the way of the unstoppable force.

This, too, took talking.

The Thunder didn't return to the shell in Game 2, rather, the team drew from its love of All This. The game, the sweat, the movement, the competition. In spirit, the Pacers didn't draw a sad smiley face, didn't skulk into their Johnny Furphy. These two teams were ready to play each other again on Monday morning, could not wait to tap hands in the center circle.

The respect between these clubs is palpable, they'll have to get rid of it on their respective flights to Indy. Luckily, nothing kills a communal vibe like a scheduled, shuffling departure inside a small tube.

These teams have no choice but to love each other: Kenrich Williams was perhaps Game 2's most productive player, a +15 in 7:38. The Pacers feel as if they're full of Kenrich Williamses, and OKC knows what Williams did in Game 2 (meeting the ball in moments of confusion, quick drives and extra passes, moving feet and 100 percent dedication to 50-50 balls) was no fluke. No reserve novelty.

After Williams left, the Thunder relaxed, realized they didn't need Kenrich Williams to win, they only needed him for that 19-2 run. Prior to this, each team was bobbling their one-on-one moves before they'd even had a chance to try them, thinking two steps ahead of the moment, discarnate doinks for turnovers.

Compared to Game 1's slopfest, Indiana kept check with its turnovers (15 in defeat), holding onto the ball all the way into the paint where they'd miss a shot. There was a clear push to launch 40 threes, Indiana developed good looks but through three quarters the visitors missed 20 of its first 31 attempts. Indiana makes a honk'a three-pointers, and the Ploughboys head home up 2-0.

No honk'a. Zero points in the paint in the first quarter and the Pacers were otherwise GOOD in the first quarter. These sorts of incongruities keep the Pacers coming back to the tee, polishing the clubs, washing the ball, kicking at the parking brake on the cart, whatever golfers do. The Pacers were beaten, yes, but that drive at 8.

The difference was home, the sort of home which travels: Andrew Wiggins (6-11 from the floor in Game 2) can hit opportunistic threes in Indiana, Alex Caruso (similarly 6-11) could swing just as strong a Game 3 and 4 in Indiana as he did in Game 2 just as long as NBA security recognizes him from the Lakers and lets Alex inside.

Game 2 was a treatment plan, the Thunder needed to see a game grow into a win, keep it that way. Jalen Williams missed a three-pointer with 4:26 to go in Game 2, coulda run the score up to 23. He missed, and the crowd grew uneasy. It isn't fun, presuming to deliver one coup de grâce after another, only to watch the chicken keep standing upright and walking away.

Tyrese Haliburton hit a three-pointer a few seconds later, 17-point game, do-able, the Thunder called a timeout but time was out. Rick Carlisle lifted Haliburton during the timeout, he didn't think Tyrese could develop an 18-point differential over the course of 240 seconds. The Thunder's crowd did.

They did a lot. The Thunder's 2024-25 Western Conference championship banner is already up, the crowd rose to meet it. Five minutes before Game 2 started, without anyone asking them to, clapping in unison to "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. Clapping along with Lars Ulrich's unsuccessful attempts at a consistent beat, do you know how hard that is?

The Pacer arena has a response to create. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander already gave Indiana 500 laps' worth of fuel, telling the press after Game 2 that the Oklahoma City crowd "makes road games easier," because the noise and distractions are so tame by comparison.

Duly note this, Indiana.

Shai spoke after the game as if it were his party, it was his party, the entire night. He's developed a podium tone no doubt derived from the greats – Mike and Kobe and Bron – using the pulpit as another chance for a loud whistle. To gather his celebrating co-workers and settle in on the next score.

He created this one, seeking out Chet once the color returned to Holmgren' cheeks, building teammates, tossing practice passes, still scoring Shai's 34 points. Only two turnovers in 34 minutes.

It was a healthy blowout, for both sides. No team lost by 42, nobody turned an ankle, nobody fake fought. Oklah0ma City won with its typical attack, not some one-off gimmick, the Pacers were down 20 all night but appeared altogether potent on the possessions where they didn't dribble drunk.

History tells us that this isn't unlike those 2001 Finals, a Swindler's Sweep, the deep underdog scraping out Game 1 before ably falling four consecutive times. Though, we repeat, these Pacers are far healthier.

Able in ways the Thunder may not have enough time within 48 minutes to corral.

Of course, you can't lateral a horse.

DANNY'S ALL-STAR JOINT