Stretching basketball to new limits | NBA Finals Game 4 analysis

Stretching basketball to new limits | NBA Finals Game 4 analysis

it’s game six of the 1992 NBA Finals The Bulls trail by 15 to start the fourth quarter So they break out a little fullcourt pressure to mess with Portland Chicago unleashed the Dobermans like this from time to time Scottie Pippen famously harassed Mark Jackson in the 1998 Eastern Finals and they’d extend their defense and trap the ball a lot but only for brief stretches In game four of the 2025 finals there were multiple defenders picking up in the back court on a whopping 63 plays the most ever tracked by second spectrum cameras And 44 of these came from Indiana extending its pressure with half its team in the back court like this After Tyrese Hallebertton made this Looney Tunes three the Pacers pick up full court and OKC runs a pick and roll 80 feet away Miles Turner is literally calling out the coverage from the other team’s three-point line Jaylen Williams starts his drive in the back court and he’s too fast for Turner and gets all the way to the rim for free throws And then on the next defensive possession Andrew Nemhard denies Shay Gildus Alexander So he just screens for Williams to go get the ball Then both OKC bigs offer a screen 85 ft from the hoop And JDub again hits the gas And all of a sudden Chad Homegrren’s free in the front court and he’s tripped up for more free throws And to stop the ball this time Seah Hawkam actually lingers in help position at half court And it’s a nice simple read by JDub to go spring chatoo Take a deep breath and check this out After a make Lou Dort picks up Hallebertton immediately powers right through a backcourt screen Isaiah Hartenstein then pounces on him because he’s the closest defender It’s a nice decision then by Harley and Sheay is slightly slow to react Seakkum floats to the line extending that close out and it’s a clean look and then Nemhard belines over to Shay to deny him the ball that forces Jdub to bring it up It’s another backcourt pick and roll OKC’s spacing is off so Seakum can help without attacks this time And a lot of this is just to keep Shay from touching the ball Even in the front court Nemhard’s in full denial position SGA tries to lose him back door but again tight spacing puts Seakkum right there to disrupt it and it’s a forced turnover So for the Pacers they want to make Sha’s touches harder and force other players not just to bring it up but even initiate offense entirely in the half court where someone like Kase Wallace runs pick and roll and SGA never touches it And Sheay already looked fatigued in the second quarter with all this fullcourt activity He was happy to let Caruso initiate the offense And Indie wants these possessions where Sheay never touches the ball It’s great hustle by Turner to contest And another quick stop So after a timeout OKC sets up some backcourt screening to inbound it They just have Caruso bring it up anyway to set up the play But Nemhard is chemically bonded to SGA just refusing to let him go get the ball So finally Shay says “Throw it somewhere else.” He manages to touch it at 11 on the shot clock Runs into traffic and it’s nifty dribbling but he misses Homegrren on a perfect cut It’s a late double And I’m getting tired just watching all this Look at how much effort it takes for Shay to get the ball He’s doubled squeezes through two defenders and his reward is fullcourt pressure He needs another backcourt screen but Ben Shepard stays with him anyway And there’s that aggressive Indiana screen coverage we saw in game three Sheay makes an amazing pass Props to Kendrick Williams for getting his arm out of there and a one-handed catch And then it’s a beautiful dime to the cutting Caruso They even doubled away from the ball on a few inbounds Again Caruso becomes the point guard if JDub isn’t out there AC actually initiated nearly the same number of possessions as SGA in this game And it’s more offense where the MVP never touches the rock Great Seakum defense and they look completely stuck Aaron Nesmith refuses to be screened and down seven They look dead in the water here but Caruso says twos are really valuable and that is a huge desperation shot So this pressure just wears you down both physically and mentally There’s less shot clock to work with and you can force things when you finally get opportunities Flying in here and missing Caruso for a layup and Sheay actually drove right into this double team here Never sees Hallebertton and it’s another steal Some of these swarming highintensity defensive possessions actually resemble the Thunder defense They deny SGAA full court Tophins way out on the screen coverage Hallebertton comes out to gamble on the pass to the roller Williams sees that then spots Caruso but doesn’t want to try Nemhard with that lob pass So when they reset Hallebertton can recover Nemhard still denying Shay like he knows his every move That is nuts Then it’s Wallace with another old school long two And man this game was like being in a high school coach’s fever dream or something 94 ft of basketball on nearly every play Only some players apparently don’t get tired They even forced a prestigious 8-second violation on this possession Although in the fourth there was a hint of pacer fatigue when Turner committed a sloppy foul on this inbounds Remember the Indiana offense sprints all over the court for the entire shot clock So this game was like a new standard in cardiovascular conditioning And keep in mind the Thunder were pressuring in the back court too Dwart is way out on Hallebertton And then we get one of the most bonkers clutch steals ever by a flying Alex Caruso And so Caruso and Dort were denying ball handlers fullourt as well Although they did try to conserve SGAA’s energy all game long with only one day off between these games In this game Dort upgraded from fullcourt pressure to all out denying Hallebertton in the back court And that fullcourt harassment inevitably leads to panicked moving screens to try to free Hallebertton And this was just wallto-wall pressure and fatigue making it harder to set up Indiana’s staggered sets from game three They’re out on both of the possible screens here that chokes off all of Hallebertton’s options basically Amazing work by Dort and Tyrese finally forces a pass and it’s a huge pick six by SGA So if you’re wondering where some of that elbow offense from game three went it’s Oklahoma City pushing these catches way out That one was nearly a turnover And you can really see the adjustment here Hallebertton calls for Turner to come up Iheart then moves to deny his position That pushes the catch like 15 ft off his spot Then it’s Dort doing his thing A late switch so Hallebertton can’t get downhill He unwisely picks up his dribble and then Caruso smothers his outlet for another interception And he had 20 massive points in this game Even in the half court they use every inch of the floor taking away basic passes pushing handoffs out to the midcourt line Caruso is doing that crazy thing where he guards a center Hartinstein jumps to throw him off He ball fakes to get by his man Caruso then sees this and cuts him off then emergency switches out to the perimeter And and that is unreal And the NBA has literally never looked like this As a reminder one of the earlier times the league leapt forward was the 1984 finals back when Kurt Rambus’ neck fouled Kevin McCale’s arm And the halfcourt possessions back then were all inside a 20ft rectangle When they weren’t setting screens 75 ft away the halfcourt possessions in this game started at 47 ft Dor denies Hallebertton again Howie might be exhausted at this point Nemhart tries to go at Sheay but Caruso avoids the switch Drew gets a step but Homegrren makes a huge stand at the rim So Dort’s ball denial and perhaps a little Indiana fatigue was massive in the clutch possessions down the stretch preventing any of that Hallebertton activity away from the ball we saw last game and forcing a massive turnover right after OKC took its first lead of the half Homegrren was also enormous in this game grabbing 15 boards in his 37 minutes OKC was plus 14 in those minutes And it was his mobility on defense down the stretch that smothered Indiana’s offense which was struggling to move horizontally into those multiple actions And this one was sublime with the screen at midcourt He stays with Hallebert and then teleports back to Turner on an unreal closeout Dwart’s in full denial Then the Pacers are discombobulated Then Cadet switches out onto Nemhard and again does a great job staying with him and contesting The Thunder were down four and on the ropes halfway through this quarter and they dusted off the SGA JDub pick and roll in the middle of the floor That’s a great layown pass by Sheay there And they rarely use this setup We saw it a little in game three verse Denver and some verse Minnesota but they send three guys to the baseline and set a flat screen facing the baseline and that’s really difficult for defenses to contain Inside four minutes they run this variation where SGA comes out and screens normally that gets Nemhard switched off him and Sheay sets up in that Dirk Nitzky Kobe Bryant sweet spot and draws a foul I do not personally approve of the rip through call but they just rode this play the entire way home Getting the switch Sheay wants then going to that pinch post area Nemhard comes and doubles this time JDub passes on the three to hit SGA And that is a rare three-pointer in this game and part of a 15-point explosion from Sheay in the final 5 minutes culminating with this near clone of a Kobe Bryant classic from his 61-point game against the Knicks in 2009 Only Nesmith whacked Shay on the wrist taking away a highlight But 92% of OKC’s offense in this game came on two-pointers or free throws So the other old school meets new school element here among all this space with all these modern tactics was the Thunder only made three threes and only attempted 16 in the entire game That’s the fewest threes taken in a finals game since 2013 another series that pushed basketball forward And it’s the fewest makes in a finals game since 2011 So quite literally we have never seen this blend of space pressure tactics and shot selection in a high-level game before Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegrren played arguably the best games of their lives And for once it was the Pacers who seemed to wear down a little among this 48-minute ultra marathon where Alex Caruso Sheay Gilis Alexander and the Oklahoma City Thunder tied this incredible series at two games a piece watching all the way to the end on this one Hope you enjoyed it and that you are having a great day

What happened to the Indiana offense at the end of Game 4 of the 2025 NBA Finals? This detailed film breakdown & scouting report examines the game that pushed space to a new level, with full court pressure for 94 feet across 48 minutes, stretching half court possessions to mid court with ball denial, along with the Thunder adjustments to win a classic NBA Finals in NBA game.

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