2025 NBA Finals: Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder | Game 6 Preview, Picks, Insight & MORE 🏆

2025 NBA Finals: Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder | Game 6 Preview, Picks, Insight & MORE 🏆

what’s going on everybody welcome in to a fresh hour of CBS Sports HQ i’m Jacqueline Diagino the NBA Finals returning tonight finally for game six of the Thunder and the Pacers the Thunder have to travel over to Indianapolis where we know they’ve been better on their home court than on the road so that is interesting with a win tonight the Thunder they’re going to get their first championship since 1979 when they weren’t even the OKC Thunder they were still the Seattle SuperSonics so seeking that first trophy since relocating to Oklahoma City so yes Indie they get to return to their home court but the big story here is Tyrese Hallebertton saying “If I can walk I want to play.” We know he is dealing with that strained calf we saw that really impact him heavily in game five uh Tyrese Hallebertton still questionable a game time decision and I don’t know with the the pace of play with the Pacers they’re not walking they’re like running down the court trying to get to 110 so we’ll have to see but we have a special treat here for game six john Gonzalez joining us in house with Brad Buckin gentlemen great to have you guys together in the flesh first time so we have a lot to dive into and we are starting with Tyrese’s Hallebertton right because Rick Carile saying on a local radio station will likely be listed as questionable probably going to be a game time decision for game six if you’re a Pacers fan you’re probably a little bit nervous seeing what you saw in game five where he was very very unproductive and here is that full quote from Rick Carile to 1075 the fan there in Indianapolis john I’ll come to you first if he doesn’t play or if he’s 50% Tyrese Hallebertton which I don’t even know what percent we saw in game five it was like maybe 10 um who are you looking to to step up you can’t replace him but who are you looking to to kind of really step up and have that next man up mentality I suppose yeah the natural progression I guess would be TJ McConnell tj had a really good third quarter in game five they went back to him late i thought probably a little too late rick Carile has been excellent not just this postseason but his entire career pulling the right levers at the right time i thought that it was a little surprising that it took him that long to go back to T.J mcconnell in the fourth quarter given that obviously Tyrese Hallebertton didn’t look like himself and then on top of that Nemhard killed them with three turnovers in the fourth quarter so you I would look for TJ McConnell to step up but like you said that it’s really hard to replicate that production from Tyrese Hallebertton when he’s playing at a high level at an allNBA level we’ve seen him hit big shot after big shot after big shot this postseason so yeah it’s going to have to be more TJ McConnell more Pascal Siaka more Miles Turner more everybody jack Yeah Miles Turner is the key he’s got to get his three-point shot going he has not been making threes in this series you’re not going to replicate what Hallebertton does from a push standpoint from a pass ahead standpoint pace organization all of those things you just you can’t do it so to me you got to look outside the point guard position you know this always happens with this next man up thing there’s a reason that TJ McConnell is a backup and a fantastic one you you try to push guys ahead and to be more than they are tj McConnell is not going to play 35 minutes and get you 22 points and nine assists if you’re trying to push guys ahead of their tier where they’re supposed to be playing you’re asking for trouble so to me a guy that can’t that it’s within the realm of his natural production is Miles Turner that’s a guy that we have seen make three-pointers at a high clip pull Chad out make them start questioning if they can play small late with one big and no rim protection make them start making some lineup decisions because Miles Turner is making his three-pointers not going to replicate the organization and pace stuff that Tyrese Hton brings hallebertton brings but let’s just say if he can walk he can play i’m not saying he’s not playing yet and his presence does mean something if if he doesn’t play now the cautionary tale here is the calf everybody is terrified of calf strains ever since Kevin Durant you strain your calf you’re susceptible to an Achilles tear and they everybody is very very uh weary of that these days so that would be the if this was like a shoulder or something like they would wrap that thing up you know it’s elimination game but the calf will give you pause yeah and I want to kind of circle back to the Rick Carile and some of the rotations when we’re talking about what Indiana needs to do to force a game seven right because we always sing his praises on adjustments and all of that but then in game five to your point TJ McConnell if you have the hot hand you think you’re going to ride somebody and instead you’re leading to a guy who’s turning over the ball so in terms of rotations and what they need to do Brad to force a game seven what does that look like are you expecting you know I know you’re saying “Hey TJ McConnell is not going to go out there and get you 25.” But if he has a hot hand do you lean into that instead of pulling him like we saw in game five well yeah tonight it’s not leaning into anything like you don’t have a choice you know but I I I don’t I don’t look at what Rick Carell did in in the previous game and you know again if we’re going to praise the guy he knows his players he knows their rule there’s there’s a very fine line between bench players in the NBA playing good against backups that’s the key they were talking about it on the broadcasting game why is TJ McConnell not a starter well it’s a whole different story when you’re going against Steph Curry and Damen Lillard and Shay and all these guys straight up tj McConnell thrives against bench units in short spurts where he can play all out balls to the wall trying to steal inbound passes fullcourt pressure going into the paint he’s I just don’t think that that’s a thing you can sustain and if you have other options you go to it so I don’t blame him for not doing it but in this case he’s got to do it but Nemhard I think is the is the better player he’s he’s already a starting player we have seen him play big in big games to me he’s a guy that actually can somewhat replicate what Hallebertton can do over an extended game and if we go to the OKC side of things right because now they have to hit the road where the splits with their their record at home in the playoffs versus their record on the road it’s it’s very different 10 and two on their home court we’ve heard that as a very hostile environment John five and four on the road does that if you’re a Pacers fan does that give you any sort of hope where you’re seeing the split for them on the road it’s a little bit more difficult for them to snag wins here yeah a little bit of hope right i mean you’re clinging on to anything you can right now if you’re the Indiana Pacers and the and their fans because look you don’t know what kind of Tyrese Hallebertton you’re going to get they have been good at home the Pacers have been uh in the fieldhouse the fieldhouse I would expect is going to be rocking tonight they don’t want their season to end i mean they’re already playing with house money this has been a really successful season for the Indiana Pacers nobody expected them to make it to the NBA finals i didn’t even expect them to make it back to the Eastern Conference Finals and not long ago Tyrese Hallebertton was sitting up with the Deis and saying “Nobody believed in us.” Right well normally when athletes say that I roll my eyes it’s a cliche i’ve had enough of this right but in their case they’re absolutely right outside of Indiana outside of that fan base and that organization nobody believed in them so yes you look at uh Oklahoma City Thunder being five and four on the road in the postseason and you go maybe we can shock people one more time tonight get another win send it back to Oklahoma City for game seven keep the series alive and then maybe give Tyrese Hallebertton a little bit of time to heal up and then who knows what happens in a game seven yeah they were in the Eastern Conference finals and we’re like hm is this team for real which is kind of insane because if it was the Knicks and the Celtics we would not be having that conversation whatsoever i want to reflect back on game five because we saw SGA and Jaylen Williams combined for 71 points in that game jdub had 40 all in his own right and Brad I remember we went back and we were talking about Team USA verse the world teams and you had put Jaylen Williams in in your starting lineup over LeBron James so do you think that he is the best number two option in the association and I know you think very very highly of him going back to your starting five of team USA oh I think highly of him no question you know there’s a there it’s a tough category because who’s number two so like if Kevin Durant stays in Phoenix like is Devin Booker a number two you know is is Luca or LeBron a number two but in that traditional sense where there’s an a clear hierarchy between one and two on a team he’s the best number two in the league there i just don’t I don’t see an argument to the contrary this is a guy who can win games in a multitude of ways for your team so you have a lot of specialists in the NBA but there aren’t many guys even even number ones that can do on both ends of the court what Jaylen Williams can do he can shoot he’s one of the best isolation players in the league and that goes a long way when you’re playing with the best isolation player in the league who’s going to draw doubles and you’re going to get the ball swung to your side and you’re going to get one-on-one creation opportunities he defends he pushes the ball what I love about him most is he can play off the ball so this is a guy that can honestly is probably one of the seven or eight best individual shot creators in the league and yet he is not uncomfortable waiting his turn he’s not uncomfortable letting Shay organize conduct a possession and wait for it to come to him he’s a sensational cutter if you go back and watch those 40 points that he scored in game five like the first 10 or 12 of them were transition finishes flashes to the paint back door cuts these are things that role players do so he’s a star player who accepts his role so so valuable i cannot think of a num a true number two a like if if Kevin Durant joins Anthony Edwards then who’s one and who’s two but a true number two i’m He’s my guy okay what say you John yeah he’s boxing us in here on the whole true number two thing but you’re absolutely right about that cuz I went through I saw Normally with Brad’s takes I have to take a step back and think about this for a second oh man but on this one cuz it can be a little spicy when when Brad comes up with these he’s right about this because if you’re if we’re not doing Luca and LeBron if we’re not doing you know then I You can do LeBron he’s He’s better than LeBron you can do that one okay so LeBron is interesting but Jimmy and and Steph are interesting jimmy and Steph is interesting what do you do about Kyrie and Anthony Davis again that’s one of those situations my caveat for that was Kyrie’s out so Davis is the one yeah okay with respect to Jaylen Williams yeah he’s unbelievable i mean this team the one thing the one thing that I have a little bit of umbrage with that we’ve seen him improve on in the finals is when you were saying it’s okay for him to watch SGA and have him set things up generally yes but I’d like to see a more assertive Jaylen Williams earlier in the postseason he was sort of inconsistent but in the finals what we’ve seen is that aggressive hunting for his shots looking to score Jaylen Williams and really being like not just the backup option but the 1A option to SJ when those two guys are cooking at the same time Oklahoma City is n unstoppable and now you’ve seen him score over 25 points in three straight NBA Finals games and what has happened they’ve won the last two of them they’ve really put the Pacers up against it so Jaylen Williams when he’s you know this is the first season that he made all uh all-star all NBA and all defense that that raises your level now all of a sudden everybody’s paying attention to you everybody’s looking to you and not just to be the guy behind SGA but to be the guy standing right beside him it’s a tough that it’s an interesting point about you know how aggressive he should be because from afar it’s easy to say “This guy’s got all the goods and they’re really good when both those guys are cooking go do it.” In real time it’s a tough adjustment to make when you’ve got let’s just call Shay the Michael Jordan of the team he’s the Scotty Pip it’s very difficult in real time to judge when to hit the gas when Shay’s next to you you know we saw Jimmy Butler have trouble with this when Steph Curry’s out there like it there’s there is an awareness of being the number two when the one of the best players in the world is right next to you to just say take the ball i’m taking this possession so he’s learning that part as it goes and I think what’s most scary about this OKC team is that it feels like this is just the beginning that we’re seeing from them the average age is what like 24 on the squad and they built this thing right youngest team to win a championship since 77 Blazers if they do it yeah which is which is absolutely insane and and the guys the core they have with Cadet and SGA and Jaylen Williams they’re not going anywhere right like they’re under contract for for some time to come um so if they do win and we’re seeing it here most wins in a season including the playoffs you’re in pretty good company if you’re like kind of in this territory right John where would this team rank all time in NBA history if they do win and in the fashion that they did do it to get to the finals yeah ex I mean it’s what you said that they’re so young for them to be doing this this soon and I know last year everybody had their questions cuz they got bounced out in the second round oh could could a young team win in the postseason when when things got tight well asked and answered so far they’re one- win away from an NBA championship and what a season they had they were number one in point differential not just this season but in NBA history they had the number one defense we’ve seen how good they’ve been with that defense generating offense number one in turnovers number one in points off of turnovers they’re just and and to be their average age is uh 25 and a half years old they’ve got an MVP already they’ve got two AllNBA selections they’ve got multiple players who have made all defense not just this year but in previous years that bench is loaded they’ve got a coach of the year they’ve got an executive of the year where do they rank i mean I know that like we like to talk about superlatives but they’re going to be one of the best teams in NBA history and it’s wild to think about because this team isn’t just set up for this year they’re set up for the long haul and they’re not going anywhere anytime soon yeah so the caveat to this is if we’re talking about multiple championships that’s that’s the thing that separates like the Durant Curry Warriors and the Jordan Pipp and Bulls and the Magic Lakers and Bird Celtics and Russell Celtics and the Big Three in Miami and the Bad Boys like all these teams have had multiple championships now we’re projecting that this team is going to have multiple championships it’s a very different landscape no matter how good you are in today’s NBA the talent is so deep and so spread out injuries all kinds of things come into play i can’t guarantee they’re going to win i I can’t even guarantee they’re going to win tonight but let’s say they win let’s say they win this championship it’s a whole another mountain to climb again so that’s that’s an exclusive group that they aren’t into yet if we look at this through the prism of single seasons single season dominant teams they have to be there the 84 wins the best one of the best defenses ever like that part we can say um the point differential the blowouts if you look at like number of 30 point wins in the playoffs I think four 30-point wins in the playoffs never been done before there’s all kinds of bullet points that you could get here um that would suggest in a single season you know when was the last time somebody had an MVP scoring title and finals MVP that’s going to happen if Shay wins tonight um there’s all kinds of bullet points to suggest that from a single season standpoint this is one of the 10 best teams we’ve seen 10 best seasons we’ve seen yeah and to your point we’ve had what seven different champions in the NBA it’s tough the dynasty part we’re all talking about it because of the age but it’s tough tough to repeat in this day and age in the NBA all right getting a look at the schedule game six that is tonight in Indie where OKC has the chance to close this thing out if there is a game seven if somehow the Pacers and Tyrese Hallebert and if we see 50% Tyrese 80% whatever it is if they force a game seven that’s going to be on Sunday in OKC

John Gonzalez and Brad Botkin join CBS Sports HQ to preview Game 6 of the NBA Finals between the Pacers and Thunder.

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