What it will take for Indiana Pacers to win Game 7 of NBA Finals vs OKC Thunder

What it will take for Indiana Pacers to win Game 7 of NBA Finals vs OKC Thunder

it’s game seven of the NBA finals the Pacers are playing in it everything at stake and so much to preview with Adam Freriedman on today’s Locked On Pacers podcast you are Locked on Pacers your daily Indiana Pacers podcast part of the Locked on Podcast Network your team every day happy Sunday everybody and welcome in to another edition of the locked on Pacers podcast where we of course talk about the still playing basketball on June 22nd Indiana Pacers as always my name’s Tony East i cover the team for Forbes and today it is here it is the final day of the NBA season game seven of the 2025 NBA Finals is tonight and the Pacers are playing in it they play the Thunder in the biggest game in franchise history for both teams one team will be a champion one team will not one team will be in in sketched into the books of NBA history one team will not and the Pacers have a chance to do it and they’ve had quite the magical run and emotions will be everything in this game and there is so much that intrigues me about this setting and environment you heard Pacers players on this very podcast yesterday talk about it you heard Thunder players talk about it and today I’m going to talk about it with Adam Freriedman you might remember Adam if you listen to this podcast for a very long time uh he used to host this show with me uh he wrote about the Pacers for Indie Cornrows we’re going to talk about game seven the emotions of it all the mental battle what this means for the Pacers in their history and some encore keys let’s just get right to it the two best words in sports game seven everyone has anticipation the players say they don’t have nerves i think some of them are lying it’s the biggest game the NBA provides the first one since 2016 and the Pacers are in it they’re one game from a title and I can’t talk about it alone back for the first time in I don’t know when uh since
season opener no uh preseason we did we did our little
preseason that’s right uh our schedule contest i finally beat you this year very irrelevant after their playoff run many of you know him very well who’ve listened to this podcast for a while it’s Adam Freriedman adam welcome back the Pacers are about to play game seven in the finals this is the most important game in franchise history and the most anxious I’ve been in my life for a sporting event uh like I I have not stopped thinking about it since Thursday night i’m glad TJ McConnell said it today that like he said he said anyone on the like anyone saying they don’t think about the result either direction is like good or bad is lying he’s like they’re lying like the the key thing for the team is to focus and that’s why like I’m again I’ve always said what I think i’m glad he said it because now I kind of like be like yes this is what the players feel i keep saying this and I don’t know how you feel about this but there’s all these basketball things and we’ll talk about some of them on this podcast that matter like role players being good on homer on the road and adjustments to defense the Pacers defended differently in game six and all this stuff and I just keep saying over and over like throw it out dude like who cares about any past things like all these players have experiences in game seven and that’s great but like you just never know how they’re going to be distracted or anxious or or feel and you were talking to me about this before like the last game seven we saw was like 89 to 89 Cavs Warriors for like five minutes and no one could score until Kyrie hit a hellacious shot like it’s just it’s just so different the tense levels the nerves settling in as guys make or miss shots like they’re so scared to mess up it’s just different and I think that is going to be the story of the game it obviously is
yeah i mean I think we’ll know early on who has it and who doesn’t on the specific players both teams might have it but in terms of like oh this guy’s not ready for it or this guy is uh I mean I think the biggest thing is that the Thunder role players have played better at home like all playoffs long and we’ll know early on if they hit a couple threes early that’s not the best sign but if they start missing early then it’s going to become the Shay and Jay Williams show and the Pacers have a defense to to try to stop that now SGA is an incredible one-on-one player so who knows what he can do but they seem to understand if SJ’s not going to pass the ball how to blitz him correctly at least so that would be a good sign and then I mean we’ll see for the Pacers who shows up i mean it feels like this is the kind of game where McConnen just don’t care that they’re on the road because they’ve played well in both buildings frankly and so they just that’s like what you need right you need these random sixth and seventh man guys that score 15 or 20 points and that could swing a game that will probably be under a 100red I would guess just because of the t intensity but uh I don’t know I mean pitchers play very fast but I I wouldn’t be shocked if it ends up being like a high 90 score game just because of how big the moment is and how tense it will be for everyone like when you think back on these legendary games in our lives it’s like yeah Kyrie and LeBron’s like oh yeah Matthew Delivadova was awesome like it’s always some like person like at who does rise to the occasion and plays a good game right maybe that’s TJ McConnell maybe it’s Thunder player you never know or or or Pacer legend Ron Artest Res he hit two huge threes i was watching the 2010 Lakers Celtics game seven he Kobe passed the ball to him and he hit a big three the minute left like that’s the kind of thing that happens ron Artest who notoriously not a good shooter in his entire career just hit the shot when it mattered most tim Tim Duncan a shot that he’s hit 10 bajillion times the floor
the camera shot is like he looks like he’s a foot from the basket and somehow it doesn’t go in right
well even Steph in that 2016 one you’re talking about he had a couple threes where like that goes in most of the time for Steph in step back one foot and like there was one that like hit the inside of the rim and just popped straight up and fell down like that shot goes in for Steph 90% of the time when it matters except on this game seven cuz It’s like it’s just a it’s a random it’s you know NBA playoffs are designed to theoretically the best team should win right over seven games the best team wins when you get down to a game seven it means both teams are pretty even and then it’s just kind it’s not luck but it’s just like there’s a lot of lot of like randomness more in in the game sevens than anything else and
well that’s the that’s the other hard part about these games is like more than fans are willing to admit there’s a lot of randomness and luck in sports like there’s a chance it’s just like random shots
well sure i mean the Pacers are the antithesis of that this this this playoffs right they just keep hitting every single like like sure they they were better in each of those series they might have still won each of those series without winning those game-winning shots but they definitely that helped propel them a little bit further and made them in a let’s say a 55 45 series all of a sudden become more like heavy favorites because they hit Cavs and Bucks they were up you know they were they they handled those but like they they’re down 3-2 against New York right like if that those shot
you never know each game right if they lose game one they win the next three the Cavs they win game three anyways right there’s a lot of like I mean even this series right there’s always a response right like I’m interested to see how the Thunder respond to the Pacers defense last game right and it seems like every time the pitch have gone in the thunder building all of a sudden the passes are not quite as crisp balls getting deflected just a little bit more and it ends up really like kind of screwing them early right i mean I feel like that was especially game one and five particularly in that first quarter you could like feel oh the passes are just like not quite as sharp as they have been at home and then game six you felt like oh they’re making the right pass balls are hitting guys at the right part of the court they’re not risking it too low so I mean that we might know that early on too if the they’re not turning over the ball they’re like kind of kind of brought it
the jarring part of their road turnovers is twice the two games you just said it’s like they have 22 25 whatever turnovers and the Thunder have like 11 steels so like over half their turnovers are just throw it into the back court stupid screen step out of it’s like what has happened like the the ultimate brain farts happening over and over pascalakam’s hands turn to butter for five minutes like it just doesn’t Yeah it’s so it been so weird and that is something they really need to like that’s a basketball thing in this game that will mask itself as what I’m talking about like nerves getting to you when you throw a bad pass but like that’s a basketball thing that will matter in this game among many and yes I’m glad you looked back and watched all these game seven end of games that I needed to do that would have made me
I didn’t do all of them I did like the last three and then I I lost a little bit of Pistons Spurs in ’05 then I remembered how much I hated the Pistons cuz how they beat the Bers the year before and also how terrible basketball not wasn’t terrible back then But it was so so slow i mean that game was like an 8174 game or something like that so I I I I stopped kind of after the Kobe 2010 one that’s the other thing people keep saying that I’m very fascinated by right people keep rightly looking back at all these past game sevens of finals and saying things like “Oh they’re all close and low scoring and all that stuff.” And like yeah I get why like I’ve said that too it’s going to be tight everyone will be tight and and anxious and nervous and all that but like the last two game sevens these two particular teams have played don’t get me wrong they were in the second round but OKC Denver in the second round was like
oh yeah they they smoked them
bloodbath 12593 bloodbath right
i watched maybe just half that game because I realized at halftime I’m like “Oh Denver’s just nut.” They don’t I mean that that Denver team I mean they took OKC to the brink but I don’t know how the Denver team could have survived through the playoffs i mean they were playing like what a Bar Aaron Gordon on on one leg MPJ had one shoulder i mean like that team was barely I mean they were lucky to get to seven right they were they basically Joic was drove the seven games basically by himself
the Pacers last and only game seven with the score was that Knicks game where it was just like oh okay like some something is happening i don’t even know what to describe it as
yeah where they caught so much fire that it was like I was just sitting there like I guess I don’t really have to actually be stressed because they’re just going to make every shot for the first half they were I think 71% in the first half 67% overall in that game i mean it was just like there was I think we were talking about this there was that one moment they got it to nine points in that game then they hit every shot after like the Pacers were just if that team shows up for this game seven they’ll be be it’ll be a great day great day on Monday
yes uh 130 to 109 was that one so these two team that’s even closer than it actually was that game was a 30-point game at one point for like a good chunk of it
yeah it was it doesn’t make sense every shot it felt like in the first half of that game like he just
in the third quarter Aaron Neith barrage of Mid- Rangers like it was just ridiculous and so I only say that to say I don’t I don’t actually know that I believe in my heart of hearts that it’s actually going to be a close game even though history says all these games are close it very well could be but I’m like man both of these teams have in the current setting the Pacers on the road and the Thunder at home in their most recent game seven just mollywed their opponent right so like I don’t know that
yeah i mean the the more I’ve thought about it because I I mean this has been the series has been really interesting right it’s just been so slight adjustments every game by each team to kind of figure out how to like right how to do different attacks how to not turn over the ball essentially in the Pacers end right it seemed like the Thunder to win any game need the Pacers to give them at least I don’t know what we call 15 to 20 points off turnovers like fast very quick points the Pacers probably need the same not quite turnovers but um you know push the pace plays to kind of get enough points to win the game and so like it’s going to come down to I feel like are the Pacers going to be able to make crisp enough passes to kind of not basically be in that situation right they play like a game where they just keep hitting every shot and don’t you know turn over the ball a ton or don’t make dumb turnovers right you can turn over the ball but like even in that game six where they had a couple turnovers but they were not live ball turnovers that led to quick points i don’t I think the Thunder are going to struggle to be able to get enough points to play with the Pacers I guess but every time OKC they turn over the ball like 20 plus times so it wouldn’t be surp
can I sum that up to the description I’ve used a lot for the Pacers in this playoffs
sure the team that wins will be the team that is the most capable of being themselves right like when the Pacers are at their best and they’re thumping the Cavs and the Bucks and the Knicks their offense is fast and it’s at the right tempo and they’re making shots and they’re all wide open because their offense is so good and that makes their defense able to get set every time and be just good enough that they’re just crushing teams right and when the Thunder are playing their best they’re forcing a million turnovers and they wall off the paint and they get just enough half court offense to you know blow open a game because their defense is so good and they it’s kind of a clash on which side of the floor both teams are best at being themselves on and so turnovers are a huge part of that and playing in the open floor is a big part of that but you know that’s a comfort thing like if you feel comfortable and you’re able to play like yourself as a team oh my camera just fell because I’m kicking things you know that that team’s going to feel better about the way they’re playing and that team’s going to look better and be able to get over whatever emotions they have quicker than their opponent right and so that’s so easy to say but like in game five the Pacers were playing too fast right they were trying to play fast and they were thinking and like here’s what I expect to see a lot of game seven look like like early early in the game Miles Turner catches at the top of the key and he’s open he has an open three in front of him
and he looks at it and he sees a defender and then he just swings it to the other side so like swinging the ball is not bad but like he’s thinking so hard about not messing up that it’s not helping the team to not take the open shot like that’s the kind of game seven stuff I expect to see
i’m wondering if it’s more fake the shot put on the ground go to get fouled he’s actually done that he did that a couple times game six to kind of get himself in more he’s been pretty from the free throw line and he’s he’s he is been amazed with Turner is the like right we’ve watched him for 10 straight years we’ve watched him go from this kid could be is he get Larry Bird putting totally unreal expectations on him being the best player in the league like it it’s not fair to like really becoming like a pretty like a really really good basketball player right he’s not an all-star but he’s like that notch two below in the top 40 50 but he’s gotten better at decision-m because in early his career he just wasn’t granted young all stuff but he’s gotten to a point now where I think he can find his comfortability in a game when he’s struggling right well okay he can’t hit a three right but you know what he’s going to going to rebound he’s going to try to put it back up he’s going to try to draw a foul right he’s going to make the right play on defense and so like that’s the thing too that’s going to come down to a lot of this is that the Pacers players there is no one guy that’s going to going to carry this team because that’s not how this team wins a game right where like the Thunder are going to probably get to a point where it’s SGA and Jaylen Williams just trading off baskets or trading off possessions or one’s on ones off right and because at some point they’re going to I mean unless they’re role players just hitting threes left and right they’re going to just basically be afraid to give the ball to someone like um like Wallace or out the Ched Holgrim who looks like a ghost of himself who I’m sure in like 10 years will basically be what Turner is now but is 22 so I kind of get why Holgrim is where he’s at um and so like that’s what it’s going to come like the Pacers have like the guys who sort of like if they just sort of take a deep breath and think about what they do best at times to try to at least to like keep them in the game right and so they just have to sort of like rely on the fact that they’re they can’t rely on one person to carry them they have to all kind of do a little bit here or there to chip in
miles and Cheddar are having hilarious series i saw a stat today that in the finals the two two of the three worst center shooting percentages ever are those two in this series right now they’re both playing terrible on offense and very good on defense
yeah the the the biggest problem is that it’s not that Ched has been terrible was that he should be their third best player
by him right and Turner’s the fifth best offensive player on the floor most of the time he’s out there right i mean I would say 100 definitely fifth best offensive player and he doesn’t have the expectations right we have enough years of Turner the expectation is can you get 13 points seven rebounds couple blocks make the right pass get a pop you know a pick and pop three right we’re like Chad the dude jumps and he’s level with the rim he should make the shot like 80% like like imagine if you played basketball and when you jump your hands were level with the rim it’s like playing in your in like the in your basement when you’re five and they have his little plastic hoops right like it’s just like the game should be so cuz he’s so he’s just has such a good skill set but he also 21 22 right so that’s why I mean six years from now Chad’s going to be scary frankly but
would you like to do a what this means for history kind of convo next or a keys to the court kind of thing next i think history should be last right
onc court stuff i already talked about my big one which is just be yourself as the Pacers right if they’re pace feels right early in the game I think they’ll be able to keep up everybody quick break to talk about lollipop a new kind of soda made for people who love that classic taste of soda but want something that supports their health with just two to five grams of sugar but nine grams of prebiotic fiber in every can lollipop is reimagining soda in a way that’s better for your gut traditional sodas are loaded with sugar like 39 grams in regular Coke or 44 in an orange Fanta ollipop flips that scrub with just a fraction of the sugar no artificial sweeteners and gut friendly ingredients like Alismart a blend shown to support digestive and overall health it’s soda that tastes like the real thing but actually does something good for your body whatever flavor you want to try first there’s so many cherry cola classic grape they’re Dr pepper dupe called Dr goodwin my favorite is the crisp apple the orange vanilla is incredible and of course you’re also supporting your gut health with their prebiotic blend swap out regular soda cut back on sugar and still get those nostalgic flavors you love get a free can of Lollipop just buy any two cans at the store they’ll reimburse you for one or head to drinkipop.com/lockdown NBA to claim your free can and find Ollipop near you that’s drinkallipop.com/lockdown NBA uh I’ll be very fascinated and I think my biggest key for them will be you talked about their defense already how similar to game six it looks because the Thunder are now going to be able to adjust to that lack of fullcourt pressure lower traps thing the Pacers had going on if they’re ready for it what counter punches do the Pacers have is it zone is it just like finally better one-on-one defense against Shay and Jay Dub is it some other wrinkle they can throw in because those two as we saw at the end of game four and in every moment of game five can just take over at any moment right they have to be very crisp on defense i have no doubt the Pacers offense will be close to good enough or good enough right they have only had one like real stinker of a game in the series on that end of the floor but can they actually guard enough to give themselves a chance and I know that’s very generic and not like a key to the game but their defense is kind of wax and way giving up 120 to the Thunder like they didn’t give five is such a death sentence like they’ve got to find a way to be disruptive and forceful and connected on that end and they have sometimes and they haven’t at other times in the series
so I have a really dumb key but this is what I I think I So they’re going to blitz SJ at some point he’s going to make that first pass probably going to go to either Chad Quesan Wallace or Lou Dort my guess is the ball ends up in Lud Dor’s hand ludor takes his high arcing 24 foot three does that shot go in or does it just miss wildly and then does Shay feel like he has to take over the game or that he can trust because in game five he trusted his other guys and he every time the pitch double team I can remember a couple boys were Hallebertton the ball got out of Shay’s hands it got kicking around the corner around the court and then someone hit a three right I think Aaron Wiggins hit a three in that game or maybe Quase Wallace did or maybe as I Joe Joe had one too I mean there was like that was the kind of thing right but if Shay has to take over this game I do wonder if the Pacers have seen him enough to disrupt his bag of tricks right I mean he could still hit all his shots fading away off his like right foot but like it seems like Nemhardt understands his timing a little bit better and they’ve and he’s helped everyone else figure out Chase timing in a sense that like they can try to disrupt it enough right to make him go you know 13 of 26 or 10 of 26 instead of 18 of 26 i mean and and Jaylen Williams in game five basically was able to score through a ton of contact really well but like how repeatable is that and so that’s what I mean like is it going to come down to this iso ball of those two or will they trust their role players to do enough and so that’s like cuz once they start hitting if the role guys hit threes the Pacers get I mean they’re just kind of screwed it’s just like it’s so hard because you can’t double team Shay and Shay one-on-one is the best one-on-one player in the league
i mean it feels like at times I mean he can like I mean he can hit anything from anywhere
maybe maybe both teams are all players just can’t miss right is that is that off the table
right i mean that that would be the the the opposite of every game seven in history but would be so Pacers Thunder series so it’ be like a 130 to 125 game right like Yeah n just range threes left and right well we talked about game seven that Knicks game where they set the little shooting percentage record even in this series the final series in game one they made 16 threes in that game 15 17 I don’t remember a lot
right the reason they they had a chance late in that game was by being down 15 early was Turner banked in a three
yeah he does he does sometimes he’s done that a few in the regular season i’ve seen him hit that shot before i don’t know if it always goes in but he does like to do that it’s not like
the side stepping bank from him toppin was was feeling it in that game nith made threes in that game siako made threes in that game right like they can do it in that building right so what if it’s just like oh both teams are going to make 14 threes
so I have another question i have a question for you do you
Yes we haven’t really seen it this series are we going to finally I know he’s hurt but are we going to get one of those Hallebertton like I am like when I’m at my best I am the best player i’m one of the best you know passers non turnover shooters in this league right like we had in game four of the Nick series he played really good in game six of that series i would say game four is his better game but like and I know maybe the calf is hurting him but I don’t assume he’ll be on so much Advil that his like will be numb it’ll be fine he’ll feel great like does he just have one of those like signature games of like I’m going to go for 30 points 14 assists no like two turnovers
i don’t know if the 30 is possible at his current state like it’s hard for him to get the shots up that he normally does i think the 15 assist game could happen though like I think he could pass to that level
um he’s still commanding attention that was something I was really curious about in game six is how the Thunder would change their game plan defending him knowing he was limited and they were still like terrified of him you know
well and he forced them to to to basically put a guy like if right the way most teams guard Halburn is the way teams guard Curry they stick a guy so close to him and they can follow him around the print which is like a huge sign of respect for a player like that and they don’t really feel
I wondered if they would shag off a little knowing he but then he hit a three and he like had a floater and like he he basically told you you’re going to leave me like cuz remember in Sacramento he played as an offthe-ball shooting guard to Darren Fox so like he has that skills they just don’t really ever do it because it’s not their best strategy but like he hit that one kind of like I think Nard hit him for the pass i’m not trying to remember who but like at the top of the key for a three so like he can be a you know a spot up shooter and hit pretty well he’s a very good three-point shooter when he’s in general for considering how well he’s guarded
yeah I think that’s a big part of it and that’s why I think it was so important that he took shots early in game six is just to and he made them obviously but just like hey I will shoot like you give me a little space it’s going up can he do that enough to score 30 uh I don’t know i don’t know
yeah i mean maybe it’s like a maybe it’s a 20 point 14 assist game even that’s I mean like
I I just wonder if it’s like we haven’t really we’ve we’ve seen him hit the game winner but we haven’t seen him have his signature game of the series right he’s basically had a signature game in every series where he kind of put his stamp on it of like
and he he hasn’t done that yet and it injuries might be the reason he can’t frankly i mean right he’s kind of he would say he’s been had a leg injury all series frankly right i think we started hearing about it after game two I want to say so maybe game three was game
i think they’re different injuries they’re not they’re not but you know what I’m saying yeah
yeah they’re different injuries that end up being related to each other because he’s putting more pressure on one part of his leg yeah yeah i get it i get it
i think it’s I think it’s very possible he has like a high assist game i think that is on the table uh I don’t know about the 30 part if any if anyone has that kind of game it’d be Pascal I think which is totally possible
yeah yeah I mean Pascal’s the kind of guy who just starts hitting every mid-range he’s
bing and if and if the Thunder defense just like is willing to put the small guy on him like they have throughout the series the Pacers like great okay here you shoot and then he scores like it just he can just do that
the main thing is I just really hope it’s not one of these games with the claw way back i just I mean every time I mean that game one I was l just like this team really they have to do this they have to go down 15 and then claw and claw oh oh now now they should play okay oh oh oh he hit the shot god dang wow like at some point the luck the luck does run out right i mean if they win this on some kind of like closed
It did game four it did
but but you would say the same about game three in the Knicks series they lost game three in a same Right they’re up 20 tied at 97 late in that game too yeah
yeah and remember I mean I watched Towns just score 20 points in a quarter i mean it like I don’t I don’t know if game I mean game four is actually game three of the Knicks series and they still you know kept their lucky rabbits foot it felt like so I mean
valid points
i don’t know i mean if if you want to do a history I mean this is sort of this is what this team’s done it would be very fitting for this playoff team to win game seven on the road and just cement themselves as sort of like one of the greatest sports stories of all time
yeah exactly that’s where I would like to end this
uh yes it would be among the craziest
i I compare it to Miracle on Ice i don’t know the 1984 hockey team you thought that
was I’m obviously too young to know the
So am I i’ve watched the documentary right like I understand uh I think I watched the movie with uh I forget who the actors are now but I’ve seen the movie
like I understand that one and that eight seed Knicks and the Rockets and the the six seed Rockets and the Villanova eight seed and
the eight seed Knicks didn’t win the title
no but they made it very far the six Rockets won the title
um
yes they did but that but I think that team different in hindsight because they they won back to back so they clearly were one of the best teams of that was they the six I don’t know if they were the six seed the first time or second time but they were one of the best
i don’t either and obviously it felt a little different because MJ was out of the NBA i mean the best comparison is probably like 04 Pistons in terms of just like coming out of nowhere as a team and not having the superstar and it would be fitting because that four pisters they beat the Pacers they took out probably the best Pacer team of our lifetime until this team right now like literally until this team
how many times in the team building of the Pacers building through the middle did people cope and say something like “Oh if they they if they build well enough they can be the four Pistons that’s every that’s every team that’s in that what we put the middle right that five to nine seed trap like oh we can just become the Pistons and now they they actually have become the Pistons
now they’ll say but now if they win everybody will say well gosh I mean they just one run away from the 25 yeah and that Pistons team though like in hindsight right they made like five conference finals in a row they they won a championship they could have won back toback they lost the game seven to San Antonio I mean there’s a chance right this is like I was not saying an NBA championship run but like they just couldn’t make three or four conference finals in a row and it could be kind of we could be in the middle of that like four or five year run of like oh this team is consistent today
no but they they could be in the middle of like a pretty consistently decent run right of just being one of the best four to six teams in the league every year 25 right
yeah they only it’s does age well and I guess he played basketball he hasn’t played basketball a later basketball guy so maybe he’s got a longer window turner just turned 30 I think or going to turn 30 next year right
next year yeah
yeah so like I mean Te m McConnell but I mean I don’t I feel like you just keep that guy on ice and bring him in the playoffs be fine right don’t play him all season he’ll come back and come in the playoffs play his hardest that’s all you really need right you don’t need him to be a regular season guy you’re fine what What has happened in TJ McConnell’s career that you’re put him on ice guy uh well no but like as he gets older right you don’t need to play him all 82 games you play him 60 you play him 50 but he he comes in the playoffs and is just a great playoff guy so yeah the history part look this is already their most successful playoffs ever right they won three finals games check this is I the great but beyond the great sports stories and the history of how this season will be remembered by other teams in the league like a chance for a franchise around for 50 plus years to win their first thing like that is the history and the Pacers never had a top three or four pick and they managed to
and I don’t think the No the Thunder did chef’s number two overall right this Pacers team the worst they did was the six pick for Mather where they were probably one of the five worst teams that year otherwise they really have not they like this is all through just like even the Walker year they were good and then they just got hurt
yeah like this whole thing is margin moves right getting top in here keeping deciding to keep McConnell deciding to keep Turner right nay Smith it’s all just 31 pick for Nemhard right it’s just like or whatever pick it was was it 31 was he right he was the first yeah yeah on the other side of the draft i mean that’s just like
those margin moves i mean that’s that’s
this is what this is what like the NBA would want team to be built right like right like the Thunder are built like it but they also made one of those like Celtics Nuts alltime trades with Paul George right which yep they got from us which is just great great to feel we could got we could have got SGA for Paul George at one point in our lives I guess is the other funny part about this whole thing I guess but uh yeah this is the way team building I guess is sort of they wanted to be how they will be remembered specifically the result tonight will let us know Adam we did it we finally got back together I’m so I’m so nervous I’m going to be honest I I’ve never I I have been a Pacer fan since the 0304 season I was seven So you know they were really great that year i didn’t understand how great they were i was and I I have never been I’ve never had more anxiety over basketball games than this playoff run and then particularly thinking about last game was really anxiety then they blew the doors out it’s like “All right I’m feeling better they’re up 30 and three they’re going to win this game.” And then I’m thinking “Oh crap one game four this is this is this is rough.” But it was
outside of literally being the best team in the NBA and and being the favorites the second the series starts like you will never have this high of a percent chance at a championship probably right like
I mean unless you go up 3-1 in a series in the finals next I mean yeah
and they were this close to that too
you know what stop I can’t think about it I can’t I can’t do that right now
okay I’ll help you I’ll help you cope with that obviously in a month we’ll see what happens we we could talk about game four and
the chronological order of the series makes this argument not hit right because game one happened before game four but if you’re going to be the person who says says “If they just won game four would be over already.” Yeah if they just lost game one it’d also be over already and game one was just as miraculous in the opposite
every game in the NBA playoffs they they they feed off each other right they make adjustments chronological order makes my argument not
I mean the the Pacers best benefit this playoff is basically they played three playoff games they should have lost so they were able to adjust like they lost but they won the game right particularly that Knicks game in the in the East Silence right like right when you like the Knicks game right they got crushed on the boards by Mitchell and they solved that in game two of that series the Thunder they didn’t quite solve it but like the Thunder are like a obviously a better team right but like that’s the point each game is independent you don’t know right if we won game four maybe lose game five the Thunder come out with a whole different level of intensity for game six right like you just don’t you just don’t know they don’t nothing is nothing happens in a vacuum they’re all feeding into a total left and right
but that doesn’t suit my argument as much so I I’m just going to choose to disagree with you that’s fine it’s You know what it’s your podcast you can make whatever argument you want
yes h Well we’ll see what tomorrow’s podcast is about the last one talking about an individual game i’ll be at the Paycom Center uh Adam will be watching at his from my from my TV at home
home apartment i don’t know what to call it um
apartment I guess yeah
place he lives and maybe maybe I’ll see you in Indianapolis next week do I not
do I even do the where can people find you thing even though your online experience is
I’ve basically I’ve gone off the internet i mean not entirely i do like work at a news publication but I don’t I don’t I don’t I don’t use Twitter that much anymore basically I just use Twitter to see what’s going on with the Pacers from your account i just go I just go what is what’s going on oh okay like what happened to Alurn okay what did Tony say it’s basically Listen you I I watch you you’ve become I would say the one of the go-to Pacer guys i mean if not the goi one I don’t know who’s on your I mean I know a couple guys that are competing with you for that spot but I mean you’ve been covering this team longer than anyone I can think of besides maybe Scott otherwise
forever
but like otherwise
my friend my good friend Dustin belongs here as well obviously
yeah no he’s doing a great job but I think you’ve been doing it longer than Dustin slightly
i have
i think I think for the Pacers at least right that’s all you’ve been You’ve been there i think you’ve been there since the Ola Depot years to the
You and I’s first podcast was uh Paul George trade stuff
the Paul those guys so the Paul George trade to the Olad Depot awesome season to the Ola Depot hurt season to the bubble terribleness to the Borcin year to the two terrible just not good seasons till they got Hallebertton kind of like
and all of that and all of that fits under one front office that will maybe be remembered it’s one game
it’s the greatest argument for like just keep just trust the process and keep running it over because I I mean I think five years ago we’ve been like Pritchard Job might be on the line now I mean like this guy’s I’m not sure he’s ever going to like he’ll be the Pac president till he doesn’t want to be the Pacers president anymore like he’s been like every move he’s made in the draft and stuff that you just I mean at least he’s hitting at such a high rate these days i’m not sure like
he has maximized every asset he has he keeps he keeps as much value in it as he well I can talk about Kevin Pritchard after the
I know I mean it just like I mean yeah he’s done a great job i mean I think even when he did made the Collison Bdonovich move three seven seven years ago now that was a good like he clearly understands value how to like how do I maximize the value I currently have to get margins and so it’s it’s worked out and Hallebertton ended up being a a you know top 10 15 player and that’s that’s how you do it that’s how he built a finals team that has a chance at glory tomorrow me and someone we’ll see how this goes i don’t Derek will probably be around i haven’t talked to him about how I’m going to handle this i don’t know what’s going to happen
i think the result the results going to make it high
that is part of it the results part of it the what is even going to happen in the Paycom center is part of it we’ll see there will be a podcast tomorrow about game seven and whatever happened uh thank you all so much for listening today do your best to manage your emotions the rest of the day see you tomorrow

Tonight, the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder battle in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals. What will it take for the Pacers to win and earn their first NBA Championship? Host Tony East and former co-host Adam Friedman break it all down.

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