Underdog Pacers embracing ‘best challenge’ of facing Thunder
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Indiana Pacers will begin the NBA Finals as heavy underdogs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but after an entire playoff run built on being overlooked, they like it that way.
“I don’t think we expect anyone to pick us,” Pacers forward Pascal Siakam said at NBA Finals media day Wednesday afternoon. “It’s been that way the whole playoffs. The whole season. Nothing for us changes. We just continue to be ourselves, focus on us. It’s always been us against everyone.”
Oklahoma City is currently a -700 favorite to win the Finals, according to ESPN BET. In the past 20 years, only the 2018 Golden State Warriors, who were -1075 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, began a Finals series as heavier favorites, according to ESPN Research.
But it’s familiar territory for Indiana. The Pacers were the underdog in every game of their second-round series against the 64-win Cavs, yet advanced in five games. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers rallied around the hype and media buzz generated by the New York Knicks to help fuel their series victory.
But Indiana players and coaches acknowledged how Oklahoma City presents an even more daunting task. After leading the NBA with 68 wins in the regular season, the Thunder have gone 12-4 through the West playoffs, led by league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“They’re historically great on both sides of the ball,” Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton said. “They have the MVP. There’s so many different things you could name down the list of why they are so great at what they do, why they’re such a great team.”
But Haliburton acknowledged the Pacers wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You want to go through the best team, the best challenge. This is the best challenge,” Haliburton said. “This is the best team in the NBA. It’s been the best team in the NBA all year. They’re well-coached. They just do everything so well. There’s no shortcuts to beating this team. We know the odds are stacked against us. It is what it is. We want to be here. We want to play against the best. This is the best. We look forward to the challenge as a group.”
The Thunder have been one of the best teams in the NBA since starting the season 7-0 and advancing to the NBA Cup Finals in December.
The Pacers, meanwhile, were 10-15 by mid-December, battling injuries and feeling a letdown following a conference finals appearance the year before.
Pacers center Myles Turner said Wednesday that the slow start ended up being one of the best things to happen to Indiana, because it made them handle adversity after what they thought was a successful end to the 2024 season.
The Pacers have flourished since the start of this calendar year; since Jan. 1, they and the Thunder own the two best records in the NBA. It’s the first time since 2015 that the two teams with the best winning percentage in the new year have reached the Finals, according to ESPN Research.
“We’re aware what’s expected here,” said Indiana’s Rick Carlisle, who was coach of the Dallas Mavericks when they upset a heavily favored Miami Heat team in 2011. “We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us. A lot of our guys have been through a lot of situations where they’ve been underdogs in the past.
“It’s simply going to come down to us being able to play our game at the best possible level. We’re going to need to take care of the ball because these guys turn people over at an historic rate. And, we’re going to have to make some shots.”
Source: espn.com