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New York Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- New York Times
Jalen Williams' ambitious NBA Finals arrival has Thunder close to championship glory
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. COn this day in 1976, the NBA added four teams from the ABA after its merger with the rival league. The Nuggets, Nets, Spurs and Pacers joined. In my opinion, this is when the NBA history truly started mattering, as the league reached 22 teams. It feels similar to the pre and post-Super Bowl era in the NFL. Here is a trailer for a documentary about the merger. Williams' ascension puts OKC one win from title Shai Gilgeous-Alexander having 31 points, 10 assists and four blocks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals was impressive, but not totally surprising. Yes, the assists and blocks are higher than normal, but you probably aren't going to see that statline and outright know that the Thunder took the night 120-109 to pull within one win of their first NBA championship. The league MVP has been performing at an historic pace all season and postseason long. Advertisement When you find out that the run Jalen Williams is on just culminated in the best postseason game of his career, his 40-point effort on 14-of-25 shooting from the field and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line? That's when you know the Thunder absolutely took Game 5. This was just the fourth time all season these two scored 30 or more in the same game. There was a win against San Antonio this season in which Williams dropped 41 and SGA added 31, pretty close to the same totals last night. In a Thunder loss to Dallas, there was a 33-point effort by Williams with 31 from SGA. And then, there was the pivotal Game 4 semifinals win in Minneapolis to put the Wolves on tilt with SGA finishing with 40 and Williams having 34. But this performance by Williams has been building all series long against the Pacers, and it's what has the Thunder on the brink of a champagne celebration. In every game of this series, Williams has gotten better: A lot of this has been due to Williams driving to the basket. He's been unstoppable doing that. He has hit every defensive slide with a counter, almost looking like an offensive training drill you'd see him practicing in the summer. It's robotic and effective. His body control, especially through contact, has been Matrix-esque. And his timing is perfect, keeping rotating defenders off-balance with the same hand, same foot layups to speed up the process. The broadcast keeps reminding us Williams says that pressure is a privilege. It's like claiming that someone in today's society has come up with, 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.' But he has seemed to embrace it after some tricky postseason moments in his young career. Williams struggled in their series loss to Dallas last year. His numbers weren't disastrous, by any means. He just wasn't good enough or aggressive enough for what they needed. Such can be life for a 23-year-old in the postseason. Advertisement And even in the Denver series this year, he was brutal offensively, needing 95 shots to score 99 points through the first six games and knocking down just 33.7 percent of his shots and 21.2 percent of his 3-pointers. He was making the rim look like a carnival game. But in Game 7, he stepped up and was dominant in a very compact way. Then, he demolished the Wolves. And we've seen him build from struggling early in this series to dominating last night. It's a reminder too that Williams is only 24 years old and finishing his third season in the NBA. He just made his first All-Star Game, earned an All-Defensive team nod and was named to an All-NBA squad before he even starting negotiations for his rookie contract extension. And one more game like this will bring his first NBA championship. Looks like we don't have to worry about any postseason jitters anymore, if we ever truly did in the first place. We found a point guard for you this summer 🏀 Take the lead. Looking for a floor general this summer? John Hollinger knows who to sign. 💰 Mebounds. Angel Reese has received a lot of criticism online for her play. She's now trying to make money off it. 🔼 Fever rising. Caitlin Clark is back, and the Indiana is rising. They're high on the latest power rankings. 🏀 On the glass. Another reason for the Thunder winning Game 5? Isaiah Hartenstein doing what he does best. 🏈 Fantastic name. This is not related to basketball, but I really enjoyed this story on a no-name QB rising to a projected top pick. LaNorris Sellers, come on down. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses the Game 5 atmosphere in Oklahoma City. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. Is Haliburton's injury limiting Indy's title shot? The big part of the Pacers' side of Game 5 was the play of Tyrese Haliburton. He was not good. He was not playing to the standard you expect from the star guard who has arguably been the story of the 2025 postseason. His incendiary clutch play has taken the playoffs by storm, and even though the Pacers are now down 3-2 in the series, I'm not sure anybody who has paid attention to Indiana during this run is ready to count out the Pacers … that is if Haliburton can be healthy enough to perform. Advertisement Haliburton has been battling a leg injury since Game 2, and we saw him look very limited during his Game 5 performance. In 34 minutes, the Pacers franchise guy had four points on 0-of-6 from the field, 0-of-4 from deep and made all four of his free-throw attempts. He also had seven rebounds and six assists in the game. But this is not the guy you expect to see. You never expect to see him go a full game without making a single shot. It was the seventh time in his career Haliburton has gone without a make in a game. It happened twice this season in two blowout losses on the road. This is the first time we've seen it in the postseason from Haliburton, though. This is obviously a major problem if he can't get right with two days of rest in between Games 5 and 6 on Thursday. Haliburton told reporters after the game that if he can walk, he's going to play, but he was entirely ineffective in Game 5. T.J. McConnell came in off the bench and was massive for them in the third quarter. He had 13 of his 18 points off the bench in that period and helped keep the Pacers close. It was extremely necessary, considering how off Haliburton was. But the Pacers were never going to topple the Thunder in OKC without a much better effort from their top guy. Indiana's odds have been all over the place. After going up 2-1, the Pacers entered a realm in which teams up 2-1 in the NBA Finals win 80.5 percent of the time. In that same space, when a team is up 2-1 and at home for Game 4, they were just 9-10 going into this series. That dropped to 9-11. Now, the Thunder winning Game 5 put them in a highly optimistic group. Teams that go up 3-2 in the Finals win the championship 74.2 percent of the time. For the Pacers to have a chance at being that quarter of history that still perseveres and wins it all, Haliburton has to bounce back from his injury and put on a show. Should teams not on KD's list take a chance? The Kevin Durant trade market might be the biggest move of the summer. Of course, the Desmond Bane trade to Orlando also might be signaling an odd offseason of surprise moves that leave us wondering what exactly anybody is doing at any given time. Such is life in the era of luxury-tax penalties due to the second apron that the NBA has foolishly self-imposed on itself. We know that Durant prefers to be moved to Miami or San Antonio or Houston at this point, but that doesn't mean Phoenix is going to trade him to those places. It just means Durant and his representation may threaten to not sign an extension with any team outside of those three. That's where the Timberwolves (and maybe other teams) come into play. Jon Krawczynski and Sam Amick had a great article about how the Wolves could be the darkhorse candidate to trade for the two-time NBA Finals MVP. And Minnesota hopes the 37-year-old also warms up to the idea, as he hopes to get one more big contract extension of two years and $122 million. Advertisement 'The Suns have made it clear to Durant's camp that they need to prioritize the best return for the team in a deal. What's more, they appear focused on landing the kind of impact players who can help now as opposed to prioritizing draft picks. The Wolves would seem to have options available to offer, with Rudy Gobert or Julius Randle headlining a package that could give the Suns hopes of contending. With the offers from the Spurs, Rockets and Heat coming up short to this point, league sources say the Suns are still hopeful that Durant might warm to the Timberwolves possibility. 'The Timberwolves do not want to make a seismic change to a roster that advanced to the Western Conference finals if Durant is not on board with the move, team sources said. The question now is whether there's any chance of Durant coming around to the idea.' OK, this seems highly significant. First, everybody has assumed this would need to involve Randle and him picking up his player option for next season. The idea that the Wolves could move on from Gobert and his nearly $110 million over the next three years at this point would be a massive shift for the franchise, since it's enjoying its best stretch ever. It's interesting to think about whether or not it's a good idea to trade for someone who doesn't want you, though. The Raptors did it with Kawhi Leonard, and it resulted in winning the 2019 title. And, as elite as Durant still is at 36 years old, it's not the same as a 27-year-old Leonard. The Wolves are looking for the right help around the 23-year-old Anthony Edwards, now that they've found a way to elevate the franchise. But is this stage of an occasionally healthy Durant the right one to acquire? And, if he doesn't want to be there, will he curmudgeon his way out of there before it has a chance to gel? The Marc Lore-Alex Rodriguez era could potentially start with a blowup in their face, rather than a bang, if so. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
05-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Your Thunder-Pacers NBA Finals has arrived, so it's time to make predictions!
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this day in 1991, Michael Jordan had another one of his iconic moments. While coming down the lane against the Lakers, Jordan went up with the right hand, switched hands in midair to the left and finished the layup – absolutely legendary. Who will be crowned the new NBA champions? It's finally here. We've had a bunch of nights off in a row, and, after watching the overtime thriller for Game 1 of the Oilers beating the Panthers in the Stanley Cup Finals, the NBA Finals have to make sure they come out of the gates swinging. The Pacers are a massive underdog to the Thunder. The Thunder are minus-700 to win the Finals, with the Pacers coming in at plus-500 to become champs, per BetMGM. Advertisement It makes sense this would be so lopsided on the surface. The Thunder won 68 games in the regular season, and we'll remind you they set the record for both margin of victory and double-digit wins in a season. They also have one of the best defenses we've seen in the last 25 years, and the league's MVP. On the flip side of that, the Pacers are a team that snuck up on most people for the second straight year. They won 50 games and finished fourth in the East. You can chalk their postseason breakthrough up to injuries for the other team, but it's fair to say they were beating Milwaukee and Cleveland, regardless. Both teams thrive off transition buckets and both teams don't turn the ball over. Both teams love to play fast. Both teams have a dynamic lead guard guiding their identities. There's a lot of fascinating plot points to this series, but ultimately, the Thunder do everything the Pacers do, just better. That doesn't always mean the Thunder will win the series The key will be Game 1 tonight (8:30 p.m. ET on ABC). The Pacers have to win this game. They've won every Game 1 in this playoff run so far, including two on the road in Cleveland and New York. I'm not sure they can afford to go down in the series right away to a Thunder team that thrives off success and confidence. This series should be a lot more competitive than people are expecting. Thunder in five (plus-200) and Thunder in four (plus-325) are the two favorite outcomes at BetMGM. So, what's going to happen? I do think the Pacers win Game 1, but I'm not sure it'll bring them to the promised land in getting their first championship anyway. Give me the Thunder in six and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the Finals MVP. That's a boring pick, unless this going as many as six games is too spicy for some. But I think we're getting a mostly great series. Rick Carlisle thought Knicks news was fake 🏀 Unbelievable news? Rick Carlisle didn't believe that Tom Thibodeau got fired. Thought it was 'fake AI.' 🏀 Budding bias. It's actually possible the small market teams have an edge now. It's all about connection. ⛹️ New energy. Between the Pacers' finals run and Caitlin Clark's popularity, the Hoosier State is enjoying a basketball revival. ⭐ Adjusting to bright lights. Tyrese Haliburton uses 'extra fuel' to lead Pacers to championship contention. Advertisement 🇨🇦 About brotherhood. Lu Dort and Bennedict Mathurin have a bond that helped them reach the NBA Finals. 🏀 Latest on Zion. Some very serious allegations have been made against Zion Williamson. The Pelicans are going forward with him. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' ponders how the Pacers can hurt the Thunder during the finals. Is such a move a step toward winning a title? Some of the basketball world was shocked earlier this week when the Knicks kicked Tom Thibodeau to the curb, despite bringing them to their first Eastern Conference finals appearance in 25 years. The Knicks were the most successful they've been in two-plus decades, but decided that wasn't good enough for Thibs to keep his job. Such is life in the NBA coaching world. We see coaches lose their jobs two years after winning a title regularly. We've seen a Coach of the Year get fired before he accepted the award! A successful coach getting inexplicably fired isn't anything new. But does it actually lead a team down the path to getting the ultimate prize? That's what franchises are hoping when they make this move. That the successful coach was a stepping stone to the next zone, which is a banner ceremony, parade and those championship rings that are the size of SEC offensive lineman. I wanted to look at both sides of this. What does it look like for the team making the change once the new coach comes in? And what does it look like for the coach after they've been fired? I decided to go all the way back to Paul Westhead, who was fired by the Lakers in the 1983-84 season, only to be replaced by assistant coach Pat Riley. Some of that was Lakers owner Dr. Jerry Buss saying he wanted to fire him and some of that was Magic Johnson wanted him gone. Regardless, it was the right move because Riley led them to a championship that season, and three more beyond it. Since then, there have been 10 noteworthy high-level winning coaches or award-winning coaches who have been in a similar situation … sort of. In many of these cases, it did work out! We've also seen some situations where we're not sure how it'll end. Mike Budenholzer, Frank Vogel and Michael Malone all got fired two years after winning an NBA championship in recent seasons. As for the coaches themselves, it's a pretty mixed bag. Doug Collins never really had success again. Adelman got fired after a short stint with the Warriors before leading the Kings to eight straight playoff appearances. Del Harris never got another head-coaching position after the Lakers fired him. Carlisle went to Indiana and had a good run before finding his way to Dallas, where he won a championship in 2011. Advertisement When Adelman was fired from Sacramento, he went to Houston for a solid few years, and then struggled to bring winning basketball to Minnesota in four seasons. Mitchell has struggled to find a coaching job since, and was given one of the coldest firings ever in 2016, when he took over for the late Flip Saunders and then was fired immediately and disrespectfully right as the season ended. Jackson and Blatt haven't coached since, and Van Gundy and Casey both found brief forays with Detroit. Overall, it does seem to benefit the teams, rather than the coaches. Maybe that's encouraging for the Knicks and their fans. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. You shared, explained views on the Thunder Yesterday, I was befuddled that, over the course of this playoff run, I've found that many people in my friend bubble and on social media seem to truly dislike this Thunder squad. There are a bunch of reasons given why, but I wanted to see if this might extend beyond my bubble and into the Bounce-verse. So we polled you and these are the results. We also asked you for possible write-ins, and you didn't disappoint! How do you feel about this Thunder team? It was good to see just over half the polling audience for this newsletter either likes them or likes watching them play. It is a truly dominant and fun style of basketball. About one-third of the voters here are really against them. Thunder becoming next NBA dynasty: good or bad? I am pro-dynasty and anti-parity when it comes to the NBA, so I'm with the 36.6 percent here. I'm a little surprised that so many people are neutral on this. I love dynasties being built up and then being torn down. (As a note: These percentages are write-ins so yes we know they don't all add up! Multiple answers were allowed.) If you don't like them, why not? We also gave the opportunity for you to give your own answers and these were the ones I found most intriguing and/or entertaining: 'There's no one player people can latch onto. SGA is very good but has exactly no personality.' 'They swept my team in the first round.' 'It's corporate basketball. They are executing a strict script written by statistical analysis. It's like a manager calling pitches from the dugout. The sideline interview crap is Exhibit A: it feels workshopped and focus group tested – totally inauthentic.' Advertisement 'As a Celtics fan, this was the same vibes that I dealt with last year. When one team is ripping through the playoffs & heavy NBA Finals favorites, everyone else is kind of like 'Well, they're not fun.'' 'I'm from Seattle, and the Thunder feel like a slap in the face. Combined with the vagueness of expansion and the general disrespect the NBA has shown Seattle in the last 15 years, I just can't get behind them. Respect and honor your past, don't try to act like you came from nothing.' 'They feel like they skipped the line and never cut their teeth being a scrappy underdog team. Is this fair? Probably not. Thanasis Antetokounmpo.' Can't get through one damn poll without one of you mentioning Giannis' brother. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
04-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Does Tom Thibodeau's Knicks dismissal prove no NBA coach's job is safe?
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this date in 1987, Michael Cooper set a finals record with six made 3-pointers. At the time, single games averaged 2.8 made 3-pointers per game, so that's the equivalent of someone hitting roughly 58 3-pointers in a finals game in today's NBA. Feels like Steph Curry could do it. Also, nobody check that math. Will Knicks replace Tom Thibodeau with clone? Leading up to the playoffs, you'd hear a lot of rumors about the future of Tom Thibodeau with the Knicks. It often sounded like anything short of a conference finals appearance (or beyond) for Thibodeau's Knicks was going to result in him being fired. However, it also just sounded like people trying to guess whether or not James Dolan was going to be an itchy owner once again. Advertisement Well, after making the Eastern Conference finals and losing to the Pacers in six games, the Knicks actualized those rumors. They relieved Thibodeau of his duties, which is a nice way of saying they kicked his ass to the curb. After five seasons with the Knicks, Thibodeau is out and the Knicks are now looking for a new head coach. Before we get to the coaching possibilities, I'm not sure Thibodeau's firing was warranted. Above all, the organization can definitely decide there's a better voice out there. But in five seasons, Thibodeau gave the Knicks an identity, clicked with their new star player Jalen Brunson and brought them to the conference finals for the first time in 25 years. He's the fourth-winningest coach in franchise history (226). James Edwards III wrote that Thibs deserved another season and I tend to agree. He didn't seem to lose the locker room. He seemed to learn in real time during the conference finals that he needed to adapt to more depth. His coaching and minutes didn't lead to some big injury. I guess I'm failing to understand what the problem is. It feels like they're firing against the potential problem of a fallout on the sidelines, rather than something actually happening. That brings us to the top candidates, as of right now. The natural one that comes up, first and foremost, is Michael Malone. He just got fired from the Nuggets with three games left in the season. He's a New York guy, he has a championship ring and he also is repped by CAA, which fits in nicely with the assumed preferences of the Knicks over the last couple decades (give or take a couple years). Malone is a really good coach, but let's remember what got him fired in Denver. The criticism from the Nuggets front office the coach was feuding with was he didn't play enough of his bench, he played his starters a lot of minutes, and there were a lot of questions about their team defense. Thibodeau is known as a defensive-minded coach from his days as an assistant for the Celtics and as a head coach for the Bulls, but his teams really haven't defended consistently since. Malone's teams were getting pretty rough defensively, but he also had flawed rosters with questionable personnel and injuries to go with it. Advertisement Does any of this sound familiar? You'd essentially be hiring the same guy with a different voice and hairline. Maybe that works. Sometimes, a change in voice does do the trick. And Malone is a good coach. I'm just not sure he's a better coach than Thibodeau. I have no idea if Malone's 'give the ball to Nikola Jokić' offense works with the Knicks, mostly because they don't have Jokić. Other candidates could include Cleveland assistant Johnny Bryant, who is one of the top candidates for the Phoenix job. There's also Taylor Jenkins, who was just fired with nine games left in the season by the Grizzlies. Mike Brown, who was fired midseason by the Kings? All of these are good coaches or potentially good coaches. I'm just not sure they're better than Thibodeau. Regardless, the Knicks have decided to make a change. In the words of Knicks legend Charles Oakley, 'If it ain't broke, don't break it.' Finals flights had to avoid poor weather ✈️ Flight diverted. The Pacers actually had to land in Tulsa due to a tornado warning. Thankfully, everybody landed safely. 🏀 What a journey. The path of Pascal Siakam's NBA career has prepared him. It's time for another finals appearance. 🏀 Progress? It's been 12 years since Jason Collins came out as an openly gay athlete. Is it any easier? 🚫 Thank Indy. The Pacers never cared to tank. Jason Lloyd explains why the NBA should rejoice. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses why Jalen Williams is the make-or-break player in the NBA Finals. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. Are the Thunder a team people don't like? I've been trying to figure something out about this Thunder team as they seem to be on the cusp of winning their first NBA championship. Do people outside of Oklahoma City hate this team? Maybe hate is too strong of a word, especially considering how loosely it's used in sports on the internet. But something I've noticed during this run by the Thunder, as they've trounced the league in front of them, is how little people outside of the Thunder fan base appear to be embracing them as a team they like and enjoy. It's confusing for a few reasons. After all, this is a … This Thunder team is deep and awesome, and yet I tend to find negativity thrown its way along this journey. I've wondered if some of this is just the bubble I'm in with friend groups and on social media. I have some friends with some basketball opinions I really respect, and so few of them have embraced enjoying this Thunder team. I've asked them what their issue is and these are some of the replies: There were more, but this seems like a good representation. The most common ones were the accusations of corniness, the foul calls and the Seattle factor. But everybody also seemed resigned to the fact that they're going to win the title, and were wondering if people will care at all, outside of OKC. It makes me wonder if 1) this is true and 2) if this is a fair question. So, I bring it to you, The Bouncers! Here is a Google Form about whether you hate the OKC Thunder. We'll share the results later this week. NBA, Stanley Cup Finals share similar vibes Over at our behemoth of a newsletter The Pulse, Chris Branch had the fun idea of having a conversation between me and Sean McIndoe about the respective championship series we're covering in our newsletters. Sean is one of the amazing scribes of Red Light, our incredible hockey newsletter. And … well … you know me from this space. Advertisement The NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Final both feature fascinating matchups. We have a battle of some of the smallest markets in the NBA with Indianapolis (25th) and OKC (47th). In the NHL, we have a fun rematch of last year's seven-game chaotic series between the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers. Branch asked us questions, and we gave answers. Branch: What's the most interesting thing to you about the other sport's title series? Sean: Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, so I think it's cool how you guys have copied the NHL's longstanding 'the best player in the final is a Canadian' gimmick. Zach: They move around on knives! How does this not freak people out?! I also find it fascinating that we haven't had a Canadian team win a Stanley Cup title in over 30 years, and a team from Florida could block the Oilers two years in a row. There is anxiety over the marketability of both series. What are you most wary about? Sean: The concern these days in the NHL isn't that smaller-market teams are having success. The problem is whether those smaller markets now have an advantage over the bigger ones, due to financial factors and player preferences, among other things. There's debate over whether this is actually a real problem at all. But as a league, and a business, you don't want the markets that are driving your revenue to feel like they're falling behind. That narrative, accurate or not, will only get stronger with another Florida win. Zach: I think I'm most wary about this being a short series. The basketball should be really good. But you can have good basketball in all of the games and end up with a sweep. Just ask last year's Pacers, who played the Celtics extremely well in the conference finals but ended up getting swept. This is a great basketball matchup, but the Thunder might make quick work of it. Concerns aside, there are superstars here aplenty. Outside of the obvious names, who's the most interesting player a general fan should know before puck drop/tipoff? Sean: Let me go off the board here with my pick: Sasha Barkov, the Panthers center who may be the best two-way player in the league. On a team full of rats (and proud of it), he just quietly goes about his business, dominating at both ends of the rink. He's kind of the Phil Hartman of the Panthers, the glue guy who makes it all work even if he isn't the one getting most of the headlines. Zach: Chet Holmgren and Pascal Siakam! Holmgren moves around like his shoulders are held up by a wire coat hanger. He can do it all on the court and is 7-foot-1. It's like watching a Tim Burton drawing audition for a new 'Space Jam' movie. And despite Siakam giving himself the horrible 'Spicy P' nickname, he's been a tremendous weapon. He's scoring within four seconds after opponent baskets and has been the Pacers' leading scorer. Advertisement In 25 or fewer words, give us one wild yet realistic prediction for your series. Sean: The Edmonton Oilers become the greatest Canadian Stanley Cup winners of the last 32 years. Zach: The Pacers will win Game 1, and Haliburton will have his teammates mock the Thunder by doing the sideline interview together. Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Grading Thunder-Pacers matchups for 2025 NBA Finals. Plus, should Seattle feel left out?
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this date in 1992, Michael Jordan lit up the Blazers in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The Bulls won 122-89 behind 39 points from Jordan. He scored 35 of them in the first half, thanks to six 3-pointers. He made only five 3s in the 16 playoff games leading up to that night. He hit six more 3-pointers the rest of the finals. We all remember the iconic shrug. Grading Pacers-Thunder matchups With Game 1 of the NBA Finals tipping off Thursday night and a lull between playoff action, we've got plenty of Bounce days to preview this series. We gave some aspects of the game to consider yesterday, and today we're going to grade out the matchups for each team. We've got star matchups, secondary guys, key role players, entire benches and even the coaching matchup to consider! Advertisement Let's slap a few grades down for each team in each category, determine a winner and see where it all shakes out: Stars: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander vs. Tyrese Haliburton Haliburton has become a big-time playoff performer, and we know how well he can control a game. Put him in a clutch situation, and you'll see him push the opponent to the brink of losing their sanity and past losing their lead. On the flip side of that, SGA is the MVP of the league and has been brilliant in the playoffs. Grade: A+ for OKC, A for IND | Winner: Thunder Secondary Stars: Jalen Williams vs. Pascal Siakam Williams has been excellent defensively during this entire run. His offense was abysmal against Denver until Game 7, and he rebounded with his scoring perfectly against Minnesota. He's also just in his third season. Siakam has been a big addition to the Pacers over the last year and a half, and he has the experience of already contributing to a championship. Grade: A- for OKC, A- for IND | Winner: Tie Third Guys: Chet Holmgren vs. Myles Turner I'm not sure you can rely on Turner to be a consistent defensive presence anymore, which is a far cry from what he used to be. Meanwhile, Holmgren struggles with consistency, but he's pretty great for a 23-year-old with only two years on NBA courts. The latter will likely have a bigger impact, but Turner needs to win this battle. Grade: A- for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder Key 3-and-D Wings: Lu Dort vs. Aaron Nesmith Nesmith did a good job on Brunson, and he had the big Reggie Miller moment in Game 1 against New York. Dort will eat your soul on defense and is a pretty reliable 3-point shooter. Grade: B+ for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder Fifth Guys: Isaiah Hartenstein vs. Andrew Nembhard We've seen Nembhard step up big-time in these past two postseason runs, but Hartenstein is a big man the Pacers may not have an answer for. He might require them to play a lot more Tony Bradley, which isn't a good idea. Grade: A- for OKC, B for IND | Winner: Thunder Bench battle: Thunder bench vs. Pacers bench Let's boil it down to Cason Wallace, Alex Caruso, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe against Bennedict Mathurin, Obi Toppin, T.J. McConnell and Ben Sheppard. We've seen the Pacers have some great moments in the postseason so far. Wallace and Caruso alone for OKC probably win this matchup for the Thunder. Grade: A for OKC, B+ for IND | Winner: Thunder Coaching: Mark Daigneault vs. Rick Carlisle Daigneault has already won Coach of the Year, had a 68-win season and coached the most dominant team (at least, by net rating) in league history. He's one of the top coaches in the NBA. However, Rick Carlisle is a championship coach and has decades of experience battling out in the playoffs. I have to give the veteran coach the slight edge here. Grade: A- for OKC, A for IND | Winner: Pacers That's a pretty heavy swing to the Thunder with a 5-1-1 tally here. Even if you convince me that Siakam is winning that matchup over Williams (which I'm not mad at), we're still looking at 5-2 OKC. That doesn't mean things can't change once we're on the court, though. You, too , can learn to train like an MVP! 🏀 Training tips. There are five things you learn by training with SGA. Have to create an alter ego. 🏀 Power Rankings. WNBA rankings are here, but can anybody challenge the historically dominant Liberty? Here come the Aces! 🏀 Take care. The Pacers and Thunder both take care of the ball at an elite level. Possessions matter. ✈️ Travel buddies. What was a key part of Indiana's path to the NBA Finals? A trip to Paris!🎶 Jazz hiring. The Jazz are hiring Austin Ainge from the Celtics to be the president of basketball ops. Yes, that's Danny Ainge's son. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' discusses whether SGA is having one of the best seasons in league history. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. Is Seattle owed an honor in this year's finals? Back in 2012, when that young Thunder squad made the NBA Finals to take on Miami, it made sense to not bring up where it had come from. Oklahoma City had done a great job to help house the New Orleans Hornets in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so executive Clay Bennett and company decided to pounce on the opportunity to move a team there permanently. They bought the Seattle SuperSonics, as they hit a bit of a stalemate in procuring a new arena in the Emerald City, and then ripped them from the city for the prairie. (The Hornets had spent the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons there before the Thunder relocated in 2008.) Advertisement Four years after the move, the Thunder were in the finals because general manager Sam Presti is unbelievable at his job. And 13 years after the move, Presti's Thunder are back in the finals as a heavy favorite to win. They also look like they're capable of setting up a dynasty. All the while, we still can't get any kind of straight answer on a real plan as to when Seattle will get an expansion team back into the city. To be fair, the timing of expansion is a complicated process, but the league hasn't committed yet. The NBA did almost let the Sacramento Kings get purchased to be moved to Seattle back in 2013. But Vivek Ranadivé swooped in to buy the team and keep it in Sacramento. The Thunder are looking like a premier team in this league and an eventual champion. But I still know plenty of NBA-loving and -covering people with a sour taste in their mouths about how this team was ripped away from Seattle under David Stern's watch. There is a feeling that it's been swept under the proverbial rug as a storyline. Maybe the NBA is supposed to do that. At this point, it's been 15 years, and the franchise didn't take the history with it. It's been set aside for the eventual expansion team that will oddly come with its own championship before it even has a roster. I'm not even sure what I, or anyone else, would be asking of commissioner Adam Silver and the league to do here, especially considering the franchise divorced itself from the history tied to Seattle and the Sonics. And I'm not sure anybody is asking Thunder fans to apologize for this either. Maybe the final closure, if OKC wins the title, is just an acknowledgment that the way they got there sucked and was wrong. Seattle did and still does deserve better. Because many of us still have fond memories of the franchise and want to see them again. Can the NBA truly ever fix this? Five questions about the upcoming offseason We're less than a month away from free agency starting and a little more than three weeks away from the NBA Draft on June 25. That means teams are geared all the way up for trying to take down both the Pacers in the East and the Thunder in the West. Because this is a league of jealousy, mimicry and pettiness. Just how we like it. Advertisement A lot needs to be determined this offseason, but here are five questions I have about this summer right off the bat. 1. Do the Knicks have a Mikal Bridges dilemma? James Edwards III did a great job laying out the situation the Knicks will have with Bridges this offseason. He's eligible for a four-year, $156 million extension, and you might remember Jalen Brunson caused quite the stir in taking a below-market value extension to give the franchise flexibility. Many assumed it was to help them re-sign his friend and college teammate. But the Knicks gave up five first-round picks for Bridges, and their main lineup with him wasn't what it was all cracked up to be. If the Knicks feel like they have to swing for the fences, Bridges is probably the guy to move. 2. With who and how are the Celtics going to trim salary? The Celtics probably need to cut $23 million off the books this summer, if not more. That depends how much they're willing to spend in a season we can assume Jayson Tatum will mostly, if not entirely, miss. The Celtics' biggest challenge may be finding places that can easily absorb contracts. And, if they can't, that probably means attaching draft picks in deals. Seeing how far they go in this process will be a tone-setter for the East. 3. Are Julius Randle and Myles Turner the most intriguing names to get? Names like Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant are going to be volleyed about in the rumor mill, but the free-agent class is going to be pretty weak. Turner is going to be an unrestricted free agent. Randle had a great finish to the season, outside of the series against the Thunder andhas a $29.2 million player option that might be worth declining to enter the market. However, there isn't a lot of cap space outside of Brooklyn, as teams are preparing for 2026. If Antetokounmpo and KD don't end up actually being available, maybe we have kind of a dud summer in terms of big names moving. 4. Will Kevin Durant find his way out of Phoenix? Speaking of KD, how salty is he going to be about the trade deadline? Lots of rumors happened around him being dangled to the Warriors in a potential multi-team deal that would have landed Jimmy Butler on the Suns. Of course, I'm not even sure what was possible with a Mat Ishbia-owned team. It's like watching a kid run a franchise mode in a video game. Antetokounmpo is the potential biggest target this summer, but Durant could make a lot of teams interested in a short-term star. 5. Who will look at the East landscape and be aggressive? Boston is likely cutting, rather than adding or adjusting. Cleveland and New York probably won't make sweeping changes. Milwaukee is painted into a corner. Indiana is in a great place right now, obviously. Miami and Philadelphia are stuck in trying to figure out if they're any kind of relevant. The potential for a big jump would be upstarts Orlando and Detroit. Do they have the aggressiveness to go make a big splash with the East landscape looking vulnerable? Streaming links in this article are provided by partners of The Athletic. Restrictions may apply. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Partners have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Do the Timberwolves fear the Thunder? 3 keys to winning West Finals matchup
The Bounce Newsletter | This is The Athletic's daily NBA newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Bounce directly in your inbox. On this date, 30 years ago, Mario Elie delivered the 'Kiss of Death' in Game 7 against the Suns. The Rockets broke a string of 20 straight home teams winning a Game 7. They also went on to win the NBA title as the lowest seed ever (No. 6) to win the title. Minnesota will now try to match that feat. The Timberwolves also have a foreign-born center. It's exactly the same thing. All season long, we've seen the Thunder overwhelm their opponents. While they answered questions about their clutch-time prowess against Denver, they also reminded everybody that things can get out of hand in the blink of an eye. Two of their wins over the Nuggets were by a combined 75 points (!!!). You kind of forget that level of dominance when you think about a seven-game series that felt like it was balanced the whole time. Advertisement Now, they face the Timberwolves, who were here a year ago. This time, it wasn't a struggle to get through to the conference finals. They smacked the Lakers around in five games. Then, they weren't really challenged by a Warriors squad missing Steph Curry for all but 13 minutes. Minnesota is fresh, ready and trying to prove it has learned from last year's Western Conference finals, when the Mavericks were simply too much. Have the Thunder learned enough from this experience to combine that with their regular-season dominance to move on to their first NBA Finals since 2012? Have the Wolves learned from last year's five-game loss to the Mavericks in order to leap into their first NBA Finals in franchise history? Let's preview the Western Conference finals! Shooting Stars The star power in this series resides in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Anthony Edwards. We assume some time this week, the NBA might get around to announcing the MVP award. We double-assume that it will go to SGA. Edwards, while three years younger than his SGA, is trying to throw his name into the mix as a true contemporary. Over the last two seasons, SGA has put himself a cut above most of the league, but Edwards battling him toe-to-toe in this series – and even upsetting him by winning the series – would erase any doubt of them being on the same level. But it has to be proven. SGA has been nothing short of spectacular in this postseason run, thus far. The 3-point shot hasn't been there (29.3 percent), but everything else has been top notch: The flip side of that is Edwards' run through the playoffs. He injured his ankle when LeBron James rolled on it in the first round and tweaked it in the second round. But his postseason numbers have been close to brilliant, at 26.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 5.9 assists with 44.5/38.5/73.7 splits. Against OKC this season, Edwards wasn't as efficient or productive, though. He averaged 22.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists in four matchups, but his 36.4/31.6/82.9 splits weren't up to his usual production. With that being said, the Wolves and Thunder went 2-2 against each other, and both stars had big moments. Advertisement The beauty of this matchup is both star guards do it all. They'll both spend time defending each other. They'll both spend time dissecting defenders assigned to them. And they'll both be expected to deliver an NBA Finals berth. The turnover battle The Wolves are going to have to watch the turnovers in this series, more so than they did against Golden State last round. Minnesota was sloppy with the ball in the regular season, ranking 20th in turnover rate. There was a slight uptick in turnovers in the postseason, but that must subside against the Thunder. The latter are the best in the league at forcing turnovers and taking care of the ball. Minnesota will lose the turnover battle, but it can't get dominated in that category. In the Thunder's four-game sweep of the Grizzlies, they won the turnover battle. They won it by 46 in seven games against Denver. The Wolves turned the ball over 92 times in five games against the Warriors, after doing so 56 times against the Lakers in the same number of games. They have to eliminate the dumb mistakes. Keeping up on the perimeter The 3-point shot has completely left the Thunder during the playoff run so far. They're shooting 31.9 percent from deep in 11 games. SGA, Lu Dort and Jalen Williams are all under 30 percent in the postseason. That won't fly against Minnesota's defense. Minnesota gave up the sixth-lowest 3-point percentage (35.3) this season. That went to 35.1 percent against the Lakers and then 34.4 percent against the Warriors (remember, there was pretty much no Curry). The Wolves are great at defending the perimeter, so the Thunder have to regain their outside shooting touch to put pressure on a really good defense. Game 1 is tonight in OKC at 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN (You can also watch on Fubo for free!). We want to hear from you again! We have another poll for you, The Bouncers, to vote in to make your predictions for the Western Conference finals! We'll share your results for the Eastern Conference finals predictions below. Did WWE script Knicks-Pacers East finals? 💪 Royal Rumble. Wrestling paved the way for this year's East finals matchup. Grab a chair and brass knuckles! 🔮 Who wins? We've got writers here at The Athletic predicting the conference finals. Who's picking Minnesota? 🏀 The bigger picture. Chris Finch knew the plan would work if they stuck to it. The Wolves made it back. 🏀 Time for change? Is Brad Stevens ready to talk about big changes to the Celtics? Not yet. Advertisement 🧍 Standing tall. Under coach Tom Thibodeau, the Knicks are enjoying their deepest playoff run in a quarter century. 🎧 Tuning in. Today's 'NBA Daily' previews the keys to each conference finals series. Likewise for the 'No Dunks' crew! The story of the greatest players in NBA history. In 100 riveting profiles, top basketball writers justify their selections and uncover the history of the NBA in the process. The story of the greatest players in NBA history. East finals predictions are now in! Yesterday, we asked you (yes, specifically you 🫵) to vote for and predict the outcome of the Eastern Conference finals and beyond. You did, so it's time to go over the results! Who will win the East finals? In how many games? Who will be the East finals MVP? Then, we had other options to receive smaller portions of the vote. We also allowed write-in votes. Mitchell Robinson got one. Frank Ntilikina, a.k.a. Frankie Smokes, who plays in the Serbian League, received a vote. And, of course, one person wrote in Thanasis Antetokounmpo, as always. I will find you someday, whoever you are. Will the winner of the East finals win the NBA Finals? Who do I have advancing, you ask? I guess if I'm asking everybody else to make predictions and we have a link to our writers making predictions, then I should put my own predictions on the line. I've thought a lot about where I think these two series will go, and what potential storylines might happen. Also, check out the latest episode of The Bounce by clicking on my moving face! Did you know this league has trade demands? During the first couple of years of the Big 3, I was casually into it. You got a little bit of nostalgia with players out of the league still giving it a go. It was my only chance to still watch Ricky Davis – one of my all-time favorites – hoop. And I was in the building when Charles Oakley 'accidentally' hit Al Harrington in the teeth with the backfist. Since then, the only time I really think about it is when Jeff Teague is discussing his experience on his podcast. I'm not trying to be dismissive about it. It still seems like a good, fun product, and people are enjoying it. It's successful. I just kind of check out of hoops during the summer to recharge my battery. Well, I saw a social media post today that definitely got me interested in it. This was from Chris Haynes, reporting that Michael Beasley (yes, that Michael Beasley) is upset that the expansion Miami Big 3 team drafted Lance Stephenson (yes, that Lance Stephenson), and is contemplating requesting a trade. This reads like 2012 basketball MadLibs. This led to one of my group chats having a lot of questions: I'm curious if Beasley will try to get traded to the Houston Rig Hands or Boston Ball Hogs or LA Riot. Yes, those are all real team names. I know it seems like I'm making fun of the Big 3, and I promise that's not the intention. I do actually want to get back into it this season. Teague's podcast has been a big part of that, and I love watching Beasley cook. That's especially so if we're about to get a big-time Beasley-Stephenson rivalry and drama either with them on the same or opposite team. Or is it just forced promotion for some one-on-one battle they're doing on the internet? (I'm not linking to it). I just need to know when Ricky Davis is getting elected into the Big 3 Hall of Fame.
