You can win free Chipotle during the NBA Finals, but you'll have to be quick

Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals

USA Today

14 minutes ago

USA Today

Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals

Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals Show Caption Hide Caption Pacers and Thunder NBA Finals is better than it's 'small-market' billing USA TODAY Sports' Jeff Zillgitt breaks down the star-studded NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder. Sports Pulse In the NBA playoffs, the outcome often rests on the underrated. Certainly, the performances of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton will be scrutinized and big games can propel their respective teams to victories. But it's often the role players, sometimes off the bench, erupting on a scoring streak or clamping down on defense, who can make the difference between winning and losing. Think Steve Kerr's nine points off the bench for the Chicago Bulls — seven of which came in the fourth quarter — in the closeout Game 6 of the 1997 Finals, including the game-winning, 14-foot jumper with 5 seconds to play. Think Andre Iguodala winning Most Valuable Player of the 2015 NBA Finals for the Golden State Warriors, despite being a sixth man for most of the series. Now, not every role player will win MVP, but steady contributions, in a series with two deep teams, will go a long way. Here's a look at three under-the-radar players for the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers who could make the difference between winning and losing in the 2025 NBA Finals: Oklahoma City Thunder Alex Caruso, guard He gives them incredible defensive versatility off the bench, as he's capable of guarding any position on the floor. This postseason, he has been tasked with defending Nuggets center Nikola Jokić and Timberwolves shooting guard Anthony Edwards. Plus, when he's on the floor, the Thunder can go to an incredibly small lineup — with Caruso serving as the center — which could come in handy against a quick and athletic Pacers team. Kenrich Williams, forward He was essentially out of the rotation in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, but Williams provided energy and offense in limited minutes off the bench during the Western Conference finals. In the five games of that series, Williams played just 47:42 and posted a +32 in plus-minus. Known affectionately as Kenny Hustle, Williams is a quintessential spark off the bench whose effort — tipping rebounds to teammates and saving loose balls — often doesn't appear in box scores. Luguentz Dort, guard Though Dort is a starter, he's the fourth- or fifth-best offensive option on the unit, on a similar level as center Isaiah Hartenstein. But Dort, who is persistent and physical, will likely be the primary defender on Tyrese Haliburton. Using his hands to slow the players he defends, Dort can easily frustrate opposing guards into mistakes or foul trouble. This is exactly the type of matchup that he gets up for. ANALYSIS: Haters gonna hate, but NBA's 3-point shot is crucial to winning titles PACERS VS. THUNDER: Which team has the edge in NBA Finals? Indiana Pacers Bennedict Mathurin, forward When the Pacers need a scoring lift off the bench, it's usually Mathurin who provides it. Though he struggled in the first three games of the Eastern Conference finals, Mathurin played with intention and force in Games 4 and 5. He attacked and drew contact, often getting Knicks guards into foul trouble. And when he got to the line, he was lethal, draining all but one of his 29 attempts from the stripe in the series. Indiana will need his scoring off the bench with the second unit. Pacers vs. Thunder: Outside of stars, who could be difference in NBA Finals? IndyStar's Dustin Dopirak and The Oklahoman's Jenni Carlson look at players outside the spotlight who may make the difference in NBA Finals. T.J. McConnell, guard Speaking of the second unit, Haliburton's backup will need to step up, too. McConnell is a 33-year-old veteran whose game is often deliberate, but he provides high energy, scoring from the mid-range and play-making out of the point guard spot. He rarely plays more than 20 minutes a game, but McConnell will play a massive part in making sure the Pacers don't fall behind when Haliburton gets a rest. Thomas Bryant and Tony Bradley, centers The Thunder have excellent height in their starting lineup with Chet Holmgren and Hartenstein, a pair of 7-footers looming in the frontcourt. Bryant, who flushed 3-of-4 attempts from 3 in the Game 6 clincher in the Eastern Conference finals, played because Bradley was nursing a hip injury. Given OKC's height, this could be a series where Bryant and Bradley both play, even if Bradley isn't a full go. The biggest stories, every morning. Stay up-to-date on all the key sports developments by subscribing to USA TODAY Sports' newsletter.

NBA Finals 2025: How the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

Yahoo

14 minutes ago

Yahoo

NBA Finals 2025: How the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

OKLAHOMA CITY — On the court, Cason Wallace doesn't do anything slow. Seated at a podium at the Thunder's Wednesday media day session ahead of Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, though, the second-year guard eased off the gas and took a second to think. Wallace, who has blossomed into one of the NBA's best young point-of-attack stoppers, had just fielded a question about guarding Tyrese Haliburton — the Pacers' All-Star and All-NBA point guard. Wallace guarded Haliburton plenty during two regular-season meetings between Oklahoma City and Indiana; he figures to find himself across from Haliburton plenty over the next couple of weeks, too. Advertisement So: What do you do with a problem like Tyrese, the engine of a hard-charging Indiana offense that scored nearly 120 points per 100 possessions in its 12-4 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs? What's Job No. 1 when you're dealing with a quicksilver ball-handler who's a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter capable of popping for 30 in any given game, but who'd much prefer to set the table for his teammates all night to the tune of double-digit assists? What's the first thing your defense looks to take away? Wallace took a beat to consider. Then, with a smile, he decided. 'Everything,' he said. What Wallace's answer lacked in specificity, it made up for in sheer soundness of logic. After all, when you're as all-consumingly excellent as the Thunder's defense is — No. 1 in points allowed per possession during the regular season, No. 1 in the playoffs, one of the stingiest units the league has seen since the ABA-NBA merger — you don't have to choose; you just erase. Specificity is for lesser beings. Can the Thunder slow down Tyrese Haliburton? (Photo by) (William Purnell via Getty Images) 'I go into every matchup the same — just trying to take them out,' Wallace said. 'Just trying to take the ball from them.' Advertisement Wallace and the Thunder defense have been exceptionally good at that. Oklahoma City led the NBA in steals, deflections, loose balls recovered on defense and points scored off of turnovers this season. The Thunder landed two players on the 2024-25 All-Defensive Team — on-ball pitbull Luguentz Dort and do-it-all forward Jalen Williams — and they might not even be the third-best defenders on the court at any given point in a Thunder game, depending on how head coach Mark Daigneault is juggling his lineups and what kind of night Wallace, Alex Caruso and big men Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are having. Their style is suffocation. Their brand is brutality. Their business is stuffing you in a locker and taking your lunch money … and brother, business is booming. 'They're super physical — they're annoying,' Pacers forward Obi Toppin said with a smile during Indiana's media availability. 'But they're young. They're young and they're just in your … mess. Like, I don't want to say S-H, but y'all know what I want to say. They're just in you, the whole game. It's annoying.' [NBA Finals preview: Pacers-Thunder key matchups, schedule, X-factors and prediction] Advertisement The Pacers like to push the ball up the court after makes or misses, hunting leakouts and hit-aheads at every opportunity. When they can't advance the ball with touchdown passes, they just sprint with the dribble, looking to get into their first action as early as possible. Cover that up, and they'll run you through three more before the shot clock's even halfway gone, leveraging center Myles Turner's shooting prowess to spread you out with a true five-out attack — Haliburton's the only member of Indiana's starting five shooting under 40% from 3-point land in the postseason — to create passing angles and driving lanes through which to bury you in buckets. 'It really opens up the floor,' said Holmgren, who knows a thing or two about how powerful it can be for an offense to feature a floor-spacing 7-footer. 'It's not even so much about opening up the floor and being able to attack just the 5 — it comes down to opening up the floor for everybody else to be able to attack as well. [Defending it] really comes down to being able to play solid — kind of defeat the point of attack.' OK, so: Don't let Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard get loose off the dribble. And don't get mismatch-hunted or exploited by versatile Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam, whom Daigneault praised Wednesday as 'kind of a matchup problem, quite frankly.' Oh, and don't lose track of the always-relocating Aaron Nesmith, who's become fantastic shooting on the move in addition to being nails from the corners. And make sure you're closing hard on Turner all the way to 25 feet out. And don't get lost in the sauce when the ball starts popping all over the place — which it will, considering Indiana has the second-fastest average touch time in the postseason and throws the second-most passes per game — both well, well above the likes of the Grizzlies, Nuggets and Timberwolves. Advertisement … That's kind of a lot of stuff to not mess up. 'It's one thing to understand what they're doing. It's one thing to understand what you need to do. It's quite another to execute it,' Daigneault said. 'That's what makes them really hard to play against. They pump a 99-miles-an-hour fastball at you. You can prepare all you want for that. When you're in the batter's box, it's different when it's time to hit it.' Especially when the last few pitchers you've seen more consistently sat in the high-80s. 'They're really pushing the ball, playing with pace even in the halfcourt, which is something that has kind of been the opposite ... maybe besides Memphis that we played so far this postseason,' said Thunder super-sub Caruso. 'Memphis did a lot of that — drive-and-kick, play early — where the other teams (Denver and Minnesota) we played [ran] more sets. Just adjusting back to that, and making sure we're ready to run.' Advertisement It's certainly something the Thunder are capable of doing; by a number of pace and possession metrics, Oklahoma City has actually played faster than Indiana in these playoffs, on balance. But simply being ready to run with these Pacers doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for what they're going to do while they're sprinting all over the place — what Turner called Indiana's 'random movement' on offense, which, when combined with Haliburton's tendency toward egalitarian table-setting, makes everybody in navy blue and gold a live threat at all times. 'Every team has their strengths and their weaknesses,' said Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 'They're a very fast team. I think, like, above all, they understand how they're playing, and they're very stubborn in their approach. They kind of grind you with the way they play. … They know their identity and they stick to it, no matter what.' That clarity of vision and purpose, combined with Haliburton's peerless playmaking, Carlisle's tactical acumen and a boatload of talent, helps make these Pacers an incredibly dangerous offensive team, and a complex problem to solve — the kind of challenge that Holmgren has found himself loving to wrestle with in the postseason. Advertisement 'You're also seeing the same team for two weeks, rather than playing a new team every single night,' Holmgren said. 'So you're really able to take a deep dive, get into things, and really try to … it's really like a puzzle. You know, you got to take the time to figure it out.' The first step in solving any puzzle: singling out one piece from the pile and separating it from the rest. So which Pacers piece do the Thunder plan on starting out with? At that, Holmgren paused. 'That puzzle is also a secret, you know?' he said, a grin spreading across his face. 'That's my answer. Sorry. I wish I could give you more of it.' Advertisement Whatever the Thunder's plan of defensive attack, they'll need to be ready to match Indiana's intensity from Thursday's opening tip. Because if the unique brand of offensive pressure that the Pacers apply can make Oklahoma City blink, just once, in one of these first two games — as it did against Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York — then the tenor of a series that all us pundits seem to think we have pegged changes dramatically. 'We know this is a great team. If we were to win a championship, I don't want to win any other way. I don't want to go around or over. I want to go through,' Haliburton said. 'You want to go through the best team, the best challenge. This is the best challenge. This is the best team in the NBA.' And the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove it.

NBA Finals 2025: Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

Yahoo

17 minutes ago

Yahoo

NBA Finals 2025: Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

OKLAHOMA CITY — On the court, Cason Wallace doesn't do anything slow. Seated at a podium at the Thunder's Wednesday media day session ahead of Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals, though, the second-year guard eased off the gas and took a second to think. Wallace, who has blossomed into one of the NBA's best young point-of-attack stoppers, had just fielded a question about guarding Tyrese Haliburton — the Pacers' All-Star and All-NBA point guard. Wallace guarded Haliburton plenty during two regular-season meetings between Oklahoma City and Indiana; he figures to find himself across from Haliburton plenty over the next couple of weeks, too. Advertisement So: What do you do with a problem like Tyrese, the engine of a hard-charging Indiana offense that scored nearly 120 points per 100 possessions in its 12-4 run through the Eastern Conference playoffs? What's Job No. 1 when you're dealing with a quicksilver ball-handler who's a high-volume, high-efficiency shooter capable of popping for 30 in any given game, but who'd much prefer to set the table for his teammates all night to the tune of double-digit assists? What's the first thing your defense looks to take away? Wallace took a beat to consider. Then, with a smile, he decided. 'Everything,' he said. What Wallace's answer lacked in specificity, it made up for in sheer soundness of logic. After all, when you're as all-consumingly excellent as the Thunder's defense is — No. 1 in points allowed per possession during the regular season, No. 1 in the playoffs, one of the stingiest units the league has seen since the ABA-NBA merger — you don't have to choose; you just erase. Specificity is for lesser beings. Can the Thunder slow down Tyrese Haliburton? (Photo by) (William Purnell via Getty Images) 'I go into every matchup the same — just trying to take them out,' Wallace said. 'Just trying to take the ball from them.' Advertisement Wallace and the Thunder defense have been exceptionally good at that. Oklahoma City led the NBA in steals, deflections, loose balls recovered on defense and points scored off of turnovers this season. The Thunder landed two players on the 2024-25 All-Defensive Team — on-ball pitbull Luguentz Dort and do-it-all forward Jalen Williams — and they might not even be the third-best defenders on the court at any given point in a Thunder game, depending on how head coach Mark Daigneault is juggling his lineups and what kind of night Wallace, Alex Caruso and big men Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein are having. Their style is suffocation. Their brand is brutality. Their business is stuffing you in a locker and taking your lunch money … and brother, business is booming. 'They're super physical — they're annoying,' Pacers forward Obi Toppin said with a smile during Indiana's media availability. 'But they're young. They're young and they're just in your … mess. Like, I don't want to say S-H, but y'all know what I want to say. They're just in you, the whole game. It's annoying.' [NBA Finals preview: Pacers-Thunder key matchups, schedule, X-factors and prediction] Advertisement The Pacers like to push the ball up the court after makes or misses, hunting leakouts and hit-aheads at every opportunity. When they can't advance the ball with touchdown passes, they just sprint with the dribble, looking to get into their first action as early as possible. Cover that up, and they'll run you through three more before the shot clock's even halfway gone, leveraging center Myles Turner's shooting prowess to spread you out with a true five-out attack — Haliburton's the only member of Indiana's starting five shooting under 40% from 3-point land in the postseason — to create passing angles and driving lanes through which to bury you in buckets. 'It really opens up the floor,' said Holmgren, who knows a thing or two about how powerful it can be for an offense to feature a floor-spacing 7-footer. 'It's not even so much about opening up the floor and being able to attack just the 5 — it comes down to opening up the floor for everybody else to be able to attack as well. [Defending it] really comes down to being able to play solid — kind of defeat the point of attack.' OK, so: Don't let Haliburton or Andrew Nembhard get loose off the dribble. And don't get mismatch-hunted or exploited by versatile Eastern Conference finals MVP Pascal Siakam, whom Daigneault praised Wednesday as 'kind of a matchup problem, quite frankly.' Oh, and don't lose track of the always-relocating Aaron Nesmith, who's become fantastic shooting on the move in addition to being nails from the corners. And make sure you're closing hard on Turner all the way to 25 feet out. And don't get lost in the sauce when the ball starts popping all over the place — which it will, considering Indiana has the second-fastest average touch time in the postseason and throws the second-most passes per game — both well, well above the likes of the Grizzlies, Nuggets and Timberwolves. Advertisement … That's kind of a lot of stuff to not mess up. 'It's one thing to understand what they're doing. It's one thing to understand what you need to do. It's quite another to execute it,' Daigneault said. 'That's what makes them really hard to play against. They pump a 99-miles-an-hour fastball at you. You can prepare all you want for that. When you're in the batter's box, it's different when it's time to hit it.' Especially when the last few pitchers you've seen more consistently sat in the high-80s. 'They're really pushing the ball, playing with pace even in the halfcourt, which is something that has kind of been the opposite ... maybe besides Memphis that we played so far this postseason,' said Thunder super-sub Caruso. 'Memphis did a lot of that — drive-and-kick, play early — where the other teams (Denver and Minnesota) we played [ran] more sets. Just adjusting back to that, and making sure we're ready to run.' Advertisement It's certainly something the Thunder are capable of doing; by a number of pace and possession metrics, Oklahoma City has actually played faster than Indiana in these playoffs, on balance. But simply being ready to run with these Pacers doesn't necessarily mean you're ready for what they're going to do while they're sprinting all over the place — what Turner called Indiana's 'random movement' on offense, which, when combined with Haliburton's tendency toward egalitarian table-setting, makes everybody in navy blue and gold a live threat at all times. 'Every team has their strengths and their weaknesses,' said Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. 'They're a very fast team. I think, like, above all, they understand how they're playing, and they're very stubborn in their approach. They kind of grind you with the way they play. … They know their identity and they stick to it, no matter what.' That clarity of vision and purpose, combined with Haliburton's peerless playmaking, Carlisle's tactical acumen and a boatload of talent, helps make these Pacers an incredibly dangerous offensive team, and a complex problem to solve — the kind of challenge that Holmgren has found himself loving to wrestle with in the postseason. Advertisement 'You're also seeing the same team for two weeks, rather than playing a new team every single night,' Holmgren said. 'So you're really able to take a deep dive, get into things, and really try to … it's really like a puzzle. You know, you got to take the time to figure it out.' The first step in solving any puzzle: singling out one piece from the pile and separating it from the rest. So which Pacers piece do the Thunder plan on starting out with? At that, Holmgren paused. 'That puzzle is also a secret, you know?' he said, a grin spreading across his face. 'That's my answer. Sorry. I wish I could give you more of it.' Advertisement Whatever the Thunder's plan of defensive attack, they'll need to be ready to match Indiana's intensity from Thursday's opening tip. Because if the unique brand of offensive pressure that the Pacers apply can make Oklahoma City blink, just once, in one of these first two games — as it did against Milwaukee, Cleveland and New York — then the tenor of a series that all us pundits seem to think we have pegged changes dramatically. 'We know this is a great team. If we were to win a championship, I don't want to win any other way. I don't want to go around or over. I want to go through,' Haliburton said. 'You want to go through the best team, the best challenge. This is the best challenge. This is the best team in the NBA.' And the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove it.

You can win free Chipotle during the NBA Finals, but you'll have to be quick

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Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals

NBA Finals 2025: How the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

NBA Finals 2025: Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

You can win free Chipotle during the NBA Finals, but you'll have to be quick

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Try Our AI Features

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Unsung heroes? Underrated players who could make a difference in NBA Finals

NBA Finals 2025: How the Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

NBA Finals 2025: Pacers are going to make the Thunder prove they're the 'best team in the NBA'

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