Frederick: Can the 2025 Lynx be the 2014 Spurs? If so, look out
Minnesota opens its season Friday in Dallas against a foe who's incredibly familiar to local basketball fans.
Paige Bueckers' arrival signals a new era of Dallas basketball after the Hopkins native was selected with the No. 1 overall pick in this spring's WNBA draft.
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The Wings experienced one of many retoolings in the WNBA over the offseason. Indiana added a number of talented, veteran pieces around Caitlin Clark. Las Vegas brought Jewell Lloyd into the fold to replace Kelsey Plum. Atlanta bolstered its front court with the additions of Brittney Griner and Brionna Jones, while Phoenix added Alyssa Thomas and Satou Sabally.
Yet even with all that, who did the majority of WNBA general managers select to win the 2025 title? The Lynx.
Sixty percent of respondents to the WNBA.com survey selected Minnesota to reclaim the crown after finishing as a controversial runner-up last fall.
The reasons are clear. Napheesa Collier is slowly cementing herself as the best player in the world, and was the choice of 67% of voting general managers to be named this season's MVP.
Also: WNBA set for new season thanks to its stars
Minnesota has incredible stability within its roster, with all five starters back from last year's team. The Lynx have Cheryl Reeve, who has a strong argument to be the best coach in women's basketball.
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And, of course, motivation will be abundant. While losing in Game 5 of the WNBA Finals will always be painful, the manner in which Minnesota suffered defeat – with a questionable foul called at the end of regulation to allow the Liberty to force overtime – resulted in anger that could fuel the beast this summer.
In 2013, the Spurs fell in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to Miami after a chaotic final 10 seconds in Game 6 prevented San Antonio from securing the championship. A year later, the Spurs delivered a dominant campaign, capped by a dismantling of the Heat in a Finals rematch to ultimately get San Antonio the title it felt it deserved the year prior.
Can Minnesota write a similar story? The Lynx were a lovable collection that came together and played a beautiful brand of basketball in 2024. The Finals felt like a sour ending to another dream-like screenplay.
But perhaps that wasn't the ending at all, but rather the adversity the protagonist must endure before ultimately emerging as the victor.
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It sure sounds good, but there's so much basketball to be played between now and the postseason, the stage at which Minnesota could gain its true vengeance. Last year's team made the hard things look easy. It willfully shared the ball on offense and played with a defensive tenacity that's difficult to replicate. It's why last season was so special.
Even with the same players, there will be a challenge to repeat the formula that led to such success in 2024.
But if the Lynx can, 2025 could be a season to remember. Roster retooling is great, but stability is king in basketball. Perhaps another year of familiarity will only increase the chemistry that made Minnesota largely unstoppable last summer.
If that's the case, the rest of the league could be in trouble.
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Judging from the poll results, teams know it.
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Popular Sports Reporter Rachel DeMita Announces She Was Fired Over Caitlin Clark Post
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Pacers vs. Thunder Game 7: Four things to watch in one game to decide a champion
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Thunder players openly discuss how they feed off their raucous crowd, and this becomes most noticeable on defense — the Thunder's defensive rating is 12.7 points per 100 possessions better at home this postseason. 'You're ultimately in your complete comfort zone,' Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said of their home court advantage. 'The flow to the day doesn't change. You're in your own bed. You have shootaround at your building. You eat your pregame meal from your chef or your whoever. It's very comfortable, the whole flow to the day, and then the crowd is behind you. They give you energy, whether you're up or down or whatever is going on in the night. It's an advantage.' The energy the Thunder players get from their deafening crowd is real. 'The crowd. You know, they work in our favor,' Cason Wallace said. 'They're rowdy and they're into the game, and that gives us a boost and an edge.' The Pacers have been a strong road team this postseason, with a 7-4 record away from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, and have generally played teams evenly (a minus-0.6 point differential). They have won one game on the road this series, they know what is coming and how to withstand it. 'Crowds give you a little bit more energy, a little bit more burst. We are going to be practically alone tomorrow,' T.J. McConnell said. 'This crowd here in Oklahoma City is amazing. It's going to be very loud. We have to be ready.' Haliburton's health Tyrese Haliburton's strained left calf wasn't much of an issue in Game 6. That doesn't mean it should be ignored in Game 7. There were a couple of moments early in Game 6 when he clearly hesitated to push off on his left leg, but it ultimately didn't matter because his shot was falling and the Thunder's defensive pressure was not cranked up to its usual intensity. Haliburton finished with 14 points, five assists, and played less than 23 minutes in the blowout. Also of note: The Thunder rarely dragged Haliburton into a pick-and-roll and made him move laterally quickly on defense. Expect more of that in Game 7. Haliburton says he is ready. 'I'm pretty much in the same standpoint I was before Game 6. A little stiff, a little sore, rather,' Haliburton said. 'Good thing I only had to play like 23 minutes. I've been able to get even more treatment and do more things. Just trying to take care of it the best I can. But I'll be ready to go for Game 7.' Watch how he is moving early and how much the Thunder test him. Turnovers, offensive rebounds Both of these teams are built on winning the possession game: forcing turnovers, not turning the ball over themselves, securing some offensive rebounds, scoring easy buckets in transition, and simply creating more scoring opportunities than their opponent. Which team has executed that has swung from game to game, but in Game 6 it was clearly Indiana. 'I think last game, we didn't play our brand of basketball and we didn't play our brand of defense and we just let them be comfortable,' Isaiah Hartenstein said of the Thunder. 'So I think it's a mix of things. They do a great job of never changing the way they play. So they get out, they run. And it's our job to just get back to playing our style of defense and going from there.' Turnovers and bench points will be bellwethers in Game 7, as they have been throughout the series. Lessons from Game 6, former Game 7s Game 7s don't happen in a vacuum, and both teams talked about learning from past experiences. For the Thunder, it was Game 7 against the Nuggets in these playoffs. This Finals series has eerily followed the form of the second-round showdown between Denver and Oklahoma City, from the heartbreaking loss in Game 1 to the blowout loss in Game 6. Against the Nuggets, the Thunder played their best game of the series in Game 7, winning comfortably at home. 'What Game 7 taught me from Denver is the swings — three feels like you're down 10, you know what I mean? One feels like you're down five,' Jalen Williams said. 'That's just like the swing of a game, and what is going on feels much larger. It's about honing in your emotion and understanding the state of the game is big for Game 7.' The Pacers have a few things to draw on. 'Honestly, for us the last three games have all been Game 7s,' Myles Turner said. One of those was Game 6 from just a couple of days ago. With their backs against the wall, Indiana played with a genuine desperation that Oklahoma City did not come close to matching. 'Last game, we didn't want them celebrating on our court, so we understood the assignment, we understood we had to come in here and be dogs, and get that job done,' Obi Toppin said. 'And now it's on to game seven. We got, we got to do the same thing we did in game six and get the job done.' Asked about his favorite Game 7 memory, Aaron Nesmith didn't hesitate to bring up the Pacers' biggest win of a season ago — one that can apply to this year. 'Ours, against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden,' Nesmith said, referencing a Game 7 win on the road the team had last season. 'That was an incredible atmosphere and a moment that I loved playing in.' This Pacers core has won a Game 7 on the road in an incredibly hostile environment. It has won in this building in the NBA Finals. Don't sleep on their chances to do it again — but this is a much bigger stage and much brighter lights. What has been a brilliant series hopefully ends with a Game 7 to match.
Yahoo
an hour ago
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Pacers-Thunder Game 7 predictions! Who will win the 2025 NBA Finals and be crowned champion on Sunday?
It all comes down to this for the Pacers and the Thunder: Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday (8 ET, ABC). Winner will be crowned the 2025 champion. Will the Thunder finish off one of the greatest seasons in NBA history? Or will the Pacers complete one of the most unexpected postseason runs of all time? Our writers weigh in on Game 7 and make their predictions. 1. Use 7 words to describe these NBA Finals. Ben Rohrbach: Highly competitive basketball for two rabid fanbases. This series may not be for everyone, or for anyone who bought into the small-market criticism of it, but for those who love the sport — and, man, do they love basketball in Indiana and Oklahoma City — you cannot help but respect how hard these teams play. Advertisement Tom Haberstroh: Basketball does not get better than this. The level of hooping is a coach's dream as well as a fan's dream. It may not be a TV partner's dream matchup, but these two teams are putting legacies and bodies equally on the line. Dan Devine: A thrilling, exhausting, illuminating showcase for the sport. (That's eight, but if we don't count the articles, it's only six. Devine skirts a word count yet again.) Nineteen days ago, damn near everyone just knew that the Thunder would win this series. Now, after a three-week rollercoaster ride of buzzer-beaters, bounce-backs and beatdowns — of adjustments, adjustments to the adjustments, and adjustments to the adjustments TO the adjustments — all we know for sure is that the Pacers are a hell of a lot better than most people realized, that their all-gas-no-brakes two-way play style is an incredible weapon, and that reaching the pinnacle requires post-graduate real-time problem-solving … even if everyone just knew the chip was yours for the taking. Hours before Game 7, I feel like all I know is that I don't know nothing. And that's fine. Advertisement Vincent Goodwill: A harbinger for the future of basketball. It feels big now, especially if you're in it, but it will feel bigger down the line when the NBA's sea change really takes hold. The breakneck pace, the young stars making a name for themselves. Who knows if either will be back, but it is a signal of the terms these games will be played by in the coming years. 2. What, if anything, have we learned from these Finals so far? Goodwill: That we don't know as much as we thought we did. That coaching matters. That the connective tissue of heartbreak and year-to-year continuity means more than we believed it could. That there could very well be no run-away-and-hide dynasties in the league's future, because the competition is too thick for anyone to truly dominate — and that youth can mature faster than we thought possible. Devine: That, as we recently discussed on The Big Number, the future of the NBA is going to be a spin on pace-and-space — namely, being able to cover as much space as possible, as quickly as possible, for as long as possible. Advertisement The Pacers and Thunder have made the argument for bumping a 'Big 5' league up by at least a couple of contributors — to be able to run 10, 11, 12 deep during the regular season to keep your stars fresher for May and June, and to be able to play a style that applies maximum pressure on opponents for the full 48 minutes, with more players emptying the tank in shorter stints before coming out for a rest. Stars still matter, of course … but so does everyone else. And if you don't have the Everyone Else, you won't survive 82 games and four rounds — especially against teams that do. Haberstroh: Never, ever count out the Indiana Pacers. Their ability to level up and play to their opponent (and often above it) will be the thing that I'll remember most about these Finals. Every inch, every point is being earned on the battlefield. It's as if they think the 13 players who voted Tyrese Haliburton as most overrated are all on the opposing roster. Every game. Rohrbach: We have learned what it takes to build a team in the era of the second apron. Gone is the three-star model, or even the superstar tandem, and in its place are true teams. Both the Thunder and the Pacers are built around one superstar, a complementary fringe All-NBA talent and well-paid, talented depth. 3. What is the biggest key for the Thunder in Game 7? Devine: Take care of the ball. Take care of the ball. And then, after that, take care of the ball. The Thunder are 73-18 this season when they don't commit more turnovers than their opponent. When they do cough it up more than the other team, they're … still 10-3, because they've been an incredible team all season. Two of those three losses, though, have come in this series: in Game 3, when Indiana's full-court pressure conspired to minimize the impact of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and hamstring the Oklahoma City offense, and in Game 6, which began to shift on a three-turnover stretch early in the second quarter. Conversely: When the Thunder haven't turned the ball over more often than Indiana, they're 3-1 in this series, with the only loss coming on Haliburton's Game 1 buzzer beater. Control the ball, get shots on goal and limit Indiana's transition opportunities, and OKC dramatically improves its odds of hoisting the Larry O'B. Advertisement Goodwill: OKC's offense hasn't been humming the way we all expected, at least not since Game 2. When they've struggled in this series, it's been that reason. When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander can't get to his spots, or when the shooters aren't hitting from the gravity he creates, they get into trouble. He can't have another eight turnover game on Sunday. 27 assists to 23 turnovers? No bueno. [Pacers-Thunder: 7 eye-popping stats that have defined the Finals] Rohrbach: Will the defense show up? A swarming defense is Oklahoma City's calling card, and it is the best thing any team has got going for it in these playoffs. Lean into that, and the Thunder should be fine. In Game 6, though, the Pacers "played harder than us," said SGA. "And when a team plays harder, they turn the other team over." Haberstroh: They better hope the time-honored axiom, 'Role players play better at home,' comes true on Sunday. Lu Dort, Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso combining for five points in Game 6 is not the stuff of champions. They better defend and capitalize on kickouts in ways that were somehow out of reach in Game 6. 4. What is the biggest key for the Pacers in Game 7? Haberstroh: Continue to limit turnovers. Unbelievably, the Thunder didn't snag a steal until midway through the third quarter in Game 6. At the end of the day, that's what sealed their blowout victory, and possibly their ticket to the Larry O'Brien Trophy. If they can keep the OKC Dobermans at bay, they'll be in good position for their franchise's first NBA championship. Advertisement Rohrbach: If defense is key for OKC, then taking care of the ball is key for Indiana. The Pacers are 10-1 in the playoffs when they turn the ball over 13 times or fewer. They have required two buzzer-beaters, including one in Game 1 of this series, to finish 5-6 when they turn it over 14 times or more. I don't think they want Game 7 to require a buzzer-beater. Or maybe they do. I'm out of the prediction business when it comes to Indy. Goodwill: It's almost the same as the Thunder. Take care of the ball. Especially on the road. Avoid the five-minute Looney Tunes calamity of errors that makes winning in this environment damn near impossible. You can't count on rebounding from that disastrous stretch of Game 1 to steal one on the road. You don't steal Game 7s in the NBA Finals on the road. You don't have to play perfect, but you can't give the game away. The defense will be there. The offense has to be passable. Devine: Keep OKC uncomfortable on offense. After showing the Thunder a steady diet of full-court pressure throughout the series, Indiana dialed it way back in Game 6, preferring instead to meet Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams just inside half court and converge on the ball-handler from there, with hands in the passing lanes, help defenders in the gaps and well-timed double teams sprung from unfamiliar angles. The result was literally Oklahoma City's worst offensive game of the season. Advertisement After a couple of days to digest how the Pacers did it, Oklahoma City will likely come out for Game 7 with some new answers. If an Indiana defense led by assistant coach Jenny Boucek can introduce some new questions, though, the Pacers have a great shot to keep things tight enough to pull off yet another upset. 5. Name an X-factor for Game 7. Rohrbach: 3-point shooting. As Tom mentioned, the old saying goes, "Role players play better at home," and that has been true for the Thunder, whose fans create a true home-court advantage. In the Finals, the Thunder are shooting 39.8% on 32.7 3-point attempts per game at home and 30.9% on 22.7 attempts on the road, a difference of 30 points per game. Seems relevant. [NBA Finals keys and X-factors for Pacers and Thunder] Advertisement Devine: Is T.J. McConnell now too much of a defined, known quantity to be considered an X-factor? If so, let's go with Obi Toppin, an irrepressible live wire on offense whose sprinting in transition and quick trigger from 3-point range fit perfectly with this Pacers team, and whose biggest and best moments of this postseason — 13 points in 14 minutes in Game 4 against Milwaukee, 20 points in 20 minutes in Game 4 against Cleveland, 18 points in 25 minutes in Game 6 against New York, 17 points with five 3-pointers in Game 1 against OKC, 20 points in 23 minutes in Thursday's Game 6 — have all come in massive Pacers wins. In a Game 7, every possession feels magnified, and every make feels like it counts for double. If Toppin can get free and get hot, those makes could be absolute backbreakers for the Thunder — and just the shot of adrenaline the Pacers need to get across the finish line. Goodwill: Maybe Obi Toppin has also been so consistent through this series he no longer qualifies as an X-factor, but that's who could make this game very interesting. He was shaky early in Game 1 with turnovers, but even then he was hitting shots. It doesn't seem like the Thunder have an athlete that can go up with him consistently, especially in those second- and third-quarter stints that have changed the game's complexion. Either he or Nembhard has to make the OKC defense pay with shooting or the paths to winning will be limited. Advertisement Haberstroh: The officiating. If the referees call a tight game, advantage Pacers. If they let 'em play, edge goes to OKC. Statistically, Scott Foster calls the tightest game of any official in the NBA, so we'll see if he returns this series after working Game 4. None of the officials who worked the last Finals Game 7, in 2016, are still in the referee corp. It might be Foster's assignment. 6. Game 7 prediction! Pacers or Thunder — who wins it all? Goodwill: Thunder. Only because you can't change your pick, and because you rarely see Game 7s be won on the road, 2016 notwithstanding. Unless the moment gets too big for them, they've been the best team since October. They must do it now. Devine: Thunder. I've picked them at every step along the way — before the season, before the playoffs, before this series — and they've still got home-court advantage and the MVP. I'll stick with them … and be roughly zero percent surprised if the Pacers, once again, make picking against them look foolish. Advertisement Rohrbach: Thunder. They are the better team, or at least I have been saying that all series long, and rather than admit that the Pacers are just as good as the Thunder, why not try to prove myself right one more time? Haberstroh: I'll go Pacers. I picked OKC in 5, so I clearly underestimated Indiana's fighting spirit. I won't make that mistake again. Rick Carlisle seems to have Mark Daigneault on the ropes as indicated by the Thunder — the No. 1 overall seed that won 68 games! — continuing to change their starting lineups in the series like they're the underdogs. 7. Who will win Finals MVP? Haberstroh: Pascal Siakam. His Raptors closed out on the road in the 2019 Finals and he largely drove that effort with 26 points and 10 rebounds in the clincher in the Bay. Six years later, he seems poised to do it again, with 19.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and four assist averages in the series. He's been as steady as they come. Advertisement Rohrbach: T.J. McConnell. Just kidding. It's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and then everyone else. Goodwill: Shai Gilegous-Alexander. There was a path for Jalen Williams, but it seems more unlikely unless he puts up a 40-ball. SGA has to take the lead here, both in action and emotion. Devine: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. When in doubt, go with the MVP to finish the job.
