Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton speaks ahead of Game 2
The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder will face off in Game 2 of the NBA Finals on Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
Christine Tannous
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USA Today
36 minutes ago
- USA Today
WATCH: Ohio State football members pick NBA finals winner
WATCH: Ohio State football members pick NBA finals winner It's not college football, but there is a championship on the line beginning this week with the NBA finals commencing. In fact, the Indiana Pacers already took Game 1 vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder in a thrilling finish. With the close proximity to Columbus, you would think that most Ohioans are rooting for the Pacers, but what about the athletes playing on the Ohio State football team? The Ohio State football creative team recently dropped a video asking the players who will take the NBA finals, and the reviews were rather mixed. Again, you'd think those from the Midwest would be all in on the Pacers, but that wasn't necessarily the case. In fact, quite a few Buckeye football players (and coaches) picked the Thunder to hoist the trophy. Remember, while there's a lot of Ohio natives and DNA in the program, OSU recruits at a national level, so there are rooting interests beyond the upper Midwest. Watch as several members of the Ohio State football program give their thoughts on whether it'll be the Oklahoma City Thunder or Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals. We, for one, would love to see Indiana get its first NBA title, and this feels like the year in which it could happen.
Indianapolis Star
an hour ago
- Indianapolis Star
One phone call brought Haliburton, Siakam together, turned the Pacers into a contender.
OKLAHOMA CITY – Outside of a handful of interactions in summer workouts, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton didn't know Pascal Siakam very well, when he learned Indiana might trade for the Toronto All-Star a year ago January. Haliburton and Siakam had exchanged pleasantries at Rico Runs — the well-known UCLA-based summer pickup games organized by longtime NBA assistant Rico Hines — but otherwise the pair hadn't often crossed paths. Now, with his front office considering a move to pair him with Siakam, Indiana's emerging franchise face thought it would be a good idea for the two to connect. Stepping out of a dinner during the team's mid-January swing through Atlanta last season, Haliburton talked with Siakam for roughly an hour. That phone call provided the building blocks of a relationship that's anchored the Pacers' run to the NBA Finals 17 months later. Re-live the Pacers unbelievable run to the 2025 NBA Finals with IndyStar's commemorative book 'I wanted to have a conversation, 'Hey, is this something you actually you want to do? Do you want to be here?'' Haliburton said Saturday, recounting the conversation. 'Because I think that the guys who have been a part of the nucleus of this group, we cherish this organization and what we have been able to build here. I think every team, when you ultimately win a championship or play at a high level, there's a trade that happens or you bring in somebody from the outside to be a part of it and you don't want to make the wrong move, right. 'If you go in for Pascal, you want it to be about the right things.' In Siakam, the Pacers were looking for an high-caliber complementary piece to Haliburton. At that point a two-time All-Star, Siakam had also garnered All-NBA second- and third-team nods during his career, and won a title with Toronto in 2019. And in Indiana, Siakam saw the forming momentum of a franchise rallying around a superlative young point guard. The kind of creative ball handler who could score in bunches but create for teammates with equal ease. 'We had a great conversation, and I think we just very much so aligned on wanting to win and that being the emphasis,' Haliburton said. 'I told him that, 'Hey, we could really play well together. I think I could get you the ball in space and allow you to do what you do.' He preached that there's many things that he could do to help me succeed.' And so it's been in the year and a half since a three-team trade brought Siakam to Indianapolis. After re-signing with the Pacers on a four-year contract worth close to $190 million in July, Siakam turned in the third All-Star season of his career this winter. He led Indiana in points and rebounds per game, and thus far is doing the same in the playoffs. He even narrowly edged Haliburton for Eastern Conference finals MVP, after Indiana dispatched the Knicks in six games. Together, their adaptable skillsets embody a team whose versatility has become one of its greatest strengths. These Pacers can play big or small, defend well, run the floor and find their offense all over it. Trading for Haliburton handed Indiana a franchise cornerstone around which it could build a winner. Siakam became the final, crucial piece to that puzzle. Together, they have positioned the Pacers as an NBA title contender for the first time in a quarter century, all of it starting with one forthright phone call between two men crucial to making it possible. 'The biggest thing that I can respect about him is just his work ethic,' Haliburton said. 'He comes in the gym, I know he's going to be there every day. I know the exact hoop he's going to be on, so I try not to take his hoop. I let him get his one-on-one work in. 'Seeing him work that hard makes me want to work harder, and I think that goes through our group. I love having him as a teammate.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Pacers vs. Thunder: On-court NBA Finals logo needs to return to give the event the special feel it deserves
It's the most important and biggest event of the year for the NBA, but you wouldn't know it by the mere optics of the Finals. No gold trophy at center court. And more importantly, no Finals script logo anywhere on the floor. Advertisement Short of Oklahoma City fans wearing all white, you couldn't tell the magnitude of the moment. Tyrese Haliburton's winning shot in Game 1 will be etched in history regardless of the series outcome, but visually something was missing. Fans took to social media in the last few days to remark how the floor looks sterile and bare compared to NBA Finals series of the past, and they were especially dismayed when bringing up the special courts the NBA uses for the early-season Emirates NBA Cup. A closeup view of the 2014 NBA Finals logo at American Airlines Arena in Miami. (Photo by John W. McDonough /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (John W. McDonough via Getty Images) 'We have the opportunity to plan well in advance and to design a specific neutral court for a Cup championship game, and the teams design their own Cup courts,' commissioner Adam Silver said Friday. 'And it actually takes a significant amount of time to create new courts in terms of how they're painted, et cetera.' Advertisement Here's a solution for the league, which they could employ starting next year: At the start of the conference finals, start making four versions of the floor for each arena so something will be ready for the Finals. Of course, two will go unused, but the payoff of fan satisfaction could be worth the investment. It's simple, and it doesn't affect the style or quality of play. But the visual of the logo makes the moment feel big, and the NBA should focus on making moments feel bigger — especially for a television audience. 'There was a sense that maybe the logos added some slipperiness to the court, and it was a change on the court that was coming just at the time of the Finals,' Silver said Friday afternoon at the Boys & Girls Clubs of Oklahoma County ribbon-cutting ceremony, where the league refurbished educational spaces, among other things. Advertisement 'And again, maybe it's for superstitious reasons or just a sense from teams. We shouldn't be changing things around such important competition.' Maybe it was somehow slippery, although no moments come to mind when injuries occurred around the logo. Or maybe the NBA didn't think it was that important. The World Series has significant logos on the grass, and the Super Bowl has its unique signage at both 20-yard lines. Silver, who seems to be online more than people would expect, saw the reaction and indicated perhaps a change can be made in the future. 'I hadn't thought all that much about it till I thought it,' Silver said. 'I'm nostalgic as well for certain things and and also, I think, for, you know, media-driven culture, whether it's people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it's nice when you're looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that that trophy logo or some other indication that it's a special event.' The Finals script design made its return in 2022 after a few years of a very bland, Microsoft Word-style design that was panned by all. When the script returned for the first time since the 2017 Finals, fans across the league rejoiced. Advertisement It felt important. It felt big. It was first put on the floors in the 1989 NBA Finals, and two years later, decals for the entire NBA playoffs were placed. Like Silver said, it created a nostalgia that for some reason the league went away from reinforcing. During the ABC broadcast, there seemed to be nothing special — no televising the national anthem or starting lineups, and in last year's Finals, digital advertising signage was placed on the floor instead of the Finals script. It seems like an easy solution, and the league pays enough attention to social media and the like that it wouldn't be a shock to see some level of visual change. Advertisement Are numerous different champions better? Not only will this be the seventh straight year the NBA will crown a new champion, Oklahoma City and Indiana joining the party means 11 teams have played for the NBA title during that span — with Boston, Miami and Golden State making multiple appearances since 2019. Who knows if it's a good, great or terrible thing — the lack of connective tissue between the Finals year after year? But it's clear Silver believes this being a function of the collective bargaining agreement is a positive. 'I remember when I first joined the league,' Silver said Thursday during his Finals availability news conference. 'David used to joke early on in his tenure, David Stern, as commissioner, he said his job was to go back and forth between Boston and L.A. handing out championship trophies. Advertisement 'I think it was very intentional, it didn't begin with me, it began with David and successive collective bargaining agreements, that we set out to create a system that allowed for more competition in the league, with the goal being having 30 teams all in position, if well managed, to compete for championships. That's what we're seeing here.' In Stern's 30 years as commissioner, he handed trophies to Chicago, San Antonio, Los Angeles, Miami, Boston, Detroit, Golden State, Houston and Cleveland. Silver is already close to topping that number in less than half the time. 'I've said before, the goal is that market size essentially becomes irrelevant.'
