NBA Finals prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder to secure first NBA Championship
NBA Finals Betting Tips
The 2025 NBA Finals have arrived, as the Oklahoma City Thunder take on the Indiana Pacers as both teams look for a first ever NBA Championship title.
Thursday, 5 June sees Game 1 at the Paycom Center, with the Thunder seen as overwhelming favourites ahead of the Finals beginning, at odds as low as 1/7 with NBA betting sites.
Mark Daigneault's team went 68-14 in the regular season before beating the Nuggets 4-1 in the Conference Finals, and with 2025 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and All-Star Jalen Williams, they arguably possess the best blend of offence and defence in the country.
But they will face an undeniably talented Pacers side in the Finals, with Rick Carlisle's team boasting the likes of All-Star pair Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam.
And Carlisle will be relying on such players to produce a mini-masterclass this month, with the Pacers priced as high as 11/2 underdogs to win the Championship ahead of Game 1 this week.
NBA Finals betting tips: OKC to lift NBA Championship
As mentioned above, the Thunder go into the Finals as overwhelming favourites to take home the title, with their 68-14 regular season record far better than the Pacers' 50-32 (which took them only to fourth in the Eastern Conference).
The Thunder are 43-7 at the Paycom Center since the start of the 2024/25 season, and boast MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has also averaged 29.8 points per game throughout the postseason.
As a team, they committed the fewest turnovers this season and forced their opponents into the most, meaning that they already have a distinct advantage before tip-off.
And to add to that, the Thunder won both games in their regular season meeting – 120-114 in December and 132-111 in March.
While the Pacers have gone 52-21 since mid-December, they'll likely need to try and beat the Thunder at their own game, which looks exceedingly difficult ahead of Game 1.
And with little value on offer in several markets, we think a wager on the Thunder to win the series 4-1 could provide value at 2/1 with various betting sites.
NBA Finals prediction: SGA to dominate Game 1
Regular-season MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is already odds-on to win Finals MVP (at odds as low as 1/6 with some betting sites), and ahead of Game 1, various betting apps are backing him to put in an esteemed performance.
SGA averaged 39.0 points on 55.6 per cent shooting, 8.0 assists and 7.0 rebounds in the two games between these two teams in the regular season, to add to an average of 32.7 points in the regular season and 29.8 in the postseason.
In addition, the 26-year-old ranked third in made two-pointers per game with 9.2, while shooting 57.1 per cent inside the arc.
It all points to a decent points total in Game 1 as the Thunder look to gain the perfect start to the series, and so we think a wager on Gilgeous-Alexander to score 35+ points could offer good value at 23/20.
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