Which storylines will define the NBA Finals?
Oklahoma City Thunder face the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals, starting on Thursday night.The Thunder booked their place in their first national finals since 2012 with a 4-1 series win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.In the east, the Pacers beat the New York Knicks 4-2 to reach their second ever national finals and their first since 2000.Ahead of the final, BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team looks at what to watch out for in during the best-of-seven series.
First-time hopefuls vs a 46-year wait
As far as historic NBA longevity goes, a final between the Thunder and the Pacers is one that is a surprise to many.The Pacers are only here for the second time in their history, while the Thunder are only making their fourth finals outing themselves.Spearheaded by Olympic champion Tyrese Haliburton, the Pacers are among the 10 active franchises never to win the NBA's national championship, with the Thunder only boasting one themselves.The Thunder's only NBA finals crown came in 1979 when they were the Seattle Sonics, meaning no Oklahoma-based side has ever won the competition.One thing is for sure, the Larry O'Brien Trophy is heading to a new state for the first time in either Indiana or Oklahoma.
Will SGA join the exclusive MVP club?
Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander became the first Canadian to win the NBA's Most Valuable Player (MVP) award since Steven Nash in 2006. this season.A finals win with the Thunder could also see him join an exclusive club with some of basketball's all-time greats.Not since 2015 has the season MVP gone on to win the finals with their franchise that season, with the last being Steph Curry.Better known as 'SGA', Gilgeous-Alexander is the third Thunder player to be named MVP, but Kevin Durant (2014) and Russell Westbrook (2017) both failed in their quests to complete the finals and MVP double.SGA would join the likes of LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, should the Thunder claim a series win.
Thunder's 2-0 record vs Pacers
The two finalists have met twice already this season, coming in December in Indiana and March in Oklahoma.On both occasions, the Thunder came out on top and it gives them a psychological advantage heading into this best-of-seven series.Between Christmas and New Year, the Thunder were 120-114 winners on the road, going on to claim a 132-111 scalp of the Pacers three months later.During the play-offs, the Thunder recorded wins in 12 of their 16 games that included a 4-0 sweep of the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round.The Pacers have an identical record since the start of the play-offs in April.
Pacers' outstanding comebacks
A major factor in the Pacers reaching a first finals in a quarter of a century has been their ability to overturn games that have at times, seemed close to impossible to do so.In game five of their play-off first round meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks, the Pacers found themselves 118-111 down with 40 seconds of overtime remaining, only for Andrew Nembhard to nail a three-pointer and Haliburton to score five unanswered points for a 119-118 victory.Trailing by 14 points in the third quarter of game two in the Eastern Conference semi-finals against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Thunder were 119-112 down with 57 seconds but recorded a 120-119 as Haliburton found a three-pointer with one second remaining.A hat-trick of memorable play-off comebacks again had Haliburton at the heart of it. In the first game of the Eastern Conference finals, the Pacers trailed 121-112 to the Knicks with 52 seconds remaining of regular time. As the buzzer sounded, Haliburton's long-range shot with one foot on the three-point line bounced up off the rim and dropped in for two points, sending the game to overtime before the Pacers won 135-134.What can be said about the Pacers is their relentless attitude and their ability to dig deep into games, something which they will need against a Thunder side that averaged 3.1 more points per game than them in the regular season.
Thunder's home-court advantage
The Thunder have got the home court advantage for the seven-game series, meaning they will host games one, two, five and seven of the series, should all seven matches be required.This is because the Western Conference champions had a significantly better record during the 82-game regular season, winning 68 matches to the Pacers' 50.Since the Pacers' previous finals appearance in 2000, 16 of the 25 teams with home court advantage have won the finals.However, each of the 2024, 2023 and 2022 finalists with home court advantage all failed to make it count.This article is the latest from BBC Sport's Ask Me Anything team.
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Ask Me Anything is a service dedicated to answering your questions.We want to reward your time by telling you things you do not know and reminding you of things you do.The team will find out everything you need to know and be able to call upon a network of contacts including our experts and pundits.We will be answering your questions from the heart of the BBC Sport newsroom, and going behind the scenes at some of the world's biggest sporting events.Our coverage will span the BBC Sport website, app, social media and YouTube accounts, plus BBC TV and radio.
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