"Even if we did everything right, Jokic still gave them a chance" - Isaiah Hartenstein says Nuggets were OKC's toughest challenge in the playoffs
The Oklahoma City Thunder may have entered the playoffs as the league's top seed, but their path to the 2025 NBA championship was anything but easy. Despite a dominant regular season, OKC had to battle through two grueling seven-game series — including the NBA Finals — before hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy.
Reflecting on their title run, Isaiah Hartenstein revealed that the toughest challenge wasn't the Pacers in the Finals, but the second-round clash with the Denver Nuggets — and the reason was simple: Nikola Jokic.
"I think the only series we were kind of a little bit on the ropes was Denver. Just Jokic, I mean, the way they play. They've been there before. And that was the only series where we were like, even if we do everything right, they probably still have a chance. Every other series, we were like, if we do the right things, we're good," he said.
The Nuggets series was a war
After sweeping the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, the Thunder were matched up against the No. 4-seeded Nuggets in the second round. Right from the start of the series, they were in for a dog fight.
Behind 42 points and 22 rebounds from Joker, Denver stole Game 1 in OKC and put the pressure on OKC. As expected, the Thunder bounced back with a 43-point blowout win in Game 2. But if they thought that big win took the fight from the Nuggets, they were wrong, as the 2023 champs won Game 3 at their home floor 113-104 with Jokic having another monster double-double with 20 points and 16 rebounds.
However, OKC dug deep to win Games 4 and 5 to finally grab the upper hand. Denver held court to even the series at 3-3, but with Game 7 in OKC, the Thunder blew out the Nuggets 125-93 with SGA leading the way with 35 points. But despite an easy close-out win, the series itself was the true test of the young Thunder team.Pacers coaching impressed the Thunder
As for the Pacers, Hartenstein gave more credit to their head coach than anybody else. Indiana was coached by 13-year veteran Rick Carisle, who led the Dallas Mavericks to their first-ever NBA title in 2011. According to Isaiah, Carlisle's experience was evident in the Finals.
"I think they were really impressive. I mean, they play their style, no matter what. I think the biggest one, just playing against them, I think, is Rick Carlisle. The timely timeouts, the timely adjustments. I think that was the most impressive thing. In general, had great coaching in the playoffs in general. And then the whole team plays the same way. I mean, there's never stopping," he added.
Like the Nuggets, the Pacers took the Thunder to the brink, but unfortunately for them, their star player Tyrese Haliburton suffered an injury in the first quarter of Game 7. Carlisle tried to pull all the tricks under his sleeve. Still, it was not enough to deny Hartenstein and the Thunder from winning the 2025 NBA championship.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 22, 2025, where it first appeared.
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