Analysis of the Pacers NBA Finals Championship: The ultimate interpretation of team basketball and fate!

In the 2025 NBA Finals, the Indiana Pacers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder as a dark horse, winning the first championship trophy in team history. This team, which counterattacked as a small market team, has written another grassroots legend in NBA history with its exquisite team basketball, the explosion of key players and metaphysical luck. The following are the six key factors for the Pacers to win the championship:

1. Siakam's misaligned nuclear weapon effect

As the Pacers' forward core, Siakam completely beat the Thunder inside in the finals. Facing the Thunder, who is 2.16 meters tall but weighs only 88 kilograms, Siakam averaged 25.8 points per game with his tonnage of 108 kilograms and delicate low-post footsteps, with a shooting percentage of up to 52.4%. In the G6 life-and-death battle in the Eastern Conference Finals, his performance of 31 points + 5 rebounds + 3 blocks in a single game has already predicted his dominance in the finals. When the Thunder were forced to double-team, Siakam was able to accurately pass the ball to the outside, activate the Pacers' three-point shooting percentage of 42.3% in the playoffs (first in the league), forming a three-dimensional offensive of "internal shooting".

2. Halliburton: The ultimate evolution of the God of Ball Control

Halliburton led the league with an assist-and-turnover ratio of 5.03 (156 assists and only 31 mistakes in the playoffs), and performed many "double-digit assists + zero-turnover" control performances in the finals. Facing Thunder elite defenders Dort and Caruso, he tore through the defense with the overall view of the old-school point guard and cold-blooded projections at critical moments (such as the 32+12+15 triple-double of the Eastern Conference G4). The defeat of the MVP in the Eastern Conference Finals further inspired his fighting spirit, and the finals G3's winning two-pointer directly reversed the momentum of the series.

3. The ultimate in team basketball

Pacers crushed the Thunder with a depth of 10-man rotation, and averaged 48.3 points per game in the playoffs, with a three-point shooting percentage of 38.9%. Coach Carlisle cleverly used marginal players such as Walker and Bryant, and even scored an epic reversal of "34 seconds and 8 minutes" in the Eastern Conference Finals. In contrast, the Thunder relied too much on Alexander (30.8 points per game) singles, while the Pacers' three major ball holding points (Halliburton, Siakam, and Nemhard) completely disintegrated the Thunder's high-pressure defense.

4. The fatal shortcoming of the Thunder's inside line

The Thunder's front line is not tall (Dort and Jewish are both less than 2 meters), and the frame protection only depends on Homegren. The Pacers used a double-high combination of Siakam + Turner (2.11 meters), with a net rebounding margin of 7.2 per game in the series, and their second offensive scores were 14 points more than the Thunder. Homgren's strength disadvantage was infinitely magnified, and even Siakam took it alone in a single quarter by 5 times, which directly led to the collapse of the Thunder's defensive system.

5. Metaphysical blessing: The script of the team of destiny

Pacers have 7 wins and 0 losses in key battles this season, and have completed more than 19 points in three playoffs, making them the "king of reversals". Wiseman's "Champion Law" for season reimbursement (refer to the 2022 Warriors), Halliburton's "most overrated player" counterattack narrative, and the "long holiday curse" of the Thunder's sluggish state after 9 days of rest all became the weights of the balance of fate. Although ESPN gives the Thunder a 93.1% chance of winning the championship, the Pacers perfectly reproduce the script of the Mavericks "Single-Core Front-Killing God" in 2011.

6. Carlisle's tactics defeated the champion coach Carlisle with 20 years of coaching experience crushing the Thunder young coach Dagenot. In the finals, he deployed the strategy of "fast attack to drag down the Thunder's heart and lungs" in a targeted manner, using the number of rounds in the Pacers' league (104.3 times/game) to consume the Thunder's physical fitness. At the critical moment of G1, Carlisle even used the "five small lineup" to block Alexander's breakthrough route, and finally secured the victory with Siakam's victory block.

Conclusion

Pacers' championship win is a victory for team basketball to crush talent, and it is also a model for small-market teams to counterattack. Siakam's African player status (the second place after Olajuwon won the championship), Indiana's 58 years of waiting, and Halliburton's "from overrated to FMVP" have made this championship trophy full of legend. If the God of Basketball prefers hard work and wisdom, then the Pacer in 2025 is his most perfect masterpiece.