Midwest Sports

The NBA Finals match up is set. Indiana Pacers vs Oklahoma City Thunder.  The Indiana Pacers are a fast paced team, who move the ball well, and play good defense. The Pacers outscored the Knicks in game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals 41-10 in transition points and scored 34-13 points off turnovers. The Pacers have 5-7 players that score double digit points.  The Oklahoma City Thunder play good defense, lead all playoff teams with defensive rating, are consistent, and play very well at home. In the regular season they were 36-6 at home and in the playoffs they are 8-1.  The Thunder have a "big three" in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren. The Pacers don't have a superstar which is very interesting. Maybe a new trend in the NBA of not needing a "big three?" The Thunder are very deep too. They have Caruso who comes off the bench and plays good defense.  The Thunder beat the Pacers both times they played each other in the regular season. ...

When the Minnesota Timberwolves were beating up on the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs, all the analysts and experts kept asking what LeBron, Luka, and the Lakers needed to do to beat the Timberwolves. Many people were yelling at their TV screens that the Timberwolves were the better team. OKC crushed Minnesota in 5 games to advance to the NBA Finals. The Thunder were the better team. Hats off to the Timberwolves for making it to the Western Conference Finals two years in a row, but the Thunder were much better. They had 19 more wins and looked like a dominant team. Give then credit and wish them luck in the Finals.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are up 3 games to 1 in the Western Conference Finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Game 5 is tonight! OKC was 36-6 at home during the season, has only lost once at home during the playoffs, and has never lost three games in a row. Minnesota had a nice run, but when Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle don't show up in game 4 this is the hole they dug themselves in.

About 8% of teams overcome an 0-2 deficit.  Less than 20% of teams overcome a 1-2 deficit.  Can the Minnesota Timberwolves overcome both? They'll have to try and contain OKC Thunder Guard and League MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander like they did in game 3. OKC needs to go back to doing what they did in the second half of games 1 and 2. Get SGA, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren going. Should be a good game tonight! 

There have been five incidents where the higher seed lost the first two games at home and still went on to win the series.  1969 Lakers beat the Warriors 1994 Rockets beat the Suns 2005 Mavs beat the Rockets 2017 Celtics beat the Bulls 2021 Clippers beat the Mavs Only the Houston Rockets won the NBA Finals out of these five teams though. So keep your pedal to the metal Indiana Pacers!

Since 2021 at least one team down 0-2 in an NBA playoff series has come back and won. Actually it has happened 7 times. 2024 Pacers were down 0-2 to Knicks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and came back and won 4-3. 2023 Warriors were down 0-2 to the Kings in the first round and won 4-3. 2022 the Mavs were down 0-2 to the Suns in the Western Conference Semifinals and won 4-3. 2021 the Bucks were down 0-2 to the Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals and won 4-3. 2021 the Bucks were also down 0-2 to the Suns in the NBA Finals and then won 4 straight for the title. 2021 Clippers were down 0-2 to the Mavs in the first round and won 4-3. 2021 Clippers were also down 0-2 to the Jazz in the Western Conference Semifinals and then won 4 straight.  There's hope for thr Minnesota Timberwolves. 

The Indiana Pacers head to New York to take on the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals Game 1 today. The Pacers and Knicks have met in the playoffs 8 times, Pacers holding a 5-3 series record. However the Knicks have a 2-1 Eastern Conference Finals series record against the Pacers.  2025 marks the tenth time the Pacers have made it to the Eastern Conference Finals. Unfortunately for them, they currently have a 1-9 record and the one time they won, they ended up losing in the NBA Finals.  The Knicks have a couple of superstars in Brunson and Towns, but Indiana is the deeper team with 6 or 7 players with the ability to score in double figures. My money is on the Pacers. We'll have a good Eastern Conference Finals Series!

It is nice to see the midwest and small market teams representing well in the conference finals. Indiana Pacers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Oklahoma City Thunder are all still alive in the NBA playoffs. Indiana and Minnesota return to their conference finals after both losing last year. They are hoping to have different results this year. OKC had the best record in the NBA in 2025. In the Eastern Conference Finals the 4 seeded Indiana Pacers take on the 3 seeded New York Knicks. This is the 10th time the Pacers have made it to the conference finals. They have only won once and then they lost in the finals to the Lakers in 2000. They actually have played the New York Knicks three times in the conference finals, winning one of those three.  The New York Knicks have won the NBA Finals twice, in 1970 and 1973. The 6 seeded Minnesota Timberwolves take on the top seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the west. Minnesota has never made it to the NBA Finals. This is the third time the Timberwol...

One may look at this series and see a team that has almost 20 more wins then the other (OKC won 68 & Minn won 49) during the regular season. These two teams played against each other four times during the regular season. Splitting the games two apiece. Both teams won a game at home and a game on the road. The Minnesota Timberwolves seem to be playing their best basketball when it counts (late into the season & into the postseason). Since the All Star break the Timberwolves are 25-6 (including the playoffs).  The key to winning this series for Minnesota is of course Anthony Edwards. However, since Julius Randle has been back (All Star Break) the Timberwolves have been winning. Julius Randle actually scored more points then Edwards in all but one game in the series's against Golden State. Randle also only played in one game against the Thunder this season. This series will be Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder against Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves. The Timberwolve...

Nikola Jokic and thr Denver Nuggets gave Oklahoma City Thunder and tough series. Aaron Gordon played which was good. Jokic only had 20 points and you could see he was worn out. You can't beat a good Thunder team in OKC by turning the ball over 22 times. The better team won and now we get to see the Thunder take on the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday.