INDIANAPOLIS — Only twice in history has a No. 4 seed or lower faced a top overall seed in the NBA Finals, and never before has a seed so low led the championship series against the team that finished with the league’s best record in the regular season. Yet, here we are, nearly midway through the 2025 best-of-seven set, and the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers lead the 68-win Oklahoma City Thunder, 2-1.
And who does not like a David vs. Goliath sports story?
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The viewers, for one. Television ratings for the first few games of the 2025 NBA Finals have been at their lowest since the pandemic. NBA commissioner Adam Silver made the rounds prior to Game 3, reminding us that the league is still television’s highest-rated programming. It is just not as watched as it used to be.
That was to be expected. Indiana and Oklahoma City are two of the smallest media markets in the NBA. Never mind the fact that those cities boast rabid fanbases, and the streets of Indianapolis are currently covered with people sporting Pacers gear. The city was bedlam following their Game 3 upset. But if the viewers are not watching at home, this series — from a business perspective — will be considered a bust.
From a basketball perspective, though, it could not be better. Game 1 came down to a game-winner from a rising superstar, Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton. Game 2 was a reminder of how good the Thunder — and the league’s MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — actually are. And Game 3 was a back-and-forth barnburner. The level of basketball being played in this series is as high as it has ever been in any previous iteration.
“It’s only been three games,” said Pacers head coach Rick Carlisle. “It feels like it’s been longer.”
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Why, then, are people not watching?
Perhaps the casual fan does not consider the Thunder a Goliath. They are from Oklahoma City, after all, and we had not seen them escape the second round of the playoffs as currently constituted. It is not like the viewing public is especially familiar with Gilgeous-Alexander, a Canadian, even if he is a special talent.
But make no mistake: The Thunder are as good as advertised. They are only the seventh team in NBA history to win 68 games in a regular season. Four of the previous six teams to reach those heights went on to win the championship in the same season. The other two teams won a title either the year before or the year after they won 68 games (or, in the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors’ case, before and after).
“This is, like, a really exciting time,” said Haliburton. “To play against these guys is an honor. It’s a lot of fun. This is a 68-win team, historically one of the best defenses ever. This is a really good team. They have the MVP. They have a bunch of dudes who are going to be in this league for a long time having a lot of success. I can’t say enough good things about their team as a group. I think the most fun part about basketball is, if you’re going to win, you don’t want to do it any other way than have to beat the best.”
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And OKC has looked every bit the part in these playoffs. The Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, defeated Nikola Jokić’s 2023 NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals and gentlemanly swept the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference finals. We figured they would roll through the Pacers, too. Indiana was, at least by betting odds, among the longest shots ever.
Only the Pacers have met the moment. This is not a case of one team playing down to the other’s level of competition. Both teams are colliding at the sport’s pinnacle. No other team has won as many games as these two since Jan. 1, and they are playing like it. Indiana, to its undying credit, has made this a series.
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As Carlisle said on Thursday, “The magnitude of the challenge with Oklahoma City is daunting because of the kind of year that they had and how great they are. They’re historically great in so many different areas, and they got the MVP. It’s hard. It takes nothing less than everything we possibly have together.”
And they have given it. Which sets the stage for an absolutely monumental Game 4 on Friday in Indiana.
Win, and the Thunder have evened the series, 2-2. Lose, and they are on the brink of arguably the biggest upset in the sport’s history. (Teams that have taken a 3-1 lead in a series go on to win 95.6% of the time.)
“It’s extremely important,” said OKC’s Chet Holmgren. “There’s no other way to put it.”
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“The competitive greatness for this team has to be at an all-time high,” added the Thunder’s Alex Caruso, an underdog story himself. “To be able to go on the road and win a game is a difficult thing in the playoffs, but especially staring 3-1 down in the face. You got to really get your mind right and get ready for the preparation that it’s going to take to go out there and compete for 48 minutes and get the win.”
Hear that? The competitive greatness for this team has to be at an all-time high. What a thing to say about a 68-win team. If the Pacers match that energy, as they said they would, strap in for an all-timer.
Will you be watching?
