In the 2025 NBA Finals, the Pacers need to slow down MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and get Tyrese Haliburton going. We break down the keys for Wednesday night’s Thunder vs. Pacers Game 3 matchup in Indianapolis.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have generated a lot of advantages over the Indiana Pacers so far.
Still, the team without home-court advantage always wants to split the first two games, and the Pacers did that. But the Thunder have outscored the Pacers by a combined 15 points heading into Game 3 after winning Game 2 of the 2025 NBA Finals easily.
That doesn’t mean the Pacers are drawing dead, however. The Thunder were understandably the more desperate team in Game 2, hoping to avoid falling into a massive hole after two games at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City. And they played like the team with more to lose.
The Pacers have to make a lot of adjustments from Game 2 if they want to be successful. There are a lot of areas they can improve upon, but none of it will matter if they can’t get their superstar’s production to come closer to matching the production of the Thunder’s superstar.
OKC point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 72 points in his first two NBA Finals games, the most by any player ever (Allen Iverson of the Philadelphia 76ers had 71 in 2001). The ride hasn’t been as smooth for Pacers counterpart Tyrese Haliburton, who had an incredible game-winner in Game 1 but is averaging 15.5 points and has only one more assist than SGA for the series.
He’s also turned it over eight times, doubling Gilgeous-Alexander’s four turnovers.
The Pacers need to slow down Gilgeous-Alexander and get Haliburton going, starting Wednesday night in Indiana in Game 3. But that’s a lot easier said than done and about a lot more than just these two players.
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It’s hard to say the NBA MVP doesn’t get enough credit for his skill, but that may be the case with Gilgeous-Alexander.
There’s a lot of talk about how many free throws he shoots and not enough discussion about the skills that get him to the foul line. His ball handling, incredible acceleration and ability to finish with either hand make him a nightmare to guard. He’s one of the best players in league history at getting opponents off balance on screens.
Pretty good pick-and-roll defense doesn’t cut it against Gilgeous-Alexander. He’s gotten Pacers big man Myles Turner in-between on several pick-and-rolls, not dropping far enough to contain a drive but leaving enough space for SGA to blow right by him.
Indiana’s guards and forwards have asked too much of Turner. The difficulty level is even higher when Isaiah Hartenstein, one of the best screeners in the game, is the player trying to get Gilgeous-Alexander open.
He’s helped SGA completely lose his defender a few times, which forces Turner to switch on to him. That’s a losing proposition.
It’s easy to say the Pacers need to be more aggressive in corralling Gilgeous-Alexander at the point of attack.
But the Thunder know the Pacers want to do this, and when the Eastern Conference champions try to get in position to blow up a screen early, SGA simply zooms past the leaning defense.
This barely even counts as rejecting the screen because Gilgeous-Alexander darts into the lane before Hartenstein even gets in position for a screen. As soon as he sees Obi Toppin to the side of Hartenstein, he gets to his right hand and is in the middle of the lane with a ton of runway.
Every Pacers player needs to be a bit better. Gilgeous-Alexander is going to win possessions with his craftiness, but it’s been too easy for him so far in this series.
Turner won’t turn into prime LeBron James blowing up screens in Game 3, but he can be a lot better at the point of attack. At the very least, he can’t allow Gilgeous-Alexander to split screens. If SGA has to go around Turner, he’s not in the middle of the lane before any help can come.
The primary defenders have to get around the screen more quickly, too. Hartenstein is an excellent screener, but he’s not invincible and won’t be on the floor every minute with SGA. Turner can’t be expected to hold Gilgeous-Alexander in front of him for several dribbles as the primary defender recovers.
The Pacers rotations behind the play have mostly been fine, but the Thunder are so great against bent defenses it doesn’t always matter. If Gilgeous-Alexander shakes loose with a free lane in front of him, the Pacers are toast even if the help defender rotates right where he is supposed to be. SGA has too many moves in his bag when he’s given a lot of space.
The pick-and-roll defense has been decent for the Pacers, but decent isn’t good enough to stymie the MVP in the NBA Finals.
Help for Haliburton?
Haliburton has gotten off to slow starts in both games this series. In Game 1, he more than made up for it with his fourth-quarter heroics. In Game 2, even he couldn’t bring the Pacers back from their huge deficit.
There have been times when Haliburton has disappeared this postseason. He had a game with single-digit points in each of the last two rounds. In Games 3 and 4 against the Cleveland Cavaliers, he had 15 points combined on 5-of-16 shooting.
To his credit, Haliburton has responded to adversity incredibly well this postseason. He’s on one of the greatest clutch streaks of all time and has responded to his moments of passivity with calculated aggression when warranted.
But the Haliburton issue is about so much more than his aggression. At first glance, it seems like he’s not involving himself enough early in possessions. But when watching the games carefully, it’s apparent the Thunder have a ton to do with his inability to get going.
That’s not surprising, as the Western Conference champions were easily the NBA’s best defensive team in the regular season, ranking No. 1 in defensive TRACR. Haliburton and the Pacers have to make adjustments.
The Pacers move the ball beautifully on offense and don’t rely too heavily on ball screens to get Haliburton open. He’s willing to get rid of the ball early and move full speed off the ball to get open late in possessions. That may seem like a no-brainer thing to do, but there aren’t many superstar lead ball handlers who move with the gusto that Haliburton does if the ball isn’t in their hands (Stephen Curry is the all-time best at this).
The Thunder navigate so well off the ball that it has negated advantages Haliburton is used to having. Take this out of bounds play, for example.
Against mortal defenders, this elevator gets Haliburton wide open. Even very good defenders would have to cede an advantage while recovering from navigating through two very big men.
Defensive wizard Alex Caruso is on Haliburton like he can teleport. He pushes Haliburton out so far, the Pacers star commits a backcourt violation. This is a high-level defensive play.
Even when Haliburton gets an advantage, the Thunder have been quick to close.
Haliburton gets defensive stalwart Luguentz Dort with a nasty crossover here, but is surrounded by Thunder defenders in the paint.
This is common, but the Thunder’s rotations behind the play are special. Jalen Williams had just switched to Pacers power forward Pascal Siakam yet stays in the lane to bother Haliburton. Sharpshooter Aaron Nesmith is already in the corner, so Gilgeous-Alexander can be the help on him and Siakam. Nesmith could’ve rotated up earlier in the possession, but that would’ve taken an extremely quick read.
Meanwhile, OKC’s Chet Holmgren is close enough to Turner to close out, but he’s not concerned with the drive while recovering defensively. He’s still in place to contest Turner’s shot.
Against other teams, Haliburton has seen extra bodies and made the right reads to open shooters. The Thunder aren’t other teams, though. After some missteps early that gave the Pacers some open looks on 3-pointers, they tightened up and didn’t give Haliburton any passing lanes.
The Pacers have to work harder to get Haliburton an advantage.
Toppin is a dynamic offensive player who ends up with a decent look here. But he had an opportunity to free Haliburton up from Dort after flipping the screen. Instead, he slips the screen early and Dort has an easier path to recovering.
Indiana’s big men need to hold their screens long enough to get Haliburton free and the point guard needs to take early advantage of any daylight he has. To his credit, he’s been decisive when he gets real separation.
The Pacers accomplished their mission in Oklahoma City and now have home-court advantage back in Indianapolis. But according to our projection model, they aren’t home favorites in Game 3, with OKC owning a 69.1% probability of taking a 2-1 series lead and an 84.5% chance of winning the title (as of Tuesday).
For the Pacers to prove our projections wrong, they’ll need to execute better as a team on both ends of the court.
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NBA Finals Predictions: How the Pacers Can Adjust Against the Thunder in Game 3 Opta Analyst.
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