Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Vincent Goodwill and fantasy analyst Dan Titus discuss the Indiana Pacers win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 and what changed that allowed Indiana to take a 2-1 series lead in the 2025 NBA Finals. Hear the full conversation on “Good Word with Goodwill” and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
Video Transcript
I was shocked at the fact, not only that, the Indiana Pacers won.
Advertisement
That was the best game of the series by far.
From end to end, start to finish, it felt like Dan, for the first time in this series, Indiana realized oh we can play with this team.
Indiana was not treating Oklahoma City with reverence.
Like, oh, we respect them so much.
We are two great organizations.
It looked like we’re competing for the NBA title.
It looked like Maybe we don’t like y’all that much.
The Indiana Pacers have finally arrived in this series just in time to take a 2-1 lead.
It just looked to me that the Indiana Pacers had a A clear agenda of like we’re gonna be way more physical.
We’re gonna try to get into the paint.
Advertisement
When Tyrese Halliburton was being aggressive from the outset, man, it was like this is definitely different.
Looking at the way Pascal Siakam was getting very easy looks around the restricted area in the paint, TJ McConnell and, and Benedict Mathern just going crazy off the bench.
And just that disparity, usually it’s the Thunder’s depth that, that hurts you.
Not last night.
I’m trying to keep things in perspective like I think the Thunder are going to bounce back here.
They are 5-0 after a loss in the postseason.
But at the same time, what if this is the version of Indiana we’re gonna get and to your point, did they figure something out that maybe the Thunder can’t come back from?
Advertisement
I think it’s a worthy question to ask.
As crazy as they were playing, I feel like they were playing way too careful, right?
And by careful, I mean, we don’t wanna do anything against this good defense.
We gotta find the best shot.
We gotta play by the book.
To beat this team, The first good shot you got, you gotta take it.
You cannot sit around and wait around for a better opportunity.
You can’t grind the shot clock down to 6 seconds, 5 seconds, whatever it is, and hope that you’re going to force Oklahoma City into making a mistake.
When they were down 15, 6, that arena was quiet.
That arena sounded like, oh no, it’s happening again.
Advertisement
We’re gonna lose this game because Oklahoma City is a better team.
They had to change their attitude.
Like, the attitude being We have to be more physical.
We have to be more forceful and add to the fact that Miles Turner wasn’t even feeling good.
Like he wasn’t feeling great last night.
Chet Holmgren was kicking his behind up and down the floor, and yet and still they kept bouncing back.
I’m not saying that this is the formula for defeating Oklahoma City, right?
But playing a faster brand of offense, I felt like that was the best brand of offense that Indiana could play and it probably caught the Thunder off guard.
