The OKC Thunder have finally received word on who they'll be squaring off against in the 2025 NBA Finals, as the Indiana Pacers defeated the New York Knicks in Saturday's Game 6 to claim the Eastern Conference crown.
Heading into Thursday's series opener, Oklahoma City is viewed as the clear favorite to come away from the title round victorious, with ESPN currently giving them -750 odds of doing so.
However, despite what the odds-makers and the vast majority of media pundits may say, Indiana is far from a team the Thunder can afford to sleep on, especially considering how they've managed to pull off upset series wins against all three of their previous opponents in this year's postseason.
In truth, the Pacers are by no means a cakewalk matchup for OKC. In fact, Jalen Williams has recently gone on record to refer to them as the "ultimate test" for him and the Thunder.
Thunder star heaps praise upon Pacers ahead of the NBA Finals
During Sunday's practice media session, Williams was asked by reporters how he believes Oklahoma City and Indiana matchup against one another from an on-court standpoint.
Though presenting himself as confident as ever, the All-Star admitted that the Pacers are "a really good team" that will prove to be a real test for the Thunder, particularly their defense, as they'll try to figure out how to combat their third-ranked pace of play that Dub pointed out managed to "wear down the Knicks" in the confefrence finals.
"They play fast, and that's kind of what fuels their whole identity. And they're really talented... They're coming in extremely confident, we're coming in confident, so it should be really fun," Williams said.
What bodes well for the Thunder when it comes to playing such a quick and acceleration-happy squad is the fact that they've already proven more than capable of handling such offenses in this postseason alone, as they somewhat effortlessly trounced the top-paced Memphis Grizzlies via sweep in round one and then bested the seventh-ranked Denver Nuggets in round two.
Along the way, they've also demonstrated that they can keep pace with the best of them in the category (ranking second themselves) and, simply put, adapt their game in a multitude of different ways to try and match their opponent.
On top of all this, OKC already downed the Pacers in commanding fashion earlier in the year, pulling out a 2-0 record from their regular season series, while winning by as many as 21 points in their most recent matchup back on March 29.
Yet, despite these specific factoids that suggest the Thunder may be in for a smooth ride to taking home the Larry O'Brien Trophy, Jalen Williams isn't letting himself or his teammates adopt such a mentality, as he noted in his presser that "nobody just waltzes into the Finals" and stressed that Indiana needs to be taken seriously.
After downing the all-world talent Giannis Antetokounmpo in just five games and winning their last two series against the first (Cleveland Cavaliers) and third (New York Knicks) ranked clubs in their respective conference, the fourth-seeded Pacers undeniably warrant this level of respect.