The OKC Thunder may have come into Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals as heavy favorites to win it all, but it's the Indiana Pacers who find themselves leaving Thursday night's opener boasting a 1-0 series lead.
Although they controlled the scoreboard for all but the final .3 seconds of regulation, Oklahoma City truly never seemed capable of pulling away throughout the contest.
Sure, they sported a 12-point edge heading into the half and saw as high as a 15-point lead along the way, but considering just how sloppy they made Indiana look with their ridiculous 24 forced turnovers, you'd imagine a team known for capitalizing on such blunders would have cruised to the finish line for a win.
Instead, they allowed the Pacers to keep things within striking distance throughout, which, in turn, aided in their upset demise during Thursday's series opener.
Now, while it's hard to narrow things down to any one particular reason for why such an outcome came to be -- after all, win or lose, basketball is a team sport --, a case can be made that one of the most glaring areas of concern from the contest was the lack of production seen from cornerstone big man Chet Holmgren.
Chet Holmgren fell short again for Thunder during NBA Finals opener
Holmgren is undeniably one of the most important players on this Thunder team. From his floor spacing abilities to his elite rim-protecting skills, the 23-year-old has proven himself to be a truly special two-way difference maker on the hardwood.
In Game 1, however, he was practically useless.
Logging 23 minutes on the night, Holmgren was as close to a non-factor as one can get, as he finished with just 6 points and 6 rebounds on a miserable 2-for-9 shooting from the field.
Sadly, this is far from the first time he has produced such a lackluster output during this year's playoff run, as he has seen four other instances through 17 games played with 12 or fewer points and seven total where he has scored less than 15.
Coming into this series against the "never say die" Pacers, it was already understood that the Thunder would need to bring their A-game in order to be crowned as NBA Champions. Jalen Williams (17 points, 6 assists, 4 rebounds on the night) even went as far as to refer to them as the "ultimate test" leading into opening night.
Though guys like J-Dub, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Luguentz Dort all appeared to have gotten the memo, Holmgren seemed to have missed it.
If the Thunder can't find a way to get their third-best player to play at a more consistent level on the biggest stage the NBA has to offer, seeing how things played out in Game 1, it could theoretically wind up costing them a title.