The OKC Thunder may be down 2-1 in this best-of-seven championship round, but the odds makers still haven't counted them out. Based on his recent comments, neither has veteran big man DeAndre Jordan.
During his recent appearance on FanDuel's Run it Back, the former All-Star spoke in depth about Oklahoma City's current predicament against the Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals.
While he made sure to note that Indiana certainly deserves credit for their current lead, Jordan couldn't help but gush over Oklahoma City's potential to turn things around, referring to them as "a really, really good basketball team," before explaining that his experience playing them in the Western Conference Semifinals as a member of the Nuggets has him confident in their ability to come back.
"We were in the same situation against Oklahoma City two series ago. I don't count them out at all," Jordan said.
DeAndre Jordan knows firsthand Thunder can come back from 2-1 hole
As Jordan mentioned, he and his Nuggets had the Thunder facing this exact same deficit through three games during the second round of this year's playoffs, with Denver stealing Game 1 on the road out at Paycom Center and then taking care of business in front of their own home crowd at Ball Arena in Game 3.
When reminiscing about this particular series, which ultimately saw OKC win in seven games, the 36-year-old specifically remembers how coach Mark Daigneault was able to "make adjustments and have players buy into those things," which was especially "shocking" for him to see from a team as young as they are.
Interestingly enough, the accomplished headman has been quite vocal about his club's ability to adjust on the fly, namely celebrating their rotational "optionality" as a luxury they possess over virtually every team in the league, including the Pacers.
In the end, Jordan believes that this title round will come down to who can win the turnover battle, and, considering how things have played out thus far, it seems that there's a strong case to be made in support of his logic.
Outside of the anomaly of a loss in their series opener, the past two games were largely decided by who between the Thunder and Pacers could take better care of the ball and, more importantly, capitalize on the other team's follies.
In Game 2, Oklahoma City won the turnover battle 15 to 14 and, in the end, pulled out a 123-107 win. In Game 3, Indiana stormed back by controlling this aspect of the game 14 to 19 and, inevitably, handily won by a final score of 116-107.
If they can find a way to cut down on these silly and, frankly, rather controllable mistakes, Jordan likes the Thunder's chances of clawing their way back.
With how the turnover battle went during their round-two bout (OKC averaged just 11.1 per night compared to Denver's 17.7), it's safe to say he knows a thing or two about just how vital this area of play can be.