While it's evident and, frankly, appropriate that the heavily favored OKC Thunder are making an effort not to overlook this Indiana Pacers team, based on how their head-to-heads have fared throughout the 2024-25 campaign, there's reason to believe the 2025 NBA Finals could wind up becoming a true massacre.
Not only did Oklahoma City win both of their matchups during the regular season and come away with a total point differential of +27, but they did so while completely shutting down the club's cornerstone point guard, Tyrese Haliburton.
OKC Thunder have had Tyrese Haliburton's number all season long
During Indiana's electrifying postseason run so far, Haliburton has proven to be the engine for his team's on-court operation.
In 16 games played, the 25-year-old has posted sensational all-around averages of 18.8 points, 9.8 assists, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.4 steals while shooting 46.6 percent from the field. Along the way, he has also become the first player in league history to record 30+ points, 10+ rebounds, and 15+ assists while committing zero turnovers in a single playoff game (Game 4 against the Knicks).
While these numbers may be roughly the same as his regular season metrics (18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists on 47.3 percent shooting), they are vastly improved from his production when facing the Thunder.
Oklahoma City has held Haliburton to a shockingly lackluster 11.0 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.0 rebounds on 44.4 percent shooting from the floor while having him register a team-worst -16 plus-minus rating.
In these contests, the point guard has been primarily defended by the likes of beloved all-defensive talent Luguentz Dort, who, per analyst Kirk Goldsberry's findings, held the All-Star to his lowest usage rate on the season out of the 19 total players who guarded him at least 50 times in the halfcourt.
Heading into the championship round, the expectation is that this assignment will remain the same, which, considering Dort currently boasts the seventh-best defensive rating among starting guards (106.6) and is holding his opponents to a mere 42.3 percent shooting from the field, should be music to Thunder fans' ears.
Of course, even if they opt to shake things up with their defensive orientation, confidence in OKC containing the point guard should still be exorbitantly high, as they are holding opposing backcourts to the worst shooting percentage so far in the playoffs (42.5) and are forcing them into committing the most turnovers per game (13.6).
No matter how you look at it, it's safe to assume that Tyrese Haliburton is heading toward his biggest challenge of the 2025 postseason at the worst possible time.