It's safe to say that everyone left Thursday's NBA Finals opener feeling absolutely stunned, as the Indiana Pacers stole Game 1 in the closing seconds of regulation out at Paycom Center in front of a raucous OKC Thunder home crowd.
Now down 0-1 in this best-of-seven championship round, leading into Sunday's follow-up, there's no doubt that Oklahoma City will be rewatching the tape and trying to figure out how they managed to choke away what very easily could have been a blowout victory.
While it's hard to pinpoint any one particular factor that overwhelmingly influenced this depleting outcome more than others, when looking back on the contest and the final box score, it's evident that at the very least, Mark Daigneault needs to make one major change.
OKC Thunder need to get Chet Holmgren more minues
There's no denying that Chet Holmgren had easily his worst performance of the 2025 postseason during Thursday's Game 1, as he wrapped with a putrid 6 points and 6 rebounds on 22.2 percent shooting from the field.
However, along with the reminder of how inconsistent he's proven himself to be during this year's playoff ride, perhaps the biggest takeaway from the big man's series opener is that he also saw a questionably low 23 minutes of play on the night.
Holmgren is undoubtedly one of the three best and most influential players on this Thunder team. The Ringer's Bill Simmons has even gone as far as to label him as one of the top 20 players the NBA currently has to offer.
From his impressive long-range shooting (shot 37.9 percent from deep this season) and overall scoring skills (averaged 16.1 points per game for his career) to his truly elite rim-protecting abilities (swats 3.8 shots per 100 possessions for his career), the 7-foot-2, 23-year-old is a two-way unicorn.
With all this in mind, how, then, does it make sense that Holmgren -- who wasn't in any foul trouble, mind you -- saw such limited run on the hardwood in the biggest game of the year?
Throughout his two seasons playing in the NBA, the Thunder have a winning percentage of just 33.3 when the big man has seen sub-25.0 minutes of action in the postseason.
Even with his poor showing, Chet Holmgren has more than proven himself to be a core piece to Oklahoma City's success and dynastic upside.
If they want to redeem themselves in Game 2 and tie this series up before heading to Indiana for a two-game stint, they're going to need to get their budding star big more minutes and, in turn, more involved in the game plan.