INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder have two of the NBA’s best offenses.
But this year’s title hopes may swing on the other facet: Who has the better defense?
While both teams made major improvements from last season’s respective rosters in the conference finals and conference semifinals, Pacers coach Rick Carlisle, who led Dallas on its only title run in 2010-11 knows just how difficult the challenge can be, especially against Oklahoma City.
“Their depth of great defenders is staggering,” he said before listing names. “ Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) is a great scorer, but he’s also a great competitor. You’ve got Jalen Williams, you’ve got (Lu) Dort, you’ve got (Alex) Caruso, and a bunch of other guys. People talk about (Aaron) Wiggins, Cason Wallace and all these guys are great competitors. And then they’ve got the rim protection to go along with it.”
That combination helped the Thunder win a league-high 68 regular-season games while earning the top seed in the Western Conference for the second straight year.
Apparently, it was just a warmup. During the franchise’s first Finals run since 2012, the Thunder’s scoring defense has been even stingier — allowing just 106.3 points per game compared with 107.6 over the first 82 games — while yielding fewer than 100 points in half of their 12 postseason wins.
While Indiana has not matched those numbers, they eliminated three teams — New York, Cleveland and Milwaukee — that each averaged more than 115 points during the regular season. In 16 playoff games, they held those three teams below their averages 11 times.
Naturally, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has been taking notes.
“If you look at this playoff run, you’ll see how challenging they are for their opponents, and the way they defend contributes to their team identity. It’s not just offense,” he said. “Their defensive philosophy is very much aligned with their offensive philosophy, so it creates a certain air to the game when you play against them. It is difficult to play against, as you can see from the way that they’ve really run through the Eastern Conference to get here.”
Their rosters were constructed in similar fashions, too.
Both teams are young, rely on deep benches to wear down opponents late and feast on turnovers. The Thunder average a postseason best 21.3 points per game off turnovers while the Pacers are second at 18.5.
But with so much focus on the high-scoring, up-tempo offenses, it’s easy to overlook their defenses or worse — see it as a glaring weakness.
A year ago, Indiana gave up 120.2 points per game in the regular season. This year that number dropped to 115.1, and in the postseason it’s down to 113.3.
What changed?
Indiana’s top three defenders — Aaron Nesmith, Andrew Nembhard and Myles Turner — are all relatively healthy now.
Nesmith missed 2 1/2 months with a sprained left ankle before returning in January and working his way back into game shape. He sprained his right ankle in Game 3 of the conference finals against the New York Knicks but played in each of the final three games.
Nembhard also missed nearly a month early this season with tendinitis in his left knee, and Turner, Indiana’s rim protector, has overcome an assortment of nagging injuries.
But Indiana also changed its forcus after getting swept by Boston in 2024.
“Last year, all that was being said was we couldn’t win because we didn’t guard anybody and all we do is try to outscore people,” two-time All-Star Tyrese Haliburton said. “We’ve taken such a big step on the defensive end as a group, and I think the step we made on that end of the floor is why we’re here. We’ve got our work cut out for us (in this series).”
Neither Carlisle nor Daigneault would disclose their defensive assignments entering Game 1 though there’s a good chance Nembhard and Nesmith will somehow find themselves pitted against Gilgeous-Alexander, the league MVP, and Williams.
On the flip side, Oklahoma City may deploy its two all-NBA defenders, Williams and Dort, against the combination of Haliburton and Nembhard.
But regardless of the assignments, this is a matchup of wills most believe will determine the next NBA champion.
“All tests are fun, and we get to do it on the biggest stage any of us have ever played on,” Williams said. “So it’ll be a very fun challenge. Like I said, that’s a really good team. Obviously, they’re in the finals for a reason. Nobody just waltzes into the finals. So it’ll be our ultimate test.”
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AP Sports Writer Cliff Brunt in Oklahoma City also contributed to this report.
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