The 2025 NBA Finals shift to Indianapolis on Wednesday night as the Indiana Pacers host the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3. The series is tied, 1-1, after the teams split the first two games in OKC. The Thunder have been the far more dominant team in the series, and they’ve had the lead for more than 91 of the 96 minutes played in the first two games. But thanks to Tyrese Haliburton’s heroics and a late comeback in Game 1, the Pacers are on even footing and have home-court advantage in what is now effectively a five-game series.
The Thunder went up big in the second quarter of Game 2 on Sunday and did not relinquish the lead. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the overwhelming betting favorite to win Finals MVP (-550 at FanDuel), has been excellent for OKC to start the series. The NBA’s regular-season MVP has 72 points on 49/40/90 shooting splits through two games. And SGA added eight assists in Game 2 as OKC’s offense looked much better than it did in Game 1.
Indy has eight different players averaging 9.5 or more points per game so far in the series, but no player is averaging more than 17 PPG (Pascal Siakam). Haliburton was quiet on Sunday, posting just five points through three quarters.
Pacers vs. Thunder: Game 3 info
Time: 8:30 p.m. ET | Date: Wednesday, June 11
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse — Indianapolis
TV channel: ABC | Live stream: fubo (Try for free)
Odds (via FanDuel): Thunder – 5, O/U 228.5
Pacers vs. Thunder: Game 3 best bets
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been nearly unbeatable at home in the playoffs. On the road? They’ve been slightly more vulnerable, going 4-3 with a -6.2 net rating. They won Game 2 comfortably, but that just means that the Pacers will start unleashing whatever adjustments they have in store now that the series has shifted back to Indianapolis. Rick Carlisle teams tend to get stronger as a series progresses because of how good he is at adjusting on the fly, so I’m expecting a reasonably close Game 3. The pick: Pacers +5
Game 2 squeaked past this projected point total to close at 230 total points, but to be fair, a lot of that offense came down the stretch of a decided game. Game 1, the more competitive of the two, went under at 221 points. Both teams have shot reasonably well from deep thus far in the series, so there isn’t expected regression here. However, defenses tend to improve as a series progresses and the two teams get more familiar with one another. Mostly, this is just a very high line to set for an NBA Finals game, especially when the two best transition defenses in the NBA are involved. The pick: Under 228.5 points
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 38 points in Game 1 and 34 in Game 2. Yes, he’s the MVP and he tends to score a lot of points, but the Pacers aren’t exactly going out of their way to limit him with excessive doubles or help. He took 30 shots in Game 1. The plan here defensively seems to be to let him get his but to make sure there are no easy looks for anyone else. No other Thunder starter has yet scored 20 points in a game. Oklahoma City is so good and so deep that it can find points elsewhere (as Alex Caruso and Aaron Wiggins did in Game 2), but given this plan, I’m going to trust Gilgeous-Alexander to keep scoring. The pick: Gilgeous-Alexander over 34.5 points
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