The NBA Finals 2025 is finally here! At the start of the season, this is not the matchup we expected, but with some big moves to shake things up, the postseason has been exceptional and exciting throughout. The Thunder have been the team to beat all season with a great starting lineup in Shai, Williams and Holmgren – the surprise this year is the Pacers.
Let’s take a look at how these teams reached the Finals and our bets for the series.
OKC Thunder Domination
At the start of the season, the Thunder looked strong. With key players in Shai and Chet Holmgren, they were always going to do well in the West; however, no one expected the Thunder to dominate the conference. OKC finished first in the West following last year’s exceptional performance with a record of 68-14. Although they were the 1st seed in back-to-back seasons, this year was different. The MVP battle went all the way to the off-season with the Nuggets facing the Thunder in the Western Conference Semi-Final.
Usually, the MVP award is decided way before this point, but the race was too close to call this year. Some fans think the NBA used this series to decide who would win the award, but we’ll never know. Shai rightfully won the MVP with great stats to back up the overall team performance.
OKC have a deep and highly skilled lineup that starts with role-players like Alex Carusso, who have been essential in their 2025 campaign. This continues with Chet Holmgren at Center and Jalen Williams at Forward. These two have played supporting roles to help Shai when he’s on and off the court. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be the essential piece that the Thunder need to do well in the Finals. However, the Pacers are far more reliant on their All-Star to have a chance at a Championship.
OKC Thunder Moneyline @ -405
Indiana Pacers Underdogs
The Pacers are the underdogs heading into the series. There were probably 2-3 other teams that everyone had ahead of Indiana to win the East, so what happened? In the first round, they faced the Milwaukee Bucks with Giannis and Lillard. Unfortunately, Damian Lillard injured his Achilles, which took him out of the series, allowing the Pacers to win 4-1. Unfortunately, with the Cavs up next, it looked unlikely the Pacers would go any further.
The Cavs finished first in the East with a record of 64-18. The lineup of Garland, Mitchell and Allen looked impossible to stop, and the Conference Finals seemed inevitable. However, the Pacers fought hard and utilised their strong support in Nembhard and Siakam to overpower the Cavs and get another 4-1 in the series.
It was expected that the Celtics would be the team to beat in the Conference Finals, but that wasn’t the case this year. Jayson Tatum took a big injury in the series against the Knicks which gave New York an easy run to face the Pacers in the Conference Finals. Even against the Knicks, the Pacers were the underdogs, but the Knicks had a big weakness. Their roster was put together with one job… to eliminate the Celtics.
With that job done they struggled to find traction against the Pacers and couldn’t get through their solid defense. Pascal Siakam went on to win the Eastern Conference Finals MVP with one vote over Haliburton.
IND Pacers Moneyline @ +320
NBA Finals Bets
With the Pacers being the underdogs heading into the Finals we have 3 great bets for the series.
As much as it is enticing to capitalise on the +530 odds for the Pacers to win the Championship, it’s very unlikely to happen. With the skill and support around OKC the safe bet is to go with the Thunder. Following this, Shai is the best player and at Point Guard, will be the one orchestrating the team and securing the Finals MVP Award.
The Final bet is where things get interesting. It is possible for OKC to dominate the Pacers in a massive 4-0 sweep, but they only managed to do that against the Grizzlies in the first round – and the Pacers are a far more competent opponent. Giving the Pacers a game in the series is the sensible thing to do (4-1) and it still has high value odds at +210.
Get the Most Out of Your NBA Player Bets
Betting on outright results or awards has the added benefit of giving you cash out options throughout the series – something all of our betting picks include. This gives savvy bettors a chance to lock in some returns at any point, or, you can ride out your bet if you see a strong potential for it to come through.
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