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The 2025 NBA Finals tips off in less than 24 hours, and the Indiana Pacers will be raring to take the momentum they've built over the past three rounds into their impending clash against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Not too many expected the Pacers to make it this far, but they have overcome adversity in every form since the start of April and are now in need of just four more wins to win their first ever NBA championship.
While the Pacers deserve all the respect in the world for making it this far, they are once again facing long odds, as the Thunder are unlike any other team they've seen thus far in this year's playoffs. OKC's defense is historically great, and teams with Indiana's playstyle typically get swallowed whole.
Nonetheless, the Pacers have been in this position before and yet they're still standing. They are relishing their status as the underdog, and Tyrese Haliburton is certainly ready to prove all their doubters wrong the same way they've done all year long.
“As long as the guys in our locker room and the people in this building believe, then you know, anything is possible. We're really excited about the challenge. No quote, unquote expert or analyst is going to pick us, and that's okay. We like it better that way,” Haliburton said during his media availability on Wednesday night, via the official Pacers account on X.
"No quote, unquote expert or analyst is going to pick us, and that's okay. We like it better that way."
Tyrese Haliburton ahead of the NBA Finals. pic.twitter.com/rDcZIuawGL
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 3, 2025
The Pacers are one of the heaviest underdogs in the NBA Finals in recent memory, but this pacey and exciting team seems to thrive whenever the odds are stacked against them. No ESPN “expert” picked them to win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and in a panel of 23, 20 of them picked the Thunder to beat the Pacers in this year's NBA Finals.
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But this Pacers team has proven time and time again that they cannot be counted out until the final buzzer sounds.
Can Pacers continue being this year's team of destiny?
The Pacers were good for one epic comeback that inflicted serious emotional damage to their opponents in the previous three rounds of the playoffs.
In the Milwaukee Bucks series, they came back from seven down in the final minute of overtime to close them out in Game 5. Against the Cavs, they overturned a seven-point deficit with 47 seconds left to go up 2-0 after two road games. And then against the New York Knicks, they stormed back from 15 down in the final three minutes to take Game 1 and inflict some serious pain that the Knicks weren't able to recover from.
At the heart of those epic comebacks was Tyrese Haliburton, who made the game-winning layup against the Bucks, the game-winning stepback triple against the Cavs, and the game-tying long two that sent Game 1 of the Knicks series to OT. Will he be up to his usual tricks once again, this time against the Thunder?
