Oklahoma City Thunder Win the 2024-2025 NBA Championship

 24-25 NBA Finals:  Congratulations to Thunder.  They deserved this championship, and I love how they did it with a combination of defense and young talent.  Shai was dominant averaging 30 points per game but had lots of help from Jalen Williams (23 ppg) and Chet Holmgren with his defense.  We got a seven-game series, great moments and some really good games.  There were some blowouts as well but that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy the playoff's Cinderella, Indiana, making us believe they could win this series.  OKC is a very young team outside of 30-year-olds Alex Carusso and Kenrich Williams.  They are setup for a long successful run.  I won't put money on more championships, because as we've seen parity is the name of the game in the NBA right now.

2025 NBA Finals: Indiana Pacers vs Oklahoma City Thunder

We get Pacers - Thunder in the NBA Finals.  While I'm sure ABC execs are not excited about having two small market teams in the Finals, I am.  We get two great teams and great players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton.  OKC was the class of the league the entire season.  Their defense and the play of MVP SGA were overwhelming for teams.  While Denver took them to seven games, the Thunder only took nine games to dismiss the Grizzlies and Timberwolves.  The Pacers were 20-9 after the All-Star break and took out the Cavs, Bucks and Knicks in the playoffs.  They shouldn't be overlooked, and Tyrese Haliburton is the real deal having some amazing games in the playoffs.  I do think OKC wins this series.  Maybe 4-2.  I understand it could even be 4-1 but I have more confidence in Indiana.

Who am I rooting for?  Indiana.  This only their second NBA Finals and they've never won an NBA championship.  OKC has won a championship as the SuperSonics in the '78-79 season.  I also think their window for competing for a championship is longer than the Pacers.  No matter who wins I think it is a win for fans.  These small market teams built their teams through good front office moves in the draft, free agency and the trade market.  There are lots of fun players outside of the stars.  They are both deep.  We should celebrate these teams.  We are getting some "old school" basketball in the playoffs, so it'll be interesting to see how much they let them play.  Enjoy!

Trail Blazers Beat Thunder 4 games to 1 in Round 1

The Portland Trail Blazers advance to round 2 of the Western Conference Playoffs thanks to an outstanding game five by DamianLillard including this spectacular last second three point shot from 37 feet.  You couldn’t ask for a better way to win the game and series.  His 50 points were key but this was about how well Portland as a whole played in this series against a very good Oklahoma City Thunder team.  Watching the games they played good team defense and had solid contributions all around.

As a team Portland shot 44% from the field and 40% from three while getting 33 and 24 points per game from Lillard and CJ McCollum.  Enes Kanter had a monster game one with 20 points and 18 rebounds while giving Portland 13 and 10 for the series. Maurice Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu played well rounding out the starting five.  But for me it was the team defense.  As a whole they sagged off Russell Westbrook letting him take outside shots which he didn’t hit consistently.  Paul George got his but you’re never going to “stop” great players like Westbrook and George.  You just hope to contain them which I think Portland did a great job of.

Still I have to think Lillard comes out of this series with a few more fans.  Those of us who are fans of the team already know how really good he is and he really shined this series.  He went toe-to-toe with Russell Westbrook and beat him while looking good doing it.  Hopefully Portland’s second round series will allow even more NBA fans to see how good this guy really is. 

Can’t wait to see who Portland’s round two opponent is and if you haven’t seen the ending to last night’s game – go watch it!

Oklahoma City Thunder vs Portland Trail Blazers - Round 1 NBA Playoffs

The Portland Trail Blazers got the 3rd seed in the Western Conference Playoffs and as their prize play the Oklahoma City Thunder in their seven game first round match up.  The Thunder swept the series series after being swept during last year's season series.  This is a tough match up for the Trail Blazers.  They come in to the series without excellent center Jusuf Nurkic due to injury.  Late season pick up Enes Kanter, a former thunder, has played really well in Nurkic's absence and it should be fun to watch him against Thunder center Stephen Adams.  Still he isn't the player Nurkic is but is a more than capable replacement - good job grabbing him when they did.  The Thunder for their part will be without key defender Andre Robertson.  

The key to this series for me is defense and doing something to corral Thunder stars Paul George and Russell Westbrook.  You can't even pretend you'll stop either of these guys but you have to get them off their game.  I'm not sure how the Trail Blazers do it but the Thunder haven't been unstoppable this year.  Everyone will have to play good defense every possession to have any shot.  Portland has the offense as Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum can light it up with the best of them but the role players will have to step up on both ends of the court.  I'm looking at you Al-Farouq Aminu.  This should be a great series.  Hopefully Portland will prevail and I look forward to good games as the Trail Blazers look to scare away Playoff disappointment ghosts of years past.

  

Paul George Traded to Oklahoma City Thunder

Paul George was traded this weekend to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.  What a steal for the Thunder.  While it is doubtful George resigns with the Thunder, they didn’t really give up anything.  I like Oladipo but was surprised that he couldn’t average more than 15.9 points per game in an offense that lost Kevin Durant.  This was a perfect opportunity for him to step up and it didn’t happen.  Sabonis was a rookie last year who didn’t put up very good numbers (5.9 PPG/3.6 RPG 39% FG%) but is still young at 20 years old.  The Indiana Pacers were in a horrible spot and it was getting worse by the day.  Still, you had to think there was a better trade out there somewhere.  Hopefully Oladipo and Sabonis thrive in Indiana and it is a moot point. 

What does OKC get out of the deal?  Three things.  They show Russell Westbrook, a free agent after this season, they are working to make the team more competitive.  They have a better chance of resigning Paul George where they had a very slim chance of landing him in 2018 free agency before the trade.  And the Thunder mustbe viewed as the possible number two team in the Western Conference.  The Spurs have not done anything to get better, Houston did Chris Paul but Clippers are not expected to be as good next year.  You have to think a team with basically just Russel Westbrook that won 47 teams last year has a shot with George.  Are they are a threat to the Warriors?  No.  But if they could make it to the Conference Finals this would be a huge win.  A lot of basketball games between now and then and then they have to hope they can keep one or two of their superstars.  Still this was a very good trade for the Thunder. 

NBA Conference Finals

Oklahoma City vs Golden State – After their surprising dispatching of the Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder look to be a worthy opponent for the Golden State Warriors.  They were before that but their ability to defend and befuddle San Antonio makes you wonder how far they can go.  But how does that equate to a series against the Warriors?  OKC advanced to the Western Conference Finals with the help of a more traditional looking lineup including bigs Steven Adams and Enes Kanter playing a huge part.  Much discussion goes to how those bigs translate to what we expect to be a small Golden State lineup.  This works both ways.  While those bigs should have a difficult time playing defense against a shooting heavy offense of smaller players it would seem Golden State would struggle when those same big men were on offense.  Personally I’d rather play up on all the Warriors’ shooters and make them take mid-range jumpers which are only worth two points each or drive to the hoop in the hopes that the bigs can get to the basket in time to make a defensive play.  

Golden State will probably just play their game no matter who is on the floor against them.  Their shooters and offensive play stretches defenses to the breaking point making the bigs tough to leave out on the floor.  Doesn’t mean they can’t be beaten with bigs though.  Still the Warriors have shown they are the team to beat and pretty good at finding their shot, and making it, while playing excellent defense on the other end to compliment the effort.  I don’t see them losing this series but Oklahoma City should give them a nice run and challenge in most games though there will be a blowout somewhere in the series.  Golden State:  4-2

Toronto vs Cleveland – Toronto has not had a good first two rounds.  Kyle Lowry and Demarr Derozan have struggled finding little to no consistency hence two seven game series so far for them.  Still they won against Miami after losing Jonas Valaciunas for the series.  If they can get him back healthy I do think he can be a difference maker. Toronto still needs to get more from basically everyone to have any chance of making this a real series.  This team has been so frustrating to watch.  They’ve given up huge leads, played horribly in the last minutes of games and been lacking on defense.  Unless they can play like their regular season selves I am at a loss as to how they could even make this series interesting. 

Cleveland looks like world beaters right now and some would pick them against Golden State right now.  And why not?   They are shooting like they are Golden State East and with all three of their stars healthy they are tough to shut down.  You might be able to double one of them but you still have two guys on the floor who can win games.  LeBron is still playing big minutes in the playoffs (38 per game) but Kyrie Irving is shooting almost as many shots and Kevin Love is right behind them.  While Love can’t seem to make a two point shot he is hitting 44% of his threes (almost eight a game) but he is still bested by Irving who is hitting 53% of his three point shots (over 6 a game).  LeBron’s outside shot isn’t falling anywhere close to that but Irving, Love and the rest of the team is shooting so well he in’t needed at the three point line and should be able to take advantage of open lanes to the basket.  Cleveland:  4-0

 

LeBron James and the Miami Heat Win NBA Title

The Miami Heat won their second NBA title four games to one over the Oklahoma City Thunder.  After losing game one they returned to attacking the rim and their outside shooters hit shots and the Oklahoma City Thunder couldn't answer.  While I thought Miami would win I expected a longer series.  Still, with the exception of game 4, all the games were close.  LeBron James had an outstanding series averaging 28 points, 10 rebounds, and 7 assists.  As a team the Heat hit 42 of 98 three point shots.  Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh did their part very well but my other hero for Miami is Shane Battier who was the role player who stepped up with a great series.  He only averaged 11 points per game but hit 15 of 26 from beyond the arc.  He was the beneficiary of many passes when the defense collapsed on driving Heat players.  This was something the Thunder had no answer for. 

Oklahoma City played well and most had them winning the series after taking game 1.  Their biggest issue was the disappearance of James Harden.  He averaged 12 points in the Finals but they weren't timely and his diminished contribution couldn't be made up.  Much was also said about Russell Westbrook taking too many shots at times but I think the Thunder's win-loss record during the regular season when he shot more than Durant was excellent.  I think they were 26 and 3.   He may not be a true point guard but he still played well and almost willed his team to victory in game 4 with 43 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.  Kevin Durant hit an outstanding 54% of his field goals while leading the Thunder with 30 points per game.  Still they weren't the better team but this Final's experience could help them in the future.  They have a great core and I think most folks wouldn't be surprised if they made a return trip or two to the Finals. 

No matter what you want to concentrate on this was LeBron's series.  LeBron haters will still hate him but no matter.  He is a great player whom we'll speak of among the all-time greats when he retires.  He now has a championship to add to his resume.  Whether or not it is his last does not matter.  He is a great player and I'm glad he has a championship.  After handling what I feel was undue criticism for "the decision" and, as he admitted himself, handled the Finals loss last year to Dallas poorly, he made all the right changes this year.  He had another great year as he led what is now his team through each challenge and when it mattered most he didn't disappoint.  Good on him and the Heat. 

NBA Finals - Heat vs Thunder

Could you ask for more?  I think not.  Both of these teams are great and together feature some of the, if not the, league's biggest stars.  I love this matchup and like so many other folks think the LeBron vs Durant matchup takes center stage.  There is a good chance they won't "D" up on each other the majority of the time but it is still the star vs star aspect that has me excited.  I think LeBron is the best player in the game and one of those special players that will be talked about forever.  In Durant we have a player whose ceiling seems to be unlimited at the age of 23.  I'm not saying this is a bad series if these two don't take center stage but I would be surprised if that isn't how it turns out.

There are other players to include Wade, Harden, Bosh and Westbrook.  They will keep things interesting when James and Durant are taking a break from hogging the camera.  I give the edge to Miami in this series.  I think that while their role and bench players are weaker than that of the Thunder the big three will help carry Miami to a title.  I'm thinking six games.  I can't see Oklahoma City wilting at this point.  They just kicked San Antonio in the teeth after going down two games to love so who knows we may even see seven games.  No matter who wins it all I only want good games that give us plenty to talk about around the water cooler the next morning.