NBA Finals guide: When the games are, how to watch, what the odds are
Advertisement
Read this article for free:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Monthly Digital Subscription
$0 for the first 4 weeks*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*No charge for 4 weeks then price increases to the regular rate of $19.00 plus GST every four weeks. Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.
Monthly Digital Subscription
$4.75/week*
- Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
- Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
- Access News Break, our award-winning app
- Play interactive puzzles
*Billed as $19 plus GST every four weeks. Cancel any time.
To continue reading, please subscribe:
Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional
$1 for the first 4 weeks*
*Your next subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $16.99 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $23.99 plus GST every four weeks.
Read unlimited articles for free today:
or
Already have an account? Log in here »
It’s now the final week of the season.
Monday night could be the next-to-last game of the NBA season, with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers set to play Game 5 of the finals.
It’s a best-of-three series now, with the Thunder and Pacers tied at 2-2. Game 6 is in Indianapolis on Thursday and, if necessary, the final game of the season will be back at OKC on June 22.
Sunday’s NBA Finals news
— Game 5 preview
— Rick Carlisle defends referee Scott Foster
— Jalen Williams, and his role with the Thunder
Previous stories of note
— The ties that bind: Fever, Pacers more than neighbors
— For Thunder, the obstacle is the way
— Alex Caruso, Oklahoma City’s ‘Robin’
— How Game 4 got away from the Pacers
— Thunder break record for most points in a season
— Pacers coach Rick Carlisle using his platform during finals
— Pacers, back home, have things to figure out
— The moment is not too big for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
— Don Nelson wins Chuck Daly Award and makes a Luka Doncic statement
— There’s Canadian intrigue in these finals
— Tyrese Haliburton is Mr. Clutch
— In OKC, everybody must visit the memorial
— It’s the Comeback Playoffs
— Commissioner Adam Silver talks parity, expansion, more
— Things to know about these NBA Finals
— The long, winding road for Rick Carlisle
— Players play for the trophy. Referees ref for the jacket
— Ashley Kerr wins a lot of titles. She’s Mark Daigneault’s wife
— The ratings might not be good. The NBA has 76 billion reasons not to worry
— In Seattle, the message is clear: ‘Go Pacers’
Moving on up, Part 1
The win in Game 4 of the NBA Finals was Oklahoma City’s 82nd of the season (68 regular season, 14 playoffs).
The Thunder won’t catch Golden State and its record 88 wins in 2015-16, nor will it catch Chicago and its 87 wins in 1995-96.
But the Thunder could move into a tie with the 1996-97 Bulls for No. 3 all-time for most wins in a season.
A look at where the Thunder are on the all-time wins list:
88 wins — Golden State, 2015-16
87 wins — Chicago, 1995-96
84 wins — Chicago, 1996-97
83 wins — Golden State, 2016-17
82 wins — Los Angeles Lakers, 1999-2000; Boston, 1985-86; Miami, 2012-13; Boston, 2007-08; Chicago, 1991-92; Oklahoma City, 2024-25.
Moving on up, Part 2
The Thunder set an NBA record for total points scored in a season on Friday. They actually set it on Wednesday, but it doesn’t count because that included the NBA Cup championship game total — which is only an exhibition.
So far, including regular-season and postseason games, the Thunder have scored 12,205 points this season. That passed the mark of 12,161 set by Golden State in 2018-19.
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (-625) is back to being a big favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Indiana’s odds are now +450 after the Game 4 loss.
The Thunder are 9.5-point favorites over Indiana for Game 5.
The Pacers have covered in 13 of their first 20 games of these playoffs. The Thunder — favored in every game so far — have covered nine out of 20 times to this point.
NBA Finals schedule
All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.
June 5 — Game 1, Indiana 111, Oklahoma City 110
June 8 — Game 2, Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107
June 11 — Game 3, Indiana 116, Oklahoma City 107
Friday — Game 4, Oklahoma City 111, Indiana 104
Monday — Game 5, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT
Thursday — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 22 — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)
A close finals, geographically
The 688 miles by air between Oklahoma City and Indiana — by road, it is a bit longer — represents the shortest distance between finals cities in 69 years. That doesn’t count the pandemic “bubble” season, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat were in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, for the entirety of the 2020 finals.
The last time a between-cities finals trip was this short was 1956, with only 530 miles separating Fort Wayne and Philadelphia.
Other short finals trips, in air miles: Syracuse to Fort Wayne (489 miles, 1955), Rochester to New York (253 miles, 1951) and Baltimore to Philadelphia (90 miles, 1948).
The longest distance between finals cities was Boston to San Francisco for the 2022 finals; those cities are 2,704 miles apart by air. That’s just about 10 miles longer than Boston to Oakland, and about 100 miles longer than Boston to Los Angeles.
Under the current league format, the shortest possible distance between finals cities would be the 297 miles that separates Minnesota and Milwaukee. That’s just a bit shorter than Memphis-Atlanta (331) and Minnesota-Chicago (334).
Key upcoming events
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
SGA is the MVP
A recap of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s winning of the NBA MVP award.
The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award
The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife
Steve Nash speaks: Canada’s 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him
The notebook: Jokic finishes top-2 again, Giannis’ streak ends, LeBron gets votes
Stats of the day
— There have been only 20 dunks through the first four games of these NBA Finals. Last season, there were 40 through four games. It’s the lowest dunk total through four games of a finals since Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers had a combined 19 going into Game 5 of the 2010 series.
— Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the only player with a 30-point game so far in these finals. The last time there was only one player with a 30-point game in a finals was 2014, when LeBron James did it twice for Miami against San Antonio (and nobody else finished a game with more than 29 in that series).
Quote of the day
“I wouldn’t say there’s ever a level of comfort at this point of the season and this stage. You have to play on edge every time you go out there. If you feel comfortable, that’s probably not a good thing right now.” — Thunder forward Chet Holmgren.
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba