NBA Matchups: June 5

Indiana Pacers at Oklahoma City Thunder

Team Totals: Pacers 111, Thunder 120.5

Injury Report: Jarace Walker (O, ankle), Nikola Topic (O, ACL), Tony Bradley (Q, hip)

Pacers projected starters: Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner

Thunder projected starters: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein

Offensive Ranks: Pacers 10th, Thunder 2nd
Defensive Ranks: Pacers 13th, Thunder 1st

Season Series: 2-0 Thunder

Noteworthy Missed Games: Alex Caruso (1), Chet Holmgren (2), Bennedict Mathurin (1), Aaron Nesmith (1)

Carlisle quotes: Said this is the greatest challenge for them, said OKC has really changed the game with how they play, said it’s “staggering” how many great defenders OKC has, said Daigneault and OKC have put on a “master class” on how to develop a team, said the OKC defensive schemes are going to be very challenging for them, said he is not expecting Jarace Walker to play in the first two games, said SGA looks like he doesn’t even break a sweat when he’s out there scoring 30 a night.

Daigneault quotes: Said they are spending a couple of days of practice to lock in on some of the Pacers game plan, said they do not want to overthink on the Pacers and they’re not as familiar with them, said the Pacers won’t change their style of play for their opponent and that’s how OKC approaches it as well, said SGA stays so even and that helps make OKC who they are.   

When the Pacers have the ball:

*OKC’s defense has been turning teams over a ton in these playoffs with 18.0 per game for by far the most (15.6 from Warriors), and they led the NBA in turnovers forced per game as well (17.0). The Pacers have been solid at taking care of the ball in the playoffs at 12.7 TOs per game to rank fifth, and they ranked third in the NBA in that category during the season. Despite all the talk of pace for Indiana, they have played at the highest halfcourt frequency in the postseason at 83.4%. Indiana playing in the halfcourt at that frequency is trouble for them with OKC’s halfcourt defense sitting at 88.6 points allowed per 100 possessions in the playoffs, and they led the league in halfcourt D rating during the season at 90.4 points allowed per 100. During the playoffs, the Pacers were excellent with their transition offense at 1.39 PPP, but OKC’s transition defense has been excellent at 1.15 PPP for just 11.0% of possessions. Indiana actually leads the postseason in transition scoring because of how efficient they have been in the last 1.5 months. The Pacers have also been living with their jump shooting at a 62.7 eFG% on their jumpers, and Indy has crushed in the corners during the playoffs with a playoff-best 47.5%. OKC has always been giving up the corners at 13.5% of opponent shots coming from there. The Pacers are not a big rim team anymore, so OKC being the best rim defense may not be a huge factor for them.

When the Thunder have the ball: