The NBA conference finals are finally upon us and have started as of Tuesday, within the West Oklahoma City Thunder are playing host to the Minnesota Timberwolves. On Tuesday night Oklahoma City Took a 1-0 series lead in game 1 with stellar play from NBA’s MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who finished the game with 31 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists which resulted in a 26 point blowout in favor of Oklahoma City.
Still despite the Thunders impressive win against Minnesota, Star player for Minnesota Anthony Edwards said post game “Wolves will figure it out.” Which is not usually something coming out of his mouth meaning he has a mission to prove to all basketball fans that he should have been the MVP and not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Not to mention Anthony Edwards is the same guy who took out Lebron James and then Steph Curry in Rounds 1 and 2. So he’s a star player for OKC you don’t want to mess around with.
In the Eastern conference finals the New York Knicks are playing host to Indiana Pacers. Which in game 1 went into overtime because of a late comeback primarily formed by Star player Tyrese Haliburton and Guard Aaron Neimith who hit multiple late 3 point shots to make the game 123-125. Then right before the buzzer rang Tyrese Haliburton hit a game tying 2 pointer that he thought was a 3 pointer causing him to hit the iconic Reggie Miller choke celebration at the end of regulation. Further sparking one of the most iconic images of the whole 2025 playoffs. In Overtime the Pacers pulled ahead to take a 1-0 series lead versus the Knicks.
With the conference finals shaping up to be one of the best conference finals in a while since all 4 teams haven’t won a championship since the 1970s or ever. These conference finals are bringing new cities into the NBA spotlight. As well as new superstars into the NBA spotlight, since In Indiana Tyrese Haliburton is the face of the team, in New York Jalen Brunson is the star player, and in the west Antony Edwards is the star in Minnesota, and lastly the most valuable player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the face of the whole NBA.
So, with the conference finals concluding soon, us NBA fans can contrast who might be playing in the finals in the East. I have the Pacers outdueling the Knicks in 6 games. I think the duo of Pascal Siakam and Tyrese Haliburton is too much to handle and also right now the Pacers are definitely the most clutch team in all of the NBA. In the West I have the Thunder beating the Timberwolves in 5 games. Since right now the Thunder are winning a majority of their games and in such a dominating fashion behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scoring at least 30 pts a game.
Making the NBA finals, Pacers versus the Thunder in my predictions.
If this does happen to be the matchup Oklahoma would be heavy favorites versus Indiana. However because of the unstoppable duo of Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam I would take the Pacers in 7 games over OKC. Since I believe Indiana has a better defensive core that would be able to slow down Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Which would cause him to make error throws and force his teammates to make clutch plays rather than himself. Making the Pacers your 2025 NBA champions in my predictions.
