By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — It’s No. 25 Indiana vs. No. 47 Oklahoma City in the NBA Finals.
That’s not their seeding. That’s their media market ranking. To some, that might matter. To others, it probably won’t – and probably shouldn’t – matter whatsoever.
A title matchup that starts Thursday night between the Pacers and Thunder – two young, fun teams that score a ton and are led by marketable stars in reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Oklahoma City and Olympic gold medalist Tyrese Haliburton for Indiana – is the type of series that real basketball fans clamor for. It has everything: star power, good coaching, All-Stars on both sides. And it adds to the NBA’s recent run of parity.
That’s the good news. Here’s the inevitable other side: The ratin