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2025 NBA playoffs schedule

NBA playoffs: Bracket & complete coverage

OKLAHOMA CITY – Tipoff to the opener of the 2025 NBA Finals came a few minutes after 8:30 p.m. ET. A ferocious crowd at Paycom Center stood and roared, and their team of choice, the Oklahoma City Thunder, seized the court, primed to chase down the first league championship since the franchise came to town in 2008.

The Indiana Pacers joined the fray about an hour later.

Through the first half, the Pacers wound too tight, which showed itself in playing too fast, neglecting details of their game plan and, worst of all, coughing up the ball at a record pace.

Let’s be clear about that: No team in the play-by-play era (since 1997) ever had turned over the ball 19 times in a half of a Finals game,

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