The Thunder swept the two head-to-head meetings between the clubs this season. Game 1 of the finals is Thursday night in Oklahoma City.

Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner beamed as they carried the Indiana Pacers shiny, new Eastern Conference championship trophy into their postgame news conferences Saturday night.

Jarace Walker will miss a least the first two games of the NBA Finals with a sprained right ankle, Rick Carlisle said in a radio interview Monday.

That translated over to the NBA playoffs as a Death Star that destroyed teams left and right en route to a 12-4 postseason record in the West. The Thunder enter the 2025 NBA Finals as the heavy favorite.

THE INDIANA PACERS The pace has officially been set in the Eastern Conference, and no one could keep up. In fact, no one came close. The Pacers are headed to the NBA Finals to face the Thunder after dispatching the Knicks,

The NBA Finals matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers is poised to make history in nearly 20 years.

The Bob Cousy Trophy belongs to the Pacers for winning the East. The Larry O’Brien Trophy is now four wins away, when Indy and Oklahoma City tip off the NBA Finals presented by YouTube TV, June 5 on ABC (8:30 ET).

Here are the winners and losers from the closeout game of the Eastern Conference finals between the Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks: