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NBA Finals 2025: How Thunder, Pacers Stack Up Against Former Champions
Vivek Jacob is a freelance sports writer with over seven years experience. During this time, he has written for outlets including The Athletic, Yahoo Sports, Sportsnet, CBC, and Complex. Primarily covering the NBA, Vivek also covers tennis, soccer, and cricket.
All posts by Vivek JacobUpdated05 Jun 2025
When the Oklahoma City Thunder square off against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA Finals, it will be a matchup of elite offense versus historically elite defense.
Over the course of the Pacers’ run through the Eastern Conference, Tyrese Haliburton has led his team to offensive heights rarely seen. Over in the Western Conference, the Thunder have done the same with their defense.
Ask the Memphis Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets and the Minnesota Timberwolves and they’ll tell you just how suffocating Oklahoma City’s defense can be. Talk to the Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and New York Knicks and they’ll probably marvel at how great the Indiana offense is.
But just how elite are we talking?
Pacers Stack Up Favorably Offensively
Looking back on the last 10 NBA champions, only the 2017 Golden State Warriors and 2023 Denver Nuggets have posted better offensive ratings than the Pacers.
One is an all-time great team in the Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant led Warriors. The other is led by one of the greatest offensive engines in basketball history in Nikola Jokic.
The Boston Celtics looked mighty impressive during their title run a year ago but even they fall short of Indiana’s lofty heights.
How much of this has to do with the way offensive efficiency has improved over the years? A fair chunk.
That’s where it’s worth keeping in mind the Pacers are still six percentage points better than the average offensive rating this postseason. Four of the former champions have been better relative to their competition.
Only the Cavs have a better offensive rating than the Pacers this postseason and that comes down to the way they mauled the Miami Heat. The Thunder are 4.4 percentage points better relative to their competition this season.
Don’t underestimate what this Indiana team could accomplish going up against the Oklahoma City defense.
Thunder Defense Is Historically Elite
On the defensive side of the ball, the Thunder’s defense lags only behind the 2015 and 2018 Warriors, as well as the 2019 Raptors.
What should be a concern for the Pacers is they rank last by a long shot compared to these former champions. The only solace is the Nuggets are second to last and they did go on to win the title.
No former champion from the past decade has outperformed the average defensive rating more than the Thunder. They allow 8.46 percentage points than the 2025 postseason average. The next best are the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks, allowing 7.66 percentage points fewer than average.
Indiana, relative to its opposition this season, is just above average as a defensive unit.
So, which side of the ball are you favoring in these Finals?
