The 2025 NBA conference finals have tipped off, with four teams fighting for a spot in the Finals.
The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder, after a tough seven-game series against the Denver Nuggets, kicked off the Western Conference finals Tuesday night. They defeated Anthony Edwards and the visiting No. 6 seed Minnesota Timberwolves in Game 1 behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s 31 points and then took a 2-0 lead in the series in Game 2 on Thursday night. The Thunder will now travel to Target Center for Games 3 and 4, as the Timberwolves will look to bounce back at home.
In the East, the No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers completed an improbable comeback against the No. 3 seed New York Knicks on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden after Tyrese Haliburton made a tying field goal at the buzzer of the fourth quarter to force OT. The Pacers then took Game 2 behind Pascal Siakam’s 39-point performance on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in the series as they head back to Indiana.
As these elite teams face off, our NBA insiders break down their biggest takeaways from every matchup and what to watch for in both conference showdowns.
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Eastern Conference
Game 2: Pacers 114, Knicks 109
And this is why you can’t blow a 17-point fourth quarter lead.
The Knicks should’ve come into Game 2 with a lead in the series. Instead, they trailed – and couldn’t afford a bad performance.
And yet, that’s exactly what happened. Pascal Siakam took over for the Pacers, Tyrese Haliburton got hot in the second half, and Indiana, for a second straight series, took a 2-0 lead on the road, and are now in a commanding position to return to the NBA Finals for the first time in a quarter century.
In the entire second half, the Knicks were unable to get a stop. Coach Tom Thibodeau left Karl-Anthony Towns on the bench for most of the fourth quarter as a result, but the defense still didn’t improve. And New York’s starting lineup, for the second straight game, got worked over by the Pacers.
Indiana, meanwhile, got a sensational game from Siakam, who scored almost half the Pacers’ points in the first half and wound up with 39 on 15-for-23 shooting on the night. It was the kind of performance that can swing a series, especially on the road.
And it was exactly the kind of performance Indiana hoped to get in this kind of situation from Siakam, who has gone for 26 and 10 in a closeout game to win an NBA title, when the Pacers acquired him from the Toronto Raptors last season.
The Pacers now carry the momentum to the league’s championship round, and New York’s season is on life support. — Tim Bontemps
Biggest takeaways for the Pacers:
Even after the Pacers stole Game 1 with an improbable victory, coach Rick Carsile was quick to remind everyone that the job was not finished. And Indiana was not satisfied with just one win in New York. Just like they did to start the second round against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Indiana went on the road and began the series with back-to-back wins on the road, jumping out to a commanding 2-0 lead as the series shifts back to Indy. Siakam set the tone from the start, scoring the Pacers’ first 11 points to start the game and finishing the first quarter with 17. Siakam’s 39 points were a new playoff career-high, and Indiana had six players finish in double figures for the kind of backbreaking win Indiana has made routine during this postseason run. The Pacers are now 6-1 on the road this postseason. — Jamal Collier
Biggest takeaways for the Knicks:
The Knicks, now desperate and in a 2-0 series hole, had a fantastic thing going with backup center Mitchell Robinson early. But Game 2 indicated that there might be limitations on how much run he can get with so much pace in this series.
Robinson, who has the Knicks’ second-best plus-minus this postseason (trailing only backup guard Deuce McBride), has consistently been a bright spot; so much so that opposing clubs have made a point to hack him and force the poor-shooting big man to the line.
He was that good again on Friday, hammering the Pacers on the glass and repeatedly giving the Knicks second chances. As such, Thibodeau used Robinson for 16 minutes straight at one point in the first half — a long stint, considering Robinson has averaged just 20 in the playoffs as a whole. (He finished tied with a team-best plus-6 Friday.)
But on a night when All-NBA center Towns was struggling to defend in space, Thibodeau stuck with Robinson down the stretch. Just one problem: After a massive block on Haliburton that electrified the Garden, Robinson, who’s long struggled with injuries and missed the first 60 games this season rehabbing, looked as if he might’ve rolled his ankle. One key offensive rebound notwithstanding, he didn’t look the same after that play with 7:41 left in the game.
The 29 minutes Robinson played were the second most he’s had all season, between the regular season and playoffs. But more than anything, it might be the Pacers’ unrelenting tempo that’s tough for him in this series, one that the Knicks desperately need him for. — Chris Herring
Game 2: Knicks at Pacers (Sunday, 8 p.m. ET, TNT)
What to watch:
This one’s simple: No NBA team has ever overcome a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series, so the Knicks face a must-win in Indiana on Sunday. A victory in that circumstance, with so much urgency on their side, is doable: In the second round, both Cleveland and Boston won Game 3 on the road after dropping the first two games at home. Of course, the Cavaliers and Celtics went on to lose those series, but that’s a problem for next week. The Knicks need to take Game 3 this weekend first.
The good news for the Knicks, if any exists, is that the first two games in the series have been remarkably even. This isn’t like the 2-0 advantage in the Western Conference finals, where the Thunder are running roughshod over the Timberwolves; the Knicks lost Game 1 in overtime and had a chance to tie Game 2 in the final seconds. If a couple of shots had bounced off the rim differently over the last few nights in Madison Square Garden, the Knicks could be flying to Indiana ahead 2-0, or at the very least tied in the series.
One throughline thus far is that neither team can stop the other, which isn’t a surprise, as both teams boasted top-10 offenses but only middling defenses in the regular season. That trend has carried over to the conference finals, where both Indiana and New York have offensive ratings higher than 120. The most encouraging sign for the Knicks as they contemplate a comeback attempt is that the Pacers still haven’t exhibited any ability to shut down Jalen Brunson, who now has 79 points on 28-for-52 shooting (54%) through two games.
If Brunson can maintain that efficiency while the Knicks and Tom Thibodeau figure out any semblance of a strategy to slow the Pacers’ high-octane attack, then New York still has a chance to reach the Finals. But the odds aren’t in their favor after a disappointing set of games at the Garden. — Zach Kram
Western Conference
Game 2: Thunder 118, Timberwolves 103
Biggest takeaways for the Thunder: Once again, Oklahoma City overwhelmed Minnesota in the third quarter. In this instance, the Thunder outscored the Timberwolves 35-21, a 14-point margin identical to that of Game 1’s third quarter. Those dozen minutes on Thursday encapsulated why Oklahoma City has been so dominant all season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was in complete control on the offensive end, scoring 11 of his 38 points and making two of his eight assists. The Thunder’s defense swarmed and smothered, holding the Timberwolves to 6-of-20 shooting and forcing five turnovers that Oklahoma City converted into 12 points. And the Thunder’s deep bench made its presence felt with Cason Wallace and Alex Caruso cranking the defensive chaos up a couple of notches. — Tim MacMahon
Biggest takeaways for the Timberwolves: Anthony Edwards vowed to shoot more after putting up only 13 attempts in the Wolves’ blowout loss in Game 1 and did so in the Wolves’ Game 2 loss on Thursday. His 18 attempts in the first half were his most in any half of a playoff game in his career, and he finished with 32 points on 12-for-26 shooting. But it didn’t matter. Too many of the same issues that plagued Minnesota in the series opener popped up again in Game 2: turnovers (14, resulting in 22 points for the Thunder), missed 3s (11-for-39 overall, with Edwards going 1-for-9) and letting go of the rope in the third quarter (OKC used a 14-2 run in Game 2, mirroring the 17-2 death knell the Thunder sprang on the Wolves in Game 1). And an unexpected challenge also presented itself for the Wolves: Julius Randle struggled through his first bad game of the postseason. Randle, limited to six points on 2-for-11 shooting and four turnovers, was benched in the fourth as Minnesota coach Chris Finch went with Naz Reid (10 points, eight rebounds, 0-for-5 from 3) instead. Give the Wolves some credit for cutting the deficit to 10 in the final minutes after the Thunder’s lead had swelled to 24, but it never felt as though like Oklahoma City was in jeopardy of losing. The only solace Minnesota can take into Game 3 is that there is no mystery why it is trailing 2-0. What needs to be addressed as the conference finals shift to Target Center is abundantly apparent. — Dave McMenamin
Game 3: Thunder at Timberwolves (Saturday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ABC)
What to watch: For all the in-game comebacks we’ve seen in this year’s playoffs, we’ve yet to see anyone complete a notable comeback in a series. No team has yet rallied from a 2-0 deficit. Minnesota was actually on the wrong end of the last one of those, having taken a 2-0 lead on the road against the Denver Nuggets in last year’s conference semifinals. (The Indiana Pacers also came back from down 2-0 to the New York Knicks in the same round.)
Heading into a must-win Game 3, I wonder if we’ll see Chris Finch go to Naz Reid earlier. Reid played the entire fourth quarter as the Timberwolves made a late push with a small lineup on the court featuring neither Randle nor Rudy Gobert in order to have enough quickness to send doubles at Gilgeous-Alexander and rotate behind them.
A force in the paint in both of Minnesota’s closeout wins during the first two rounds, Gobert hasn’t yet been able to make an impact on offense against Oklahoma City’s defense. He has combined for seven points on 3-of-8 shooting. Reid’s floor spacing and ability to create his shot puts more pressure on the Thunder.
At the same time, the Timberwolves sacrifice paint defense with Reid at center. As it was, Oklahoma City shot a sizzling 63% inside the arc in Game 2. Per ESPN Research, that accuracy was unchanged with Gobert on or off the court.
One thing we likely won’t see much of in Game 3: Minnesota’s zone defense. After playing just a handful of zone possessions in Game 1, the Timberwolves went to it more regularly Thursday, particularly in the third quarter. After struggling to score against Denver’s zone, the Thunder torched Minnesota’s version to the tune of 35 points on 14-of-26 shooting, according to ESPN Research. — Kevin Pelton
