The Bill Simmons Podcast
Indy Steals Game 1 in OKC … WTF Happened? | With Zach Lowe
Fri, 06 Jun 2025
The Ringer’s Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe react to the Pacers stunning OKC in Game 1 of the NBA Finals (2:32). Then, they preview Game 2 and discuss fixes for OKC to turn the series around (30:31). Finally, they discuss the Knicks' coaching drama, who the new head coach could be in New York, and trade rumors (46:30). Host: Bill Simmons Guest: Zach Lowe Producers: Chia Hao Tat and Eduardo Ocampo Get started today at HubSpot.com/AI The Ringer is committed to responsible gaming. Please visit www.rg-help.com to learn more about the resources and helplines available. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened in Game 1 of the NBA Finals?
Which was, by the way, it was a play that the Celtics run a lot where Miles Turner fakes like he's going to set a pin down for Halliburton. And then Halliburton switches it up and sets a monster like double pin down for Miles Turner. That's a play that Tatum and Horford run all the time. And he banks in the three. There was a lane violation on a Siakam missed three.
I love that. By the way, watching it in real time, I was like, that's a lame violation on somebody. There's four guys in the paint right now.
There's a tipped air ball, like an air ball that's tipped in or put back in by Siakam. And by the way, and also you mentioned just the threes. Neesmith makes one in the corner on a broken play where Obi Toppin's dribbling around trying to find someone to give it to. Neesmith makes a three.
I guess Neesmith in the fourth quarter of a desperate game is just never, ever going to miss a shot again in his life. And the Pacers shot 39 threes. 44% of their shots were threes. That's way above their average. And I think it's an absolute must for them to have any chance to win this series.
Increase their three-point attempts against a defense that will not give them up because they can test them pretty well, but they'll crowd the paint and make you shoot threes and take more, increase the variance. And they ended up taking, what, 39 threes compared to 30 for the Thunder. And the Thunder took a lot more field goals. That's a big reason they won the game. 18 of 39, 46% on threes.
Well, tell me if you agree on this. They were firing them with no hesitation. And I think it was part of their game plan, especially on the road where OKC's been such an absolute juggernaut. And I think Carlisle told everybody... If you had the three, shoot it immediately. Because you could see these OKC guys flying out on the corners, on the top.
And I didn't feel like a lot of those threes were uncontested, right? Some of the corner threes, I guess, were a little open, but for the most part, it wasn't like they were wide open. It's 106-98 with three minutes left. Siakam misses two free throws in a row. Lane violation gets one. SGA makes two free throws. Neesmith hits the three you mentioned. J-Dub misses.
Nembhardt, heat check, hesitation, Hezzy step back three.
I got nothing going on.
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Chapter 2: How did the Pacers pull off the upset against OKC?
Conversely, we've seen some teams where they blow that first game in a big series or even a finals. And it turns, you know, we just saw it with the Knicks series. You saw it in Orlando, Houston in 1995. Sometimes there could be a devastating game one loss and the team can get rattled. I think OKC will be fine, though, because Chet will play more. J-Dub will be better.
And I assume they're not going to get out rebounded by 17 again.
Well, this is also where the Denver series and, to a lesser extent, Game 4 in Minnesota are just massively important for them because they've answered the bell already every time they face pressure, including being down 2-1 to Denver and specifically J-Dub, especially J-Dub in Game 7 of the Denver series. So this is no longer uncharted because it's the finals, but...
They've kind of done this before, and this seems like a team who won't get too high or too low, to use a cliche.
I have down as a winner, Nikola Jokic. Just because I think OKC is just an absolute beast. And you think like he takes Team USA to the brink, almost beats them. Takes this OKC team to seven. And then you watch them in that first half and you're like, oh my God, this team's going to go 84 and 18. And then maybe he's not as much of a winner.
Shouldn't one of the winners be like Tibbs? And the Knicks, by that standard, like, you know, okay. Can we talk about the Knicks really quick? They've got company now.
Let's take a break and we'll do the Knicks really quick. Knicks coach drama. Boy, there's been some buzzing. Boy, there's been some tidbits and some things being talked about. Okay. Sources are saying stuff. Well, what are they saying? I don't know. It just seems that Knicks team was a lot more dysfunctional than I think. I heard hints. I heard...
but man, these little games, Game of Thrones-y over there.
Dysfunctional? Well, okay, so are you talking about players or like when you say Game of Thrones, you usually mean, you know, the upper echelon of management.
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