NBA Finals guide: When the games are, how to watch, what the odds are
At last, it's time for the NBA Finals.
Game 1 of the series is Thursday night. It's the Indiana Pacers at the Oklahoma City Thunder, preceded by Commissioner Adam Silver's annual pre-Finals news conference.
Media day was Wednesday, as teams went through their final preparations for the series opener.
— The series preview, on teams silencing doubters
— The long, winding road for Rick Carlisle
— Could it be U.S. vs. the World in the All-Star Game?
— Thunder are big favorites, but ...
— Players play for the trophy. Referees ref for the jacket
— Ashley Kerr wins a lot of titles. She’s Mark Daigneault’s wife
— The ratings might not be good. The NBA has 76 billion reasons not to worry
— In Seattle, the message is clear: ‘Go Pacers’
— Two teams, two paths, one destination
— Thunder have a home-court edge thanks to 18,000 teammates
— Haliburton. Gilgeous-Alexander took long roads to stardom
— There will be points. But what about defense?
— The Pacers are snakebitten no more
— Dec. 26: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 45 points and the Thunder erase an early double-digit deficit, pulling away in the second half to beat the Pacers 120-114. Andrew Nembhard scores 23 for Indiana, while Tyrese Haliburton is held to four points.
— March 29: Gilgeous-Alexander scores 33 and the Thunder win 132-111. Haliburton leads the Pacers with 18, and both teams have six players finish in double figures.
A recap of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s winning of the NBA MVP award.
The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award
The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife
Steve Nash speaks: Canada’s 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him
The notebook: Jokic finishes top-2 again, Giannis’ streak ends, LeBron gets votes
The Pacers have covered in 11 of their first 16 games of these playoffs. The Thunder — favored in every game so far — have covered seven out of 16 times to this point.
All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.
Thursday — Game 1, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT
Sunday — Game 2, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8 p.m. EDT
June 11 — Game 3, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 13 — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 16 — Game 5, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 19 — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 22 — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)
Thursday — Commissioner Adam Silver news conference, before Game 1.
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
— Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is 40 points shy of 3,000 for the season (including regular season and playoffs).
— The Thunder have never previously played on June 5. The Pacers are 0-2 all-time on that date.
“We’re a really mature team for how young we are. We have an emotional understanding of situations. We have an ability to learn and to improve off of mistakes or off of wins and successes, which is not an easy thing to do for anybody, let alone a young team.” — Thunder guard Alex Caruso, at 31 the oldest player on the Oklahoma City roster.
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