Image Credit: Cristian Storto
The NBA Conference Finalists for 2025 are confirmed, and the fixtures set. In the East, the Indiana Pacers play the New York Knicks, a reprise of the iconic 90s rivalry, while the Minnesota Timberwolves meet an outstanding Oklahoma City Thunder team in the West. It’s been a whirlwind postseason so far, full of late drama and fairytale runs. In the Conference Semifinals, we saw a bonafide changing of the guard. The league’s three most recent champions, Boston, Denver, and Golden State, all fell by the wayside along with Cleveland who triumphed for the first and only time in 2016. In their place, four long suffering franchises progressed. Two in the midst of 46 and 52 year droughts, and two more in search of their first ever chip.
Whatever may come over these next few weeks, we can say with certainty now that this year’s NBA Championship won’t just be another notch on the belt. It will hold the weight of history for the team that takes it home. Recent years have been kind to the Cinderella stories. Think of the Raptors, the Bucks, and Jokic’s Denver Nuggets, all finding that light at the end of the tunnel after generations of patience in darkness. So then, who’s next?
New York might just explode if the Knicks can take it all the way. I can’t think of another team so widely and intensely supported in American sport that has given their fans so little to cheer for in modern times, but when they have something to celebrate, boy do they celebrate it. Nothing unites the 5 boroughs like they do, their fanbase’s passion not dulled by decades of disappointment. The title drought dates back to 1973, the Finals drought to 1999. Their fortunes in the 21st century have been lean, and their efforts at times purposeless. This year’s playoffs are already the stuff of dreams for Knicks fans, finally getting one over the arch enemy Celtics to secure their first Conference Finals since the turn of the millennium. For all their historic underachievement, they are the most successful franchise that remain in contention. Now with a chance at a Finals berth, they’ll face an old foe in the Indiana Pacers.
It’s a match up that has a nostalgic appeal. The Knicks and Pacers met in 6 playoff series from 1993 to 2000, developing a genuine dislike for each other in the process. In retrospect they were the two great nearly-teams of the era, their rivalry defined by its superstars; towering centre Patrick Ewing, and the sharpshooting ‘Knick-Killer’ Reggie Miller.
This time around, it’s New York’s Jalen Brunson and Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton who will take centre stage, and they enter the series in sparkling form. Brunson has been arguably the standout performer of these playoffs, averaging 28.8 points per game. His small size and deep bag of tricks are a recipe for entertainment, and present a challenge that even the stingiest defenses have struggled to solve. Since joining in free agency in 2022 he’s turned this New York team into his own, and blossomed into one of the league’s most effective scorers.
In the off season the Knicks dealt away power forward Julius Randle, who at one point they had planned to build around, for the silky-skilled centre Karl-Anthony Towns, now reunited with his former coach Tom Thibodeau. What a win-win trade that has turned out to be. The need for a new big in the Big Apple was dire after losing Hartenstein to OKC. Incredibly fluid and light on his feet for a broad shouldered 7 footer, KAT presents one of the most unique double threats in the league, though questions have been asked of his perseverance. His situation in Minnesota had become complex, even a little toxic, but he looks right at home now next to Brunson in the New York blue, and it’s been their impressive partnership that has brought the Knicks to this point, on the precipice of history.
Brunson and his opposite number for this series, Tyrese Haliburton, have both had their doubters and detractors, being recently anointed All Stars operating a notch below the level of ‘superstar’, but still trusted to lead their teams. Haliburton was even voted the most overrated player in the NBA in an anonymous Athletic survey of his peers. I suspect they’d like that one back if they could have it.
The 25 year old point guard may not fill the score sheet every night, but he has looked like a born leader this postseason, and delivered clutch moment after clutch moment for Indiana. A cold blooded step back three that put the cherry on their late comeback in Cleveland stands out, giving the Pacers a 2-0 lead on their way to a 4-1 upset of the top seeded Cavaliers. Tyrese is a measured character, relaxed and unassuming off the court. He plays with intelligence and plenty of drive, and whether he can find his shot or not, he always makes his teammates better. He’s gelled with a supporting cast including Myles Turner, Pascal Siakam, and the surprise x-factor Aaron Nesmith. Coach Rick Carlisle will look to Haliburton as the provider. An accomplished passer of the ball, he averages 9.3 assists per game so far in the playoffs, but if the Pacers are to progress past this point where in 2024 they were swept aside by the Celtics, he will need to continue his clutch scoring.
This is a franchise that once dominated the breakaway ABA, winning 3 titles in the early 70s, but since joining the NBA in the merger of ‘76 it’s been slim pickings; no rings, just the lone Finals appearance in 2000. Indiana is renowned as a heartland for the game, where high school ball and the beloved Hoosiers reign supreme, but since ‘87 they’ve seen no national championships, professional or collegiate. Is that finally about to change? If 2024’s Conference Semis are anything to go by, it will be a close battle between the two hopefuls. Indiana stunned the Knicks, who led 2-0 and then 3-2 but could not get over the line, struck by injuries and eliminated in front of a devastated Madison Square Garden in Game 7. We can only hope for a series as captivating as last year’s, with the stakes now raised by a round. The Knicks feel they’ve made the next step, and are poised to exact their revenge, but the Pacers carry with them a certain confidence; they know they’ve been here before. They know what it takes.
In the Western Conference, the regular season would suggest we have a clear favourite. The Oklahoma City Thunder were an unstoppable force, winning 68 games and bounding away out of sight of second place. Take away 15 of those wins and they’d still be the 1 seed. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the presumptive MVP, silencing the vocal Jokic camp with victory in 7 over his Denver Nuggets. Aged 26, their superstar is among the oldest on a roster built around youth.
Since the 2020 appointment of head coach Mark Daigneault, the Thunder have been through a rapid transformation, rising out of the doldrums of the post Durant and Westbrook era to become champions in waiting, but they have not had it all easy. In the semis, a Denver team with key pieces either slumping or playing through injury still proved a substantial test for Oklahoma. The Minnesota Timberwolves, returning for their second consecutive Conference Finals, have been on song so far in these playoffs and look more than ready to play the spoiler.
Minnesota are unique even in this field of perennial also-rans, with not one appearance in the NBA Finals in their 36 years of existence. In February, they were at risk of missing out on the playoffs altogether. What a turn around it’s been since. They looked unpressed through the first two rounds, sending the star studded Lakers packing in 5, then repeating the feat against a depleted Golden State side, missing Curry at the end.
They represent the other half of the aforementioned win-win trade, that brought an end to the Karl-Anthony Towns era in Minnesota. He was the franchise player for the Timberwolves since 2015, when they took him 1st overall, but as good as KAT’s level of play has been over the years, he never quite felt at ease with the fanbase. A popular narrative painted their centre as too soft, lacking the intangibles (aka ‘stuff’) to take this team to the next level.
When in 2020, they again won the lottery for first pickings in the draft, along came Anthony Edwards. Whatever adjectives you want to apply to the one they call ‘Ant-Man’, soft won’t stick. He is a dynamo. A cocktail of bravado, athleticism, flair, talent, and unshakable self belief. Though best known for his handles, drives, and spectacular poster dunks, there’s really nothing Ant can’t do on the offensive end of the court; made evident as he led the NBA in total 3 pointers with 320.
Chris Finch, in his first head coaching role, has built this team around Edwards’ physical and direct style. Centre Rudy Gobert, though in some ways limited, is easily the league’s most imposing rim protector using his unmatched 7’9” wingspan to great effect. His presence alone forces opponents to think twice about attempting runners, floaters, and layups that would usually come as second nature. New arrival Julius Randle is a powerhouse in the paint. He’s kicked on from a solid regular season and been a vital scorer in their postseason run, averaging 23.9 points. Back at the stage where it ended in 2024, the Timberwolves look just that little bit more complete than in previous years.
What they face now is a team that moves in harmony, like celestial bodies precisely set in orbit around their central star; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The brilliant Canadian is not totally unlike his counterpart in this series. He begs the same question, how do you stop him scoring at the rim? Can it even be done? Like Edwards, Shai is a walking bucket driving into the key, but his approach relies less on power and more on dexterity. He has a contortionist-esque ability to squeeze into gaps no one else even looks for, and find the net from any angle presented to him. In the short range, he regularly makes the magical look mundane. SGA averaged a remarkable 32.7 points in the regular season, leading Giannis in second by more than 2 points per game. He leads all active players in the postseason too, just ahead of Brunson with an average of exactly 29.
So keep him on the perimeter then? Yeah, good luck with that. Daigneault’s Thunder never stop moving. They pass with purpose, and their work rate off the ball is relentless. You can’t pin it all on keeping Shai outside the arc. Their game is too well rounded, and their lineup too deep. Lu Dort, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Isaiah Hartenstein complete a starting five that can beat you in so many different ways.
Dort is a destroyer on the defensive end bringing elite on ball pressure, and no slouch on offense especially when his 3 point stroke gets hot. Holmgren, the 7’1” unicorn playing power forward, can score in the paint or from beyond the arc and handles the ball with confidence and skill rarely seen in someone of his length. The youngster Williams (they call him J-Dub) is an Ant-lite at small forward, athletic and offensively complete, while Hartenstein has rounded things out for OKC as the much needed traditional big. Off the bench, their first call is one of the game’s best defenders in Alex Caruso. His experience, anticipation, and on ball mastery have come in more than handy since trading Josh Giddey to the Bulls in return for the 31 year old guard. In Game 7 against the Nuggets, he was sensational, getting a standing ovation every time he returned to the bench. If they can stifle the production of Anthony Edwards, which they may well need to do to progress, Caruso will be key.
It’s been 46 years since this franchise went all the way; they were the Seattle SuperSonics then. Since moving to OKC in 2008, they’ve had great players and spells of great potential, but never capitalised. All things added up, the pressure weighs heaviest on Oklahoma, not just in this series but across these Conference Finals. For the rest of the pack, there are so many positives to take away already. Don’t get me wrong. There’s no doubt that Indiana and Minnesota are hungry for more, having fallen at this late stage last year. Even the Knicks, gleeful as they are to be here, will not be satisfied yet.
The Thunder, though, are looking at a window of untold opportunity. Just about everyone expected them to reach this point, but not under these circumstances, with no Celtics, no Lakers, no Warriors, no Cavaliers, no Rockets. No other top seeds in sight, and no dynasties stood in their way. This is a moment they have to seize.
-Will Newby