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As everyone counts down the days, hours and minutes until the NBA Finals tip-off inside the Paycom Center on Thursday night, all there is to do is speculate on what this series will look like.
Thursday is just the beginning, Game 1 of a best-of-7 marathon series. The Oklahoma City Thunder often reference the opening game as a feel-it-out process and this clash will be no different.
The NBA Finals will be a chess match with two of the best X's and O's head coaches in the League going up against one another. Rick Carlisle is known for his ability to devise innovative zone defenses and unique coverages for his stars to maximize his defense's chances of stalling out a top-of-the-line scorer, such as OKC Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
In the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander played against the Pacers twice to the tune of 39 points, seven rebounds and eight assists per game while shooting 55% from the floor, 63% from beyond the arc and 91% from the charity stripe as he led Oklahoma City to a 2-0 record against Indiana.
The playoffs are different; the ability to turn your entire attention to a single team and have the room to scout and game plan is different. Carlisle will have some unique ways to try and throw the League's MVP off kilter.
Indiana will likely throw Andrew Nembhard onto Gilgeous-Alexander as the point-of-attack defender, but it will take more than just a one-on-one attack on the NBA's scoring champion.
This scribe would expect the Pacers to gap off the wings against the Thunder, attempting to clog the driving lanes for Gilgeous-Alexander as he works to get to his spot at the elbow, to the baseline and at the rim.
In addition to that, Myles Turner could cross-match onto Lu Dort, funneling open triples to the streaky shooter to be able to linger around the rim and serve as another deterrence for the superstar.
While this is expected to be the Pacers' main look, you can never count out a box-and-1 or heavy zone look from Indiana, regardless of how sparingly they've run it to this point. Carlsile is more than willing to pull out all the stops.
How Gilgeous-Alexander adjusts on the fly to the Pacers' adjustments will determine the series. If he is able to duplicate his regular season success against Indiana –- or anything close to it –– then the Thunder will hoist the Larry O'Brien Trophy later this month.
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