Reviewing Two Teams With Multiple Playoff Wins Over 2024-25 OKC Thunder

The 2024-25 Oklahoma City Thunder's playoff campaign was not nearly as groundbreaking as its regular season, even though it became the newest NBA champion.

Oklahoma City won 16 of 23 games with a +8.6 net rating, displaying the best defensive rating (105.7) and fifth-best offensive rating (114.3) during the postseason. Just like with its 14 regular-season losses, the Thunder's playoff defeats were distributed unevenly.

The Thunder swept the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round and beat the Minnesota Timberwolves in a five-game Western Conference Finals. Both opponents came out swinging in their home Game 3s, with Oklahoma City overcoming a 25-point halftime deficit against Memphis on April 24. They also offered ultra-competitive Game 4s — but the Thunder ultimately advanced without much trouble.

Oklahoma City's other two series took surprising turns from the start, provided eerily similar results and went the maximum distance.

Indiana Pacers: Three wins, four losses

Why Indiana was successful: Offensive balance

The NBA Finals' first six games separated the Thunder and Pacers by seven total points. Each team earned one blowout win and two close wins entering the winner-take-all battle. One squad then lost its offensive engine seven minutes into the action, hung on until the third quarter and experienced one of the most painful sports losses ever.

The Pacers shot better from the field than the Thunder across the Finals, but lost the turnover battle significantly and gave up 28 more free throws than they drew. Still, Indiana truly gave the champion all it could handle.

Tyrese Haliburton, Game 7's unfortunate victim, nailed a long 2-pointer with 0.3 seconds left that gave the Pacers a 111-110 Game 1 win on June 5.

The underdog returned home six days later and outlasted the Thunder, 116-107, in Game 3 behind Bennedict Mathurin's 27 points on 9-for-12 shooting off the bench.

With its entire season on the line, Indiana led by as many as 31 points and earned a 108-91 Game 6 victory on June 19.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso were Oklahoma City's four double-digit scorers during the series. They combined for 534 of 765 Thunder points (69.8%), as Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams were the two most productive scorers by far.

The Pacers lacked a go-to bucket-getter, but they housed a plethora of reliable options. Pascal Siakam (Games 1, 4 and 5), Mathurin (Games 3 and 7), Haliburton (Game 2) and Obi Toppin (Game 6) each led Indiana in scoring at least once. Seven Pacers averaged double-digits, with Aaron Nesmith missing the cut at 9.4 points per game.

Indiana tallied its best on-court results with Nesmith (+21) and Haliburton (+19). It held Oklahoma City to 110.5 points per 100 possessions — comfortably the most disruptive defense the Thunder faced all postseason.

The Pacers coming up just short should not take away anything from their extremely impressive playoff run and Finals. Losing Haliburton for the season and Myles Turner in free agency are key short-term losses, but Indiana has rotation players Haliburton, Siakam, Andrew Nembhard, Toppin, Nesmith, T.J. McConnell and Isaiah Jackson under contract for multiple seasons.

Denver Nuggets: Three wins, four losses

Why Denver was successful: Rebounding

The 2022-23 champion was Oklahoma City's most frequent opponent last season. The Northwest Division opponents split the four-game regular-season series and fought a hard-nosed second round, with the Thunder prevailing by 32 points in Game 7 on May 18.

The Thunder dominated the most important factors. It shot 5.0% better on 2-pointers, 0.9% better on 3-pointers and committed 46 fewer turnovers — culminating in a +64 point differential. Oklahoma City notched two blowout wins and two close wins, as Denver's largest victory was 12 points in an elimination Game 6 on May 15.

The second round followed the same script as the Finals. The Thunder won Games 2, 4, 5 and 7, and lost the other three contests. The Nuggets' Aaron Gordon knocked down a wing 3-pointer with three seconds remaining that turned a one-point deficit into a May 5 Game 1 win. Denver registered a nine-point Game 3 victory four days later through surgical clutch-time execution.

The Nuggets, unlike the Pacers, controlled the glass on both ends. They grabbed 15 more defensive rebounds than the Thunder — logical by attempting 36 fewer field goals — but also recorded nine more offensive rebounds.

Nikola Jokic, who eviscerated Oklahoma City in both regular-season wins, averaged 11.3 defensive rebounds and 2.6 offensive rebounds. Gordon swallowed 27 offensive boards and made 15 of 34 triples (44.1%).

However, every rotation player posted negative on-court results during the series. The Nuggets lost Gordon's minutes by a point, Jamal Murray's minutes by 18 points and Jokic's minutes by 40 points,

Denver will be a tougher regular-season opponent for Oklahoma City with its added offseason depth, and that would be true for a 2026 playoff rematch as well.