{"id":350830,"date":"2025-06-03T13:49:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/?p=350830"},"modified":"2025-06-03T13:49:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-03T17:49:09","slug":"pacers-vs-thunder-nba-finals-best-bets-for-game-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.northstargaming.ca\/admin\/nsgcms\/pacers-vs-thunder-nba-finals-best-bets-for-game-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacers vs. Thunder NBA Finals best bets Game 1: Bet on OKC to win comfortably, Gilgeous-Alexander to produce"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers kick off the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday night. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The pregame narrative:<\/strong> OKC has demolished its competition since Game 1 of the season and is a massive favourite to win the opener and the series. Indiana has already toppled a giant in the Cleveland Cavaliers, but doesn&#8217;t have anyone to match up with the MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out my Pacers vs. Thunder best bets for Game 1 of the NBA Finals, featuring SGA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Pacers vs. Thunder best bets<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/sports\/basketball\/competitions\/10240\"><strong>Full NBA betting markets<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/article\/nba-injury-report-news\"><strong>NBA injury report<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/nba\/top-players\"><strong>NBA player stats<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.northstarbets.com\/sportsbook\/news\/stats\/nba\/standings\"><strong>NBA standings<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Best bet: Thunder -9 (-112)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This matchup is David vs. Goliath personified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>OKC is a -715 favourite to win this series, which carries an 87.73% implied probability. And if that seems ridiculous to you, it&#8217;s not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Thunder posted a +12.8 net rating during the regular season. That is the second-best mark of all time behind the Michael Jordan-led 1995-96 Chicago Bulls.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>They have a +24.7 net rating at home in the playoffs, nearly 10 points better than the Los Angeles Clippers, which ranks second.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>OKC is 8-1 at home this postseason, winning seven of those games by 15+ points<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Indiana has been a stellar road team this postseason, going 6-2 with a +2.4 net rating. But several of those wins required incredible comebacks and last-second heroics, which I can&#8217;t see happening against a team that excels at frontrunning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Thunder smashed the Pacers 132-111 in their lone meeting at Paycom Center this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Key stat:<\/strong> OKC is a league-best 34-14-2 ATS at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">NBA Finals Game 1 picks<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Gilgeous-Alexander over 12.5 rebounds and assists (-138):<\/strong> No one can fill the basket like Gilgeous-Alexander, and that&#8217;s a fact. But I want to tap into his other playmaking abilities on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The MVP stuffed the stat sheet in the Western Conference finals, averaging 5.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists per game. He went 3-2 against this line, landing on 11 R\/A in one of the outliers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Indiana has really struggled to contain opponents on the glass this postseason, ranking 13th out of 16 teams in rebounding rate (47.5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Pacers are relatively undersized, with only one player in their starting rotation standing above 6-foot-8 (Myles Turner).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both teams play at a lightning-quick pace, too, ranking in the top three this postseason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>More possessions mean more rebounding and assist opportunities for SGA, who is logging a team-high 36.5 minutes a night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gilgeous-Alexander cleared this line in both of his matchups against the Pacers this season, logging seven rebounds and eight assists in each game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Pacers vs. Thunder best bets made at 10:29 a.m. ET 06\/03\/2025.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers kick off the 2025 NBA Finals on Thursday night. The pregame narrative: OKC has demolished its competition since Game 1 of the season and is a massive favourite to win the opener and the series. Indiana has already toppled a giant in the Cleveland Cavaliers, but doesn&#8217;t have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":350720,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"sidebar_plugin_meta_block_field":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[452,62],"tags":[83],"class_list":["post-350830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-com","category-nba","tag-nba"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Pacers vs. Thunder best bets: NBA Finals Game 1 | NSB<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Check out our 2025 Game 1 Pacers vs. Thunder best bets. 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