NBA Basketball
2025-06-13 - Oklahoma City Thunder at Indiana Pacers
A Sports Betting Pick by FirstDown
United States : NBA Finals Game 4
Friday 13th June 2025 - Scheduled 8:30pm
1:30am (British Time)
Preview
There may have been some fans disappointed with the match up in the NBA Finals, but the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder will not be worrying about that.
In reality the disappointment is really with the Eastern Conference Champions and the fact that the Indiana Pacers were largely outplayed in the opening two games backed up those criticisms, even if they were returning home at 1-1. The layers also believed that the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to roll past the Indiana Pacers having recovered from the heartbreaking Game 1 loss, but this is an Indiana team who have consistently produced and who have continued to defy the odds.
They were much better in Game 3 compared with the two road games and the Indiana Pacers won as the underdog and are 2-1 ahead in the NBA Finals. Game 4 is also being played in their home building and the Indiana Pacers will not be too concerned about being set as a big underdog again as they look to make use of the day of rest between games.
A Series that has little rest time would benefit the Indiana Pacers who looked to have worn down the Oklahoma City Thunder at the end of Game 3.
However, this young Thunder team deserve a lot of respect as being one that has consistently bounced back from setbacks all season and you have to believe that some adjustments will be made. The starting players may need to play a few more points after the bench and role players predictably struggled in a hostile environment and the Oklahoma City Thunder will look to clean up their own game with too many turnovers proving to be their undoing.
The concern for the Western Conference Champions is that the Indiana role players really showed up to the party in Game 3 and the likes of Tyrese Haliburton produced their best performance of the Finals. Being back at home will help them too and a real worry for the Thunder is they lost a game in which the Pacers hit just 9 three pointers.
Most would have predicted that a heavy scoring day from beyond the arc would be needed if the Indiana Pacers were going to win games and so managing to do that in Game 3 without makes the Pacers very dangerous.
They will continue to push the tempo and look to gas out the Thunder, as the Pacers have done to so many of the opponents faced already in this post-season and it is difficult to oppose Indiana with this amount of points being given to them.
As mentioned ahead of Game 3, the Oklahoma City Thunder's record as a road favourite in the Playoffs has to be a worry with the team dropping to 4-4 straight up and 0-8 against the spread. At the same time the Pacers improved to 7-2 straight up and they are 2-1 against the spread as the home underdog.
In recent years, teams who won Game 3 have a poor record at covering the spread in Game 4 (1-4 against the spread) and home teams are just 3-8 against the spread. We have seen the Thunder bounce back impressively from setbacks and those trends are going against the selection, but this Indiana Pacers team are unlikely to be bothered about a day of rest between games and they have the tempo and intensity to avoid the blowout and, potentially, earn the outright upset for a third time in the NBA Finals in 2025.
Prediction
This is developing into a solid NBA Finals and Game 4 is a potentially pivotal one to determine the outcome of the Championship.
The layers still very much believe the Oklahoma City Thunder can turn this Series around, despite falling 2-1 behind, but they need to make adjustments and need to find some energy with just a day of rest between games.
This should benefit the Indiana Pacers and they can make use of the points being given to them to keep this one close, even if they are not quite able to win the game outright.
The Pick :
Indiana Pacers 110-112 Oklahoma City Thunder
