JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
It's an era of parody for the NBA. Over the last six seasons, six different teams have won a title, and there will soon be a seventh. The NBA finals begin tonight between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Now, neither Oklahoma City or Indiana has ever won an NBA title before. NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan is here to give us a preview. Hey.
BECKY SULLIVAN, BYLINE: Howdy.
SUMMERS: So Becky, I want to talk all about the actual game...
SULLIVAN: Yep.
SUMMERS: ...In a minute.
SULLIVAN: Sure.
SUMMERS: But first, what does this mean for these two fan bases? This certainly sounds just like a big deal.
SULLIVAN: I mean, yeah, it's huge. So Oklahoma City, you have the Thunder move to town in 2008. They won, of course, as a franchise when they were back in Seattle as the Supersonics. But that was back in the 1970s, and I think it's fair to say that probably not very many people in Oklahoma City were rooting for the team then.
SUMMERS: (Laughter) Yep.
SULLIVAN: And this is a team that has had a lot of stellar players in the years since 2008. They've reached the finals before, but they don't have a ring to show for it. So huge deal there. And then in Indiana, I mean, this is just a state that is crazy about basketball. I think, personally, it's just sort of, like, cosmically correct. All is right with the world...
SUMMERS: Right.
SULLIVAN: ...When basketball in Indiana is good, when the Pacers are good. And so, of course, that's a fan base that is thrilled as well.
SUMMERS: All right, break down these two teams for us. What should we know about them?
SULLIVAN: Well, I think both teams play, like, an incredibly fun brand of basketball to watch. Seeing them on the court at the same time, I think, is going to be awesome because both teams are comfortable playing at, like, a very fast pace. They score a lot of points. They're both very young teams that play energetic defense, I think especially Oklahoma City, who had just, like, a stifling defense all year long. And then kind of, like, big picture, there has been this trend in the NBA over the past decade toward shooting more and more three-pointers. A lot of complaints sort of about the kind of possession you see these days, where the players are kind of just passing the ball around outside the three-point line until somebody puts up a shot. Usually, it's, like, a brick.
But these two teams, the Pacers and the Thunder, have much more varied games than that. So it's just, like, really fun and refreshing to watch. That said, I do think that there is a sense that this is a little bit lopsided in favor of Oklahoma City, which is a very strong team all year long.
SUMMERS: Go on. Tell us why.
SULLIVAN: Well, they just had one of the best regular seasons of all time. They had the best record in the NBA this past season. They have the MVP on their team, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the league in scoring, averaging more than 30 points per game. And the team just has, like, this great supporting cast around him. So the Pacers know that they have an uphill battle, but they're embracing that sort of underdog role. And here is how the Pacers' star point guard Tyrese Haliburton put it this week.
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TYRESE HALIBURTON: For me to win a championship, I don't want to win any other way. I don't want to go around or go over. I want to go through. You want to go through the best team. You want to go through the best challenge. So this is the best challenge, and this is the best team in the NBA. And we know the odds are stacked against us, but we want to be here. We want to play against the best, and this is the best.
SUMMERS: OK, Becky, odds being what they are, how do you think Indiana could get it done?
SULLIVAN: Well, I think this guy that we just heard from is the key to that. He - Haliburton - he's their point guard. He's, like, a really excellent, sort of pure point guard in the sense that he - you know, he's bringing the ball up the court. He sees the court. He has the vision. He can set his guys up, and he can dish the ball out without turning it over, which is great for any team. And then also what has really sort of sent him to the next level is he's blossomed as this very clutch scorer himself.
Tyrese Haliburton, he's had a great playoff run both on the court - obviously, they're here in the finals - but also off the court. Just a couple months ago, the sports outlet The Athletic ran this anonymous NBA player poll, where one of the questions was, who is the most - who do you think is the most overrated player in the NBA? Obviously, this was not a scientific poll. And I think in the end, it was, like, 13 guys out of 90 active NBA players who picked Haliburton, but they did.
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
SULLIVAN: They said Haliburton was the most overrated player in the NBA, and it just led to a lot of just, like, funny discourse, I think, as the Pacers really did well. And the guy, you know, I think he's taking it to heart that this is an opportunity to prove that wrong. And so, yesterday at this press conference, a reporter asked him, you know, if he'd reached the point now where he has stopped being fueled by that kind of talk, and I just loved how he responded. Let's listen.
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HALIBURTON: No, I've never stopped. It'll never stop. That's just what - I think that's part of my drive. Obviously, I want to be the best. I want to be - you know, I want to be great. So I'll continue to tell you guys in certain moments that it doesn't matter what people say, but it matters, and I enjoy it.
SULLIVAN: So Juana, just a little advice from Tyrese Haliburton to you...
SUMMERS: (Laughter).
SULLIVAN: ...You know, it does matter what people say, but you can use it for fuel to reach the NBA finals.
SUMMERS: NPR sports correspondent Becky Sullivan.
SULLIVAN: You're welcome.
SUMMERS: Thanks so much.
SULLIVAN: Of course. You're welcome.
(SOUNDBITE OF KENDRICK LAMAR SONG, "SQUABBLE UP") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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