The 2025 NBA Finals will feature multiple important clashes, with few of greater importance than the Indiana Pacers’ vaunted transition offense against Oklahoma City’s stalwart defense. The Pacers’ unique offensive style, predicated on advancing the ball as quickly as possible to score and initiate offense, has brought them further than most expected.
Despite this reputation, traditional measures of speed and pace don’t portray Indiana as a historically distinct offense. Its raw pace trails Oklahoma City’s in the postseason (98.4 vs 100.6). Across the playoffs, the Thunder’s average possession length is over a second shorter than Indiana’s (11.0 vs 12.2 seconds).
Oklahoma City is an excellent transition offense, but much of its open floor offense results from a historic turnover rate defensively. Indiana’s offense relies on decision-making speed and constant ball and player movement, which traditional measures of pace struggle to capture. The Pacers travel 19.3 miles per game in the postseason, the most of any team since 2014. No other playoff team eclipses 19 miles, with the 2024 Pacers coming in second (18.8 per game).
How Indiana Can Challenge The Thunder’s Uniquely Great Defense
They lead the playoffs in average speed (4.42 miles per hour), tied with the 2014 San Antonio Spurs as the fastest team ever tracked. These imperfect metrics allude more to the speed of actions than the speed of players. Indiana embodies this, baking in layers of sets and movements into every offensive possession.
During the Eastern Conference Finals, Tyrese Haliburton & Co. ran a track meet against the New York Knicks, bombing the ball down the floor in a matured version of the LaMelo and Lonzo Ball-led Chino Hills offense. Beyond any schematic details, defending Indiana’s early offense requires speed, stamina and instincts to match it. Fortunately for the Thunder, they fit that description as well as any defense in years.
Oklahoma City’s rebounding advantage over the Pacers should inherently limit easy transition chances. New York’s heavy offensive rebounding approach left fewer bodies back to defend Indiana in the open floor. The Thunder allow opponents to play in transition for 11 percent of their possessions, only trailing the Boston Celtics (10.4 percent) for lowest rate of the postseason.
Just as they do in the half-court, Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso anchor their transition defense. With Holmgren on the floor this postseason, opponents’ transition frequency drops by 2.2 percent (82nd percentile). And when Caruso is on the court, opposing transition offenses score 4.5 fewer points per 100 possessions.
OKC transition defense playmaking pic.twitter.com/ZVsqarYc9W
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The Thunder benefit from Holmgren’s floor-spacing, which enables him to quickly track back to guard the paint in transition. His presence alone deters drives in the open floor, giving his teammates the time necessary to sprint back and force teams to play half-court offense.
With Holmgren on the floor, the Pacers have two clear avenues to attack him in early offense — pushing relentlessly after his drives and paint touches or requiring him to pick up earlier than he wants. After his drives, post-ups or rebounding attempts, he begins behind the play and opens breathing room for offenses in transition.
We’ve seen dynamic ball-handlers attack Holmgren early after a rebound or turnover, prompting him to defend beyond the 3-point line or even half-court. While he’s mobile for a center, explosive players can wedge Holmgren’s hips open and beat him to the basket. Pascal Siakam, Obi Toppin, Bennedict Mathurin and plenty more Pacers can and will challenge him in space.
OKC transition defense holes w/Chet pic.twitter.com/rpL0wRIYCF
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With Holmgren behind the play or off the floor, the Pacers will work to seal off switches in early offense. They’re one of the better mismatch-attacking teams in the NBA, ing the ball around the perimeter until they can enter into a sealing big for a layup or free throws.
No Pacer embodies this more than Siakam, who will sprint down the floor to remove smaller defenders from the play with seals, post-ups and early drives. Siakam’s transition chances generate an absurd 1.5 points per possession this postseason — good for a staggering 0.36 points per possession above league average.
Even when Holmgren falters, his teammates swoop in for highlight blocks and steals. Caruso’s range would make Ed Reed blush, helping him protect the paint like a center and snare es out of midair. Cason Wallace, Lu Dort, Jalen Williams and even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander thrive as open-floor disruptors.
Oklahoma City’s insistence on taking away the rim and forcing turnovers leaves gaps for shooters to flow into, especially in the corners. The Thunder often send help at the expense of the corners; their opponents are taking 13.5 percent of their field goals as corner threes in the playoffs (second-highest rate among 16 teams).
Thunder transition help off corner pic.twitter.com/TVES8JKd3s
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A Push And Pull
The Pacers are equipped to punish that after drilling 47.5 percent of their corner triples this postseason, by far the most efficient of any team. Indiana accesses high-efficiency corner shots with quick sideline hit-aheads or early drives leading to kickouts. Haliburton’s manipulation of timing and space further opens these already high-value looks.
Head coach Mark Daigneault’s Thunder defenses have abandoned the corners over the past two seasons, living with shaky shooters taking those shots. That’s a risky strategy to employ against a lights-out Pacers team leading the playoffs in 3-point marksmanship (41.7 percent).
Indiana’s frenetic pace enables quick scoring flurries, often fueled by transition corner shooting. If the Thunder defend in early offense as the usually do, it’s easy to imagine the Pacers breaking off big runs with a few timely defensive stops. They’ll have their hands full against the Thunder, which will key in on their fast-break offense like most teams can’t.
The Pacers struggled to create transition chances in their two regular season games against the Thunder, posting transition frequencies (11.7 percent, 13.1 percent) far below their average (16.3 percent) in both games. Oklahoma City’s avoidance of live-ball turnovers limits opponent transition chances, as will the Thunder’s own full-court pressure and ball denial they’ll inevitably deploy against the Pacers.
To this point, none of Indiana’s opponents have figured out how to slow its potent transition attack. The Pacers haven’t faced a relentless defense like Oklahoma City’s, but the Thunder haven’t played an offense quite like Indiana’s.
Few teams possess the tools to crack Oklahoma City’s special defense, but the Pacers’ incessant offensive aggression will provide a worthy challenger. To take care of business, the Thunder must weaponize their speed and depth to eliminate one of the Pacers’ greatest advantages.
