Game 3 is in Indianapolis on Wednesday night.
Sunday's NBA Finals news
— Pacers miss out on chance for another 2-0 lead
— Thunder get help from the supporting cast
— Don Nelson wins Chuck Daly Award and makes a Luka Doncic statement
Previous stories of note
— There's Canadian intrigue in these finals
— Tyrese Haliburton is Mr. Clutch
— In OKC, everybody must visit the memorial
— Commissioner Adam Silver talks parity, expansion, more
— Things to know about these NBA Finals
— The long, winding road for Rick Carlisle
— Could it be U.S. vs. the World in the All-Star Game?
— Thunder are big favorites, but ...
— Players play for the trophy. Referees ref for the jacket
— Ashley Kerr wins a lot of titles. She's Mark Daigneault's wife
— The ratings might not be good. The NBA has 76 billion reasons not to worry
— In Seattle, the message is clear: 'Go Pacers'
— Two teams, two paths, one destination
Betting odds
Oklahoma City (-625) remains a big favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Indiana's odds are now +450 after the Game 2 loss.
The Thunder are 5.5-point favorites over Indiana for Game 3.
The Pacers have covered in 12 of their first 18 games of these playoffs. The Thunder — favored in every game so far — have covered eight out of 18 times to this point.
NBA Finals schedule
All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.
Thursday — Game 1, Indiana 111, Oklahoma City 110
Sunday — Game 2, Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107
Wednesday — Game 3, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
Friday — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 16 — Game 5, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 19 — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT
June 22 — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT
(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)
A close finals, geographically
Monday is a travel day for the NBA Finals (although technically, the Pacers traveled home after Game 2 on Sunday night).
It’s a short day, by finals standards.
The 688 miles by air between Oklahoma City and Indiana — by road, it is a bit longer — represents the shortest distance between finals cities in 69 years. That doesn’t count the bubble season, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat were in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, for the entirety of the 2020 finals.
The last time a between-cities finals trip was this short was 1956, with only 530 miles separating Fort Wayne and Philadelphia.
Other short finals trips, in air miles: Syracuse to Fort Wayne (489 miles, 1955), Rochester to New York (253 miles, 1951) and Baltimore to Philadelphia (90 miles, 1948).
The longest distance between finals cities was Boston to San Francisco for the 2022 finals; those cities are 2,704 miles apart by air. That’s just about 10 miles longer than Boston to Oakland, and about 100 miles longer than Boston to Los Angeles.
Under the current league format, the shortest possible distance between finals cities would be the 297 miles that separates Minnesota and Milwaukee. That’s just a bit shorter than Memphis-Atlanta (331) and Minnesota-Chicago (334).
Key upcoming events
June 25 — NBA draft, first round.
June 26 — NBA draft, second round.
SGA is the MVP
A recap of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s winning of the NBA MVP award.
The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award
The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife
Steve Nash speaks: Canada's 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him
The notebook: Jokic finishes top-2 again, Giannis' streak ends, LeBron gets votes
Stats of the day
— Teams are now 57-1 with 15-point halftime leads in the finals since 1958. (The Thunder led by 19 on Sunday.) The one loss: Game 4 of Celtics-Lakers in 2008, when Boston trailed by 18 at the half and won 97-91. Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen combined to outscore the Lakers 34-33 after halftime.
— In Game 2, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (34 points), Alex Caruso (20), Jalen Williams (19), Aaron Wiggins (18) and Chet Holmgren (15) made the Thunder the first team to have five players score at least 15 points in an NBA Finals game since the Toronto Raptors did it twice against the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
Quote of the day
“I’m enjoying this Finals as much as any that I ever remember watching. They are playing the same styles, really, when you think about it, and it’s two really talented teams. They play the style that I enjoy the most, of course, a fast-paced game. I’m enjoying this very much.” — retired coach Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history, when he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award before Game 2 of the finals.
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/nba
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Credit: AP