Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers Game 4 Prediction, NBA Finals Odds
It’s been completely strike then counterstrike in this series following Indiana’s 116-107 win in Game 3 on Thursday. Can the Thunder bite back and tie the series on Friday, or will the Pacers move one win away from the franchise’s first NBA championship?
OKC opened as a 6.5-point favourite to win Game 4 on the NBA odds, with the total pegged at 225.5.
Thunder vs. Pacers NBA Betting Odds
Indiana’s resiliency to bounce back following losses goes back well beyond this series. Since mid-March, they are 10-0 straight up in games immediately following a loss.
History is also on the Pacers side. There have been 44 NBA Finals’ tied at one game apiece and the winner of Game 3 has gone on to win the series 33 times, an 80.5 per cent clip.
Almost unbelievably, oddsmakers are still heavily down on Indiana. Despite leading the series 2-1, the Pacers remain +200 underdogs to hoist the Larry O’Brien Trophy on the NBA futures board. The Thunder are -250 favourites.
With the back-and-forth nature of this series, it’s no surprise to see the favoured exact series result is an OKC win in seven games at +170. The biggest long shot is an Indiana win in five games at +1000, which frankly would be shocking.
If you’re looking for player futures, there’s sneaky good value in Tyrese Haliburton to win Finals MVP at +275. That’s a great price considering the Pacers are two wins away from an NBA title and Haliburton has led the team in scoring in each of the last two games.
Oklahoma City Thunder
Obviously the Thunder would rather be leading this series, but the good news is they haven’t been outclassed in any of the three games. Take Game 3 for example. It was completely a back-and-forth affair with 15 ties in the game. For context, there were just 13 ties in the entire five-game NBA Finals between Boston and Dallas last season.
It all starts with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for OKC, who is averaging 30.1 points per game in the playoffs as a whole, including 32.0 ppg in the Finals. You also can’t overlook Jalen Williams. The third-year forward matched his highest offensive output in Game 3, with his third 26-point performance of the playoffs.
The big anomaly for the Thunder in this series, is their play when trying to close out the game. Oklahoma City went 61-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter during the regular season. They’re 1-2 when leading going into the fourth quarter in this series.
Indiana Pacers
Three Pacers players scored 20+ points in Game 3, including Bennedict Mathurin, who led the way with 27 points. Tyrese Burton added 22 points, 11 assists and nine rebounds, while Pascal Siakam finished with 21 points.
The big difference on Wednesday came from Indiana’s depth scoring. The Pacers had a massive 49-18 edge in points from the bench. You have to highlight T.J. McConnell when it comes to the bench. McConnell is the first player in an NBA Finals game to record 10 points, five assists and five steals coming off the bench since all those stats started being tracked.
The fourth quarter is really where the Pacers shined in Game 3. Indiana outscored the Thunder 32-18 in the final frame, holding OKC to just 35 per cent shooting.
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