Brandon Jackson

I said it on May 31st. I had a segment on YouTube about it. I put it on tiktok. I believed it.

Now it has a chance to come to fruition.

The are 1 win away from completing what would seem to be one of the biggest upsets in NBA finals history. But the thing is, I never believed if the Pacers won, that it would be an upset.

The Thunder are a great team, yes, and should have been favored, but the media at-large believed it wasn’t even close. Nick Wright’s “bet of the year” was Oklahoma City -1.5 for the series. He thought it was an absolute lock that the Thunder would win in either 4, 5, or 6 games. They didn’t. I knew it was wrong when he said it, and I’ve been proven right.

The Thunder won 68 games. Which made them the seventh team ever to win at least 68 in the regular season. The 3 other teams to do it while I’ve been alive are the ’96 Bulls, the ’97 Bulls, and the ’16 Warriors. The Bulls won the championship both times of course, and the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead for the first time in finals history. I bring those teams up because those teams when the playoffs started, felt like all-time great teams. Michael Jordan and Steph Curry were legendary players, and the teams had already won championships before that season.

That’s not the makeup of this Thunder team. Yes, they have the MVP. And he was well deserving, and no matter the outcome on Sunday, has put his name into the ring to be considered the best player in basketball. But he’s not a top ten guy yet. The Thunder had the #1 defense in the league. But their defensive rating is not one that we haven’t seen before.

They had a defensive rating of 106.6. The game has changed so they of course would not be able to hit the levels of any of those early 2000’s defenses, but compared to the Golden State Warriors from 2022, that 106.6 rating is the exact same. And it was #2 that season.

The point I’m making is this Thunder team is a great team, but people should not be shocked this Pacers team is in this position. The Pacers have shown to be a great team too. 6 weeks ago, I didn’t believe either. They dispatched my hometown team that was the #1 seed with ease.

But Pascal Siakim, Tyrese Haliburton, TJ McConnell, Obi Toppin, and coach Rick Carlisle have proved that this team is no fluke, is not on a hot streak playing above themselves, they are an actual great team. Somehow the sportsbooks don’t agree, because the spread for game 7 is OKC -9.5. The disrespect is continuing.

If the Thunder win the championship, they will have earned it. They would be a deserving champion. But even with a championship, it wouldn’t make me consider them one of the best of all time. They are great but not that great.

But if the Pacers win, they will have proved me right in the most spectacular way possible. And somehow no one else will have seen it coming but me.