Breaking Through the Defense: The 2025 NBA Finals Showdown Between the Thunder and Pacers

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Thunder's defense is a force to be reckoned with, and it's not just the numbers that speak for itself. The team's style of play is suffocating, their brand of basketball is brutal, and their business is stuffing opponents in a locker and taking their lunch money. And brother, business is booming. As the Thunder prepares for Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals against the Pacers, second-year guard Cason Wallace is ready to put his defensive skills to the test against All-Star point guard Tyrese Haliburton. Wallace has already faced off against Haliburton in two regular-season meetings between Oklahoma City and Indiana, and he expects to see plenty of the Pacers' engine of a hard-charging offense in the coming weeks. So what do you do with a problem like Tyrese? The first thing your defense looks to take away is everything. "I go into every matchup the same — just trying to take them out," Wallace said. "Just trying to take the ball from them." The Thunder's defense has been exceptionally good at that this season, leading the NBA in steals, deflections, loose balls recovered on defense, and points scored off of turnovers. The Thunder landed two players on the 2024-25 All-Defensive Team in on-ball pitbull Luguentz Dort and do-it-all forward Jalen Williams, but depending on the night, Wallace, Alex Caruso, and big men Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein might not even be the third-best defenders on the court. The Pacers' task is to be even more annoying to their hosts by reminding them that they can’t hit what they can’t catch. "They're super physical — they're annoying," Pacers forward Obi Toppin said with a smile during Indiana’s media availability. "But they're young. They're young and they're just in your...mess. Like, I don't want to say S-H, but y'all know what I want to say. They're just in you, the whole game. It's annoying." The Thunder's defense is a force that will not be underestimated. They are young and full of energy, and they will not back down from a challenge. The Pacers will have their work cut out for them if they want to break through this suffocating and brutal defense and make a statement in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals.