NBA Player News

Strus may have played longer than the Cavaliers wanted him to, as Craig Porter Jr.'s first-half ankle injury left the team without any available point guards. That put Max in a position to take on more playmaking responsibilities, and the result was his fifth triple-double of the season (and seventh of his career). Due to the loss, Cleveland will be the 4-seed in the East, with Orlando being their first-round opponent.

Toppin has been solid throughout this postseason, but he hasn’t had many big scoring nights. However, after he had 18 points in the Game 6 clincher over the Knicks, he added 17 more to kick off the Finals, with 15 of those points coming from beyond the arc. If Toppin is able to continue to make an impact off the bench like he did in this game, there should be more wins coming for the Pacers.

Indiana dominated on the glass in this game, but it wasn’t just because of the bigs. Nesmith was the leading rebounder in this game and was one of three Pacers to grab at least 10 rebounds. However, they lost the turnover battle 24-6, and Nesmith contributed five of those. The only player with more was Myles Turner, who coughed it up six times. Indiana won this game and still has things to clean up, which is an encouraging sign for them moving forward in this series.

It was a balanced attack for Indiana as they stole Game 1 on the road, but Siakam was the one that ended up as the leading scorer. He was one of six players to score in double figures, with nobody reaching 20 points. The MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals will continue to play an important role for Indiana for the remainder of the series as they now sit three wins away from a championship.

A lot of things went right for the Thunder in this game. They won the turnover matchup by a lot. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had a big night. Luguentz Dort and Alex Caruso were productive on both ends of the floor. However, one thing that sticks out is that Williams and Chet Holmgren (six points, six rebounds and one block in 24 minutes) didn’t step up as SGA’s co-stars. OKC has played well when Williams has it going and has struggled when he isn’t playing well. He’ll need to be better in Game 2 on Sunday to avoid going down 0-2.

Dort is one of the best defensive players in the league, and he made his presence felt in Game 1 of this series. He collected six defensive stats and knocked down a team-high five triples to provide Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with some help on the offensive end. Dort’s offensive output will likely be inconsistent moving forward, but he’s capable of knocking down shots when he needs to. However, he’ll continue to dominate on the defensive end every night.

Unsurprisingly, Caruso had his hands all over this game. This is why they traded for him. He was able to make an impact on both ends of the floor, and his 28 minutes were the most of any bench player and more than Chet Holmgren. Clearly, Caruso is going to be a big factor in this series for OKC. He’ll continue to make plays on both offense and defense for the remainder of the series, just as he has throughout the playoffs thus far.

In his Finals debut, SGA played like a superstar. He played like an MVP. However, he had two opportunities late in the game to get to 40 points and give OKC a win. The first one, he ended up passing to Jalen Williams, and he missed the second one, which led to the Pacers going down the court and winning the game. It could have been a signature moment, but now it’s just a great performance that will be forgotten about because of the result. Expect SGA to continue to put up big numbers for the rest of this series, especially in Game 2 on Sunday to avoid going down 0-2.

Somehow, some way, the Pacers completed yet another comeback to steal Game 1 of the Finals on the road. Haliburton nailed a mid-range jumper with 0.3 seconds remaining to give the Pacers the lead in the game and in the series. It wasn’t a spectacular game for him, and the entire team struggled offensively. However, they dominated the glass, and Haliburton was one of three Pacers to grab at least 10 rebounds as they outrebounded OKC 56-39. That helped make up for the Thunder winning the turnover matchup 24-6. It wasn’t a great game for either team, but Indiana came out on top. Game 2 will be on Sunday.

So far, the Thunder have used the same starting five for the entire postseason despite changing things up regularly throughout the regular season. However, Wallace will replace Isaiah Hartenstein in the starting unit to give OKC another strong perimeter defender and to match up better with Indiana’s frontcourt. Expect Hartenstein to still play a significant role off the bench.

Bradley and Thomas Bryant have taken turns filling out the backup center minutes in the postseason, and with Bradley available for Game 1 of the Finals, he could see a few minutes off the bench. However, he has only reached 10 minutes twice during Indiana’s playoff run. His presence won’t have a significant impact on the game.