If the last few seasons have not provided enough proof, the 2024/25 National Basketball Association postseason has provided definitive evidence that dynasties are dead, and parity is the new norm. The NBA will have a different champion for the seventh-straight year, something that has never happened in the history of the league and, of the four teams that made the Conference Finals, none have won a championship since the NBA/ABA merger in 1976 and only the New York Knicks can boast of ever winning the big game, but that was in 1973.

In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder and Minnesota Timberwolves are meeting for the first time in the conference finals. Minnesota is here for the second-straight year, having lost to the Dallas Mavericks last year, while Oklahoma City lost to Dallas in the conference semi-finals last season and their last trip to the conference final was in the 2015/16 season, where they lost to the Golden State Warriors. The Timberwolves have never been to a championship series, but the Thunder faced the Miami Heat, with LeBron James and Dwayne Wade, in the 2012 championship series, where they lost 1-4.

Being the winningest team in the NBA this season, Games 1 and 2 were played in Oklahoma City, with the home team taking both games. Game 1 being a 26-point advantage (114-88), with the Timberwolves made to look like minnows, while the margin in Game 2 was more respectable, 118-103. It is said that a play-off series doesn’t really begin until the visiting team steals a win and, as the series moved to Minnesota, the bookmakers predicted a win for the visitors, but what transpired in Game 3 went far left and way beyond reasonable expectations.

With the NBA’s Most Valuable Player and this season’s leading scorer, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, managing only 14 points, the Timberwolves took their opponents to the sword and put a 42-point drubbing on the JustBet favourites, a 143-101 score line. Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards and Julius Randle combined for 54 points, 30 and 24, respectively, in the shocker and kept the series in check, knowing that no one had yet secured an away win in the Western Conference Final. But that was about to change.

On Monday, May 26, Game 4 tipped off in Target Center, Minnesota and, riding high on their favourite-humbling victory two days prior, the Timberwolves had lofty expectations. Those expectations were savagely disintegrated after a 40-point output from Gilgeous-Alexander along with a combined 21 points from Edwards and Randle. The game was closely contested throughout, but the superior defence of the Oklahoma City players, particularly on Edwards, provided the push to get the Thunder over the bump and register a 128-126 win.

In the East, the Indiana Pacers battled their way into the conference final for the second-straight year, this time to renew a well-documented rivalry with the New York Knicks. Having been swept last year by the Boston Celtics, en route to their record-setting 18th championship title, the Pacers have obviously learned some lessons, and in quite opposing fashion from the parallel series in the West, they marched into Madison Square Gardens and ensured the series started on the right foot, their right foot.

The Pacers rocked New York in Games 1 and 2, taking both contests and evoked memories of Reggie Miller, when the rivalry had its genesis in the early 90s. The Knicks led by 17 points with a little under 6.5 minutes left to play in regulation in Game 1 and still had a nine-point lead with one minute on the clock, but that all disappeared after the heroics of Tyrese Haliburton, who forced overtime and contributed 31 points to lead the visitors to a 138-135 win. The NBA Clutch Player of the Year, Jalen Brunson, had 43 points, along with 35 from Karl Anthony-Towns, but that was all for nought.

Game 2, two nights later, saw Brunson drop a team-high 36, in a valiant effort, but that was nullified by 39 points from Pascal Siakam, and the depth and explosiveness of Indiana provided the catalyst necessary to carve out a 114-109 margin of victory, upsetting the bookmakers and creating a completely different outlook. Then, with their season in jeopardy, following the two disastrous losses, the Knicks marched into Indianapolis last Sunday and ensured that no home team had a win in the series, at least not yet. For the third time in this postseason, the Knicks overcame a 20-point deficit — they had two in the previous series against the Celtics — to pull out a 106-100 win. No other team in NBA play-off history had pulled off three 20-point, come-from-behind victories during the postseason, and all three came on the road.

Game 4 on Tuesday night, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, saw a home team finally win a game in the series. Despite Brunson and Anthony-Towns scoring 31 and 24 points, respectively, their gallant efforts couldn’t prevent the loss, and a triple-double from Haliburton (32 points, 12 rebounds,15 assists) sealed the 130-121 win.

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NBA 2024/25 Winner

Team Odds

Oklahoma City Thunder 1.26

Indiana Pacers 5.80

New York Knicks 26.00

Minnesota Timberwolves 40.00

*Note: Odds are subject to change