The Two Hardest-Playing Teams in the NBA: A Breakdown of the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers Finals Matchup

OKLAHOMA CITY – The NBA Finals are here, and the stage is set for a matchup between two of the league's most exciting teams: the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Some see this as the "small-market" Finals, while others refer to it as the "fiscal" Finals – a rare championship matchup between non-luxury-tax-paying teams. On the court, it's a showdown between two of the league's best guards, Thunder MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Pacers All-Star Tyrese Haliburton. But how these teams reached this point, just four victories from a title, can also be captured in a different way. "It's the two hardest-playing teams in the NBA," a Western Conference coach told NBC News. Since Jan. 1, the Thunder has had the NBA's best record, and the Pacers have had the second-best. In large part, this is due to their frenetic pace and pressure that has blitzed the rest of the league. The Thunder's harassing defense has become one of the best in playoff history at forcing steals. Indiana, meanwhile, plays as if driven to push the ball upcourt as fast as possible. It's common for teams to play fast off opponents' turnovers and missed shots, but the Pacers have lived up to their name by running hard even after made baskets, creating flurries of scoring opportunities that have knocked off the Eastern Conference's No. 1 (Cleveland) and No. 3 (New York) seeds en route to the team's first Finals appearance in 25 years. The Pacers are "organized chaos," said a scout for a Western Conference team. "They suck you into their style of play, where it's not going to be a lot of defense but they're just going to race the ball up and down the court, spread you out, shoot 3s, get to the basket, try to turn you over and just get in a rat race type of game." Oklahoma City, which won 68 regular-season games to earn the West's top seed, was a heavy favorite to reach the Finals all season, even though it had the second-youngest roster ever to do so. The Thunder ranked No. 1 in defense during both the regular season and the postseason, owing to their phalanx of strong defenders. The challenge begins beyond the 3-point arc, where Lu Dort was successful during Oklahoma City's 2-0 record against Indiana during the regular season at limiting how often Haliburton touched the ball. The rim, meanwhile, is protected by Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren. Haliburton called the Thunder "historically great on both sides of the ball" on Wednesday. "This is the best team in the NBA," he said. "It's been the best team in the NBA all year. They're well-coached. They just do everything so well. There's no shortcuts to beating this team." Beating Indiana will require Oklahoma City to do the one thing no one has yet to do consistently – force the Pacers to beat themselves. Indiana's preferred pace is fast, yet it rarely turns the ball over. In the postseason, Indiana has gone 6-2 on the road by owning the highest road assist-to-turnover ratio, and it has assisted on a playoff-high 65% of its baskets because it plays lineups often with five players capable of hitting 3-pointers, including center Myles Turner, whose ability to shoot "always messes teams up from a matchup perspective," a West coach said.