Frank Sawyer

At 8:35 PM ET on Monday, we will be playing the Indiana Pacers (509) plus the points versus the Oklahoma City Thunder (510) in Game Five of the NBA Finals. THE SITUATION: Indiana (63-38) has lost two of the last three games in this series after their 111-104 loss to the Thunder as a 6-point underdog on Friday. Oklahoma City (81-210 evened this series at 2-2 with the victory.

REASONS TO TAKE THE PACERS PLUS THE POINTS: Indiana only made 42.5% of their shots which was the worst shooting effort in their last five contests. The Pacers have bounced back to cover the point spread in 24 of their last 29 games after a straight-up loss at home. They have also covered the point spread in 14 of their last 23 games when playing for the second time in five days including seven of those 11 games played on the road. Indiana should keep being very competitive in this crucial fifth game of this series since they have been reliable road warriors all season. The Pacers have covered the point spread in 16 of their last 24 games on the road with the Total set in the 220s — and they have covered the point spread in 6 of their last 9 games in the postseason. Additionally, they have covered the point spread in 18 of their last 29 games on the road as an underdog. Oklahoma City played their best game on defense in their last five contests. The Thunder remain nearly double-digit favorites tonight because of their season-long efficiency numbers — but I suspect those numbers are overvalued when they are playing on their home court. After leading the NBA in the regular season by nailing 37.4% of their shots from behind the arc, they rank 13th of the 16 playoff teams with a 34.0% mark from 3-point range. No one embodies this step back in production more for the Thunder than Chet Holmgren who may be playing through an injury at this point of the season. After shooting 49.0% from the field with a 37.9% clip from behind the arc in the regular season, he is only making 30.1% of his 3s in the postseason. In this series, Holmgren is hitting only 40.9% of his shots and has made only 1 of his 11 attempts from distance. What is also striking is Oklahoma City’s decreased reliance on shooting 3s. After averaging 38.8 shots per game from behind the arc in the regular season, they are taking 35.2 shots per game from 3-point range in the postseason. In this series, they are only taking 26.6 shots per game from distance and trending strongly in the south direction in that category. After taking 30 and 36 shots from behind the arc in Games One and Two, they only took 22 shots from 3-point land in Game Three before bottoming out with a 3 of 16 performance on Friday. Credit goes to the Indiana defense which is doing a great job in swarming defenders to push the Thunder away from the 3-point line. After ranking ninth in the NBA in opponent 3-point shot attempts per game, the Pacers rank sixth in the postseason by surrendering only 33.8 shots from behind the arc per game — and they rank fifth in the playoffs with their opponents making only 33.9% of these shots. Oklahoma City pulled out Game Four by outscoring Indiana by +14 points in the paint. They also got to the line 38 times and converted on 34 of those shots — led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who made all ten of his free throw attempts. The Thunder got some friendly whistles in Game Four — and that is not likely to play out the same in Game Five. Furthermore, Oklahoma City has failed to cover the point spread in 4 of their 5 playoff games under head coach Mark Daigneault when the series was tied.

FINAL TAKE: The Pacers have covered the point spread in 12 of their last 16 opportunities to avenge a loss at home including seven of those eight games played on the road. 8* NBA Indiana-Oklahoma City ABC-TV Special with the Indiana Pacers (509) plus the points versus the Oklahoma City Thunder (510). Best of luck for us — Frank.

At 8:35 PM ET on Monday, we will be playing Under the Total in the game between the Indiana Pacers (509) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (510) in Game Five of the NBA Finals. THE SITUATION: Indiana (63-38) has lost two of their last three games after their 111-104 loss at home to the Thunder as a 6-point underdog on Friday. Oklahoma City (81-21) evened this series at 2-2 with the victory.

REASONS TO TAKE UNDER THE TOTAL: This has been a lower-scoring series than expected — and I think the books and/or the market continue to be too slow to react. Granted, Game One of this series saw the Total in the 231-point range — but that was largely based on regular season numbers that do not seem nearly as applicable now in June, especially in a Game Five of a championship series that is tied at two games apiece. Three of the four games in this series have finished Under the Total with the only Over resulting from 230 combined points. The other three games of this series have seen 221, 223, and 215 combined points scored — all below the number set for Game Five. For Oklahoma City, the analytics-driven scoring attack that ranked third in the league in the regular season by scoring 119.2 points per 100 adjusted possessions has not been the same in the postseason where they are scoring 115.3 points per 100 adjusted possessions, which would fall to tenth in the NBA if applied to the regular season. Much of this decline comes from their drop in 3-point shooting. After leading the NBA in the regular season by nailing 37.4% of their shots from behind the arc, they rank 13th of the 16 playoff teams with a 34.0% mark from 3-point range. No one embodies this step back in production more for the Thunder than Chet Holmgren who may be playing through an injury at this point of the season. After shooting 49.0% from the field with a 37.9% clip from behind the arc in the regular season, he is only making 30.1% of his 3s in the postseason. In this series, Holmgren is hitting only 40.9% of his shots and has made only 1 of his 11 attempts from distance. What is also striking is Oklahoma City’s decreased reliance on shooting 3s. After averaging 38.8 shots per game from behind the arc in the regular season, they are taking 35.2 shots per game from 3-point range in the postseason. In this series, they are only taking 26.6 shots per game from distance and trending strongly in the south direction in that category. After taking 30 and 36 shots from behind the arc in Games One and Two, they only took 22 shots from 3-point land in Game Three before bottoming out with a 3 of 16 performance on Friday. Credit goes to the Indiana defense which is doing a great job in swarming defenders to push the Thunder away from the 3-point line. After ranking ninth in the NBA in opponent 3-point shot attempts per game, the Pacers rank sixth in the postseason by surrendering only 33.8 shots from behind the arc per game — and they rank fifth in the playoffs with their opponents making only 33.9% of these shots. Oklahoma City pulled out Game Four by outscoring Indiana by +14 points in the paint. They also got to the line 38 times and converted on 34 of those shots — led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander who made all ten of his free throw attempts. The Thunder got some friendly whistles in Game Four — and that is not likely to play out the same in Game Five. It is telling that OKC has generated only 109.5 adjusted points per 100 possessions in the last two games of this series. What should continue is the Thunder’s outstanding play on the other end of the court. After leading the league with an Adjusted Defensive Efficiency of 106.6, they have been even better in the postseason with a 105.7 mark. They have held their playoff opponents to 43.5% shooting which has resulted in just 107.0 Points-Per-Game. Head coach Mark Daigneault’s fourth quarter adjustment on Friday was to shift Lu Dortz on to the primary Indiana ball-handler — and that helped to limit the Pacers to just 17 points in the final 12 minutes. Oklahoma City has played 23 of their last 37 home games Under the Total after a win on the road. They have played 18 of their 31 playoff games Under the Total since Daigneault took over — and they have played 4 of those 5 playoff games Under the Total when the series was tied. Indiana has played 4 of their last 6 road games Under the Total when playing with two days of rest. Another reason that the Thunder’s scoring is down is because the Pacers are not giving them as many fast break scoring opportunities in transition off of turnovers where OKC thrives. After turning the ball over 24 times in Game One, Indiana has just 15, 13, and 15 turnovers in the last three games. Head coach Rick Carlisle has done a fantastic job in forcing the Thunder into being a half-court offense that is not shooting 3s. Maybe Oklahoma City can still win the championship with that approach and win two more games like they won Game Four — but that is not the formula for games to see 220 or more combined points. Granted, Carlisle will want his team to continue to push the pace to wear out what is becoming a shorter Thunder rotation. But Indiana only scored 109 PPG in the first two games of this series at Oklahoma City which is more than six points below their 115.1 PPG scoring average in the postseason. Role players tend to not shoot as well in hostile environments — especially in the playoffs — so getting another 27-point effort from Benjamin Mathurin as he did in Game Three at home or even Obi Toppin’s 17 points in Game Four at home is probably not in the cards to help out Tyrese Haliburton and Pascal Siakam.

FINAL TAKE: In Carlisle’s head coaching career, his teams have played 16 of their 24 Game Fives of a playoff series Under the Total — including all three games with Indiana when playing on the road. Carlisle’s teams have also played 19 of their 32 playoff games Under the Total when the series was tied — and his teams have played 7 of their 10 games Under the Total in the NBA Finals. 25* NBA Total of the Year with Under the Total in the game between the Indiana Pacers (509) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (510). Best of luck for us — Frank.