NBA insiders
The 2025 NBA conference finals have tipped off, with four teams fighting for a spot in the Finals.
The No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder took a commanding 2-0 series lead against the sixth-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in the West finals. But the Wolves, back at home for Game 3, posted a dominating win against Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and OKC behind Anthony Edwards’ 30-point performance.
In the East, the No. 4 seed Indiana Pacers took a 2-0 lead against the 3-seed New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. But the Knicks bounced back on the Pacers’ home court in Game 3 after a fourth-quarter surge from Karl-Anthony Towns.
As these elite teams face off, our NBA insiders break down their biggest takeaways from every matchup and what to watch for in both showdowns.
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Eastern Conference
Game 3: Knicks 106, Pacers 100
For three quarters Sunday night, both Karl-Anthony Towns individually and the Knicks collectively looked completely lost. Towns, one of the best scoring bigs in the league, had only four points and was hardly involved. New York, already down 2-0 and with its season hanging by a thread, had been routed for most of the contest and trailed by 10 points entering the fourth.
Then, out of nowhere, Towns took over with 20 fourth-quarter points — including 14 in the first four minutes — to help the Knicks escape with a victory and give New York a chance to even the series Tuesday night.
It only happened because Towns — the star the Knicks acquired on the eve of training camp last fall, the local kid who had an All-NBA season — delivered precisely the kind of moment a player with that résumé is expected to in a situation like this.
There was plenty of pressure on Towns coming into this game. His defensive struggles played a significant role in New York losing Game 2 on Friday night — and in coach Tom Thibodeau choosing to go with Mitchell Robinson in the starting lineup in place of Josh Hart to put another defensive big alongside him.
For much of the Game 3, it looked like Towns and the Knicks were going to be just a punchline. Instead, a fourth quarter for the ages became the latest moment in one of the NBA’s most storied rivalries, and it keeps New York’s NBA Finals dreams alive. — Tim Bontemps
Biggest takeaways for the Knicks:
All it took was the Knicks needing another 20-point comeback for them to get back into this series. All jokes aside, this was likely New York’s gutsiest win of the season given what was at stake.
Even with KAT’s incredible fourth-quarter run, there was no guarantee that Jalen Brunson would come through in the clutch with what turned out to be the game-winning bucket after sitting with five fouls until the 1:37 mark in the final period. A lot of players would not maintain enough rhythm to hit such a tough shot at that moment.
All of a sudden, the Knicks — after trailing by 20 in Game 3 — can spin the narrative to some extent. Their strategy to change the starting lineup left them in a better spot through one quarter than it did in the first two games of the series. Thibodeau got more players from his bench involved, perhaps giving him more options for the remainder of the series. Whatever confidence issues Towns had after two games — defensive or otherwise — should vanish after a stellar fourth that saved New York’s season. — Chris Herring
Biggest takeaways for the Pacers:
After the Pacers “got smashed” — to quote coach Rick Carlisle before Sunday’s Game 3 — by the Cleveland Cavaliers following victories in the first two games on the road in the conference semifinals, the question was whether Indiana would perform better with a chance to put this series out of reach against its long-standing rivals Sunday night.
For much of the game, the Pacers did. Despite not shooting the ball well, they largely shut down Towns and Brunson, and Indiana led by double digits for most of the middle portion of the contest. But after the Pacers stole Game 1 in New York, this one can only feel like Indiana allowed the Knicks to return the favor.
The Knicks had no business winning. And if they hadn’t, the Pacers could start preparing for the NBA Finals. Instead, the Knicks are now just 48 minutes away from tying the series and heading back to New York for what would be an incredible atmosphere in Madison Square Garden for Game 5.
The other thing to watch: Indiana forward Aaron Nesmith, a critical player in this series, sprained his right ankle in the third quarter and didn’t look great after returning in the fourth. With games coming every other day moving forward, his status and mobility will be a key storyline to watch. — Tim Bontemps
Game 4: Knicks at Pacers (Tuesday, 8 p.m. ET, TNT)
What to watch:
Towns deserves a ton of credit for his fourth-quarter burst. But the Knicks won Game 3 largely because of their defense, which held Indiana to 100 points after allowing 138 in Game 1 (125 in regulation) and 114 in Game 2.
With a chance to take a commanding 3-0 series lead, the Pacers suffered their worst shooting game of the playoffs, with their fewest 3-point makes, fewest attempts and lowest percentage. Entering Sunday, the Pacers were the hottest team in the playoffs, making 41% of their 3s; for context, among teams that won at least one round, nobody else was north of 36%. But in Game 3, Indiana shot just 5-for-25 from distance.
How much of that change is a credit to the Knicks’ defense versus mere flukish single-game luck could dictate who wins Game 4. Indiana probably won’t make just 20% of its 3s again — but only 25 attempts is a win for New York, which forced Indiana to take more than half its shots from the less-efficient midrange.
On the other end, a key for Game 4 is how Nesmith’s ankle recovers following his midgame sprain. After sitting for a long stretch of the second half, Nesmith returned for — and was ineffective in — crunch time. But if he is compromised going forward, Indiana could struggle to contain Brunson.
Nesmith isn’t just effective from the perimeter, as he demonstrated to great fanfare in Indiana’s Game 1 comeback. He also is the Pacers’ best option to defend Brunson. Through the first two games of the conference finals, the Knicks’ leading scorer had a 48% effective field goal mark when Nesmith was his primary defender, according to GeniusIQ tracking, versus 63% against Ben Sheppard and 73% against Andrew Nembhard.
Granted, Brunson had his worst game in weeks on Sunday, even as he largely went up against non-Nesmith defenders. But every other Knicks-Pacers playoff game dating back to last spring suggests Indiana’s other options can’t stick with Brunson as well as Nesmith can. — Zach Kram
Western Conference
Game 3: Timberwolves 143, Thunder 101
Biggest takeaways for the Timberwolves:
Facing an 0-2 series deficit in the Western Conference finals with his team’s third-quarter woes in Oklahoma City still fresh in his mind, Timberwolves coach Chris Finch presented a confident front before Game 3.
“We know what we have to do,” Finch said. “We have to avoid the five-minute meltdown.”
And the Wolves delivered.
As shaky as Minnesota looked during the Thunder’s 17-2 run in the third quarter of Game 1 and OKC’s 14-2 spurt in the third in Game 2, the Wolves made the Thunder look just as vulnerable virtually all night Saturday.
Minnesota led by 20 after the first quarter, 31 at halftime and 37 heading into the fourth before Thunder coach Mark Daigneault metaphorically waved the white flag (to match the sea of white T-shirts in the stands at Target Center) and pulled his starters.
Anthony Edwards (30 points on 12-for-17 shooting, 9 rebounds, 6 assists) single-handedly outscored the Thunder 16-14 in the opening frame, and the onslaught continued from there.
While Edwards rested to start the second quarter, Finch switched up his rotation by putting in rookie forward Terrence Shannon Jr. He immediately delivered with nine points in four minutes to extend Minnesota’s cushion — and smashed Shane Heal’s Wolves franchise record for points off the bench by a rookie in a postseason game (six on April 24, 1997, against Houston) by finishing with 15 on 5-for-8 shooting.
The Wolves flipped the script on almost everything that plagued them to start the series. They won the turnover battle, with just 10 miscues, compared to 15 for the Thunder. They found their range, shooting 20-for-40 from deep (50%) after going 26-for-90 on the road (28.8%). And Julius Randle, benched in the fourth quarter of Game 2 while struggling through a 2-for-11 shooting night, sat out the fourth quarter again Saturday with the win already in hand, thanks in part to his 24 points on 9-for-15 shooting.
Finch’s confidence figures to be even greater going into Monday’s Game 4. — Dave McMenamin
Biggest takeaways for the Thunder:
The Thunder got punched in the mouth and never recovered. This was the worst performance of the season for Oklahoma City. Compared to the Thunder’s 29-point deficit rally in their Game 3 against the Memphis Grizzlies, Oklahoma never seemed to generate any hope against the Wolves in Target Center. Coach Mark Daigneault pulled the plug with more than two minutes remaining in the third quarter, when the Timberwolves led by 40. SGA’s 14 points were his lowest total in any game this season — and still led OKC in this disappointing loss. — Tim MacMahon
Game 4: Thunder at Timberwolves (Monday, 8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN)
What to watch:
Will we ever get to see a close game in the Western Conference finals?
Through three games, the average margin of victory is 28 points; in the closest contest, Oklahoma City led by 22 after three quarters and won by 15. A combination of turnovers, cold shooting by the road team and home-court momentum has pushed all three games to blowouts, and Game 3 was the biggest one yet.
Game 4 should offer a prime opportunity for increased competitiveness. Humbled by their Game 3 shellacking, in which they came out flat and sloppy and paid the price, the Thunder should be more engaged, while the Timberwolves can hope to ride the Target Center crowd to another up-tempo win and a series tie.
One trend worth monitoring is whether home cooking continues to help Minnesota’s shooters while harming Oklahoma City’s. After making 20 of 40 3-point attempts Saturday, the Timberwolves are shooting 39% from distance at home in the playoffs, versus 32% on the road. (In the regular season, it was much more even: 38% at home and 37% on the road.)
Meanwhile, the Thunder have connected on just 27% of their 3-point attempts on the road in the postseason, versus 36% at home.
Shooting luck isn’t the only reason that Minnesota romped in Game 3; the Timberwolves were superior in every facet of the game. But if that luck regresses to the norm in Game 4, we might finally be in for a tense Western Conference finals contest, rather than another blowout. — Zach Kram