Two teams remain, one was a slam dunk, and one was from beyond half-court.

The Oklahoma City Thunder opened the year as favourites to win the West ( 330) and never let up.

However, they weren’t favoured to win the chip until mid-March, where they leapt over the Boston Celtics as they were gunning for 70 wins.

With the gift of retrospect, NBA fans should have saw the signs given OKC’s all-time best net rating in the regular season.

In the East, few would’ve penciled the Indiana Pacers in for a second franchise Finals appearance.

They opened the season at 5000 to win the chip and it’s not as if their odds improved as the season progressed.

At their peak, the Pacers were available at 15000 after the All-Star break to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

A lot of breaks have gone their way, but their path to the finals deserves more credit.

Not a single series of theirs has gone to seven.

Moneyline bettors got them at plus-money in seven of their 12 wins.

With so many eyes on the final two teams, it’s hard to find any true edge in terms of bets.

Let me go through my standard three predictions per series and highlight some specific markets available on FanDuel.

Thunder

Series Prediction – Thunder in 5 ( 210)
Best Bet – Tyrese Haliburton under 9.5 assist per game (-186)
Favourite Longshot – Aaron Nesmith most threes ( 390)

I’ll continue with the trend of doubting the Pacer. I don’t think they’ve faced a team as defensively sound as the Thunder.

I’ve been on record criticizing the voters for anointing Evan Mobley as Defensive Player of the Year.

Indiana’s dismantling of them on the offensive end is further proof that Cleveland was not sound defensively.

Up against OKC, Indy face their first team with zero defensive weaknesses.

So much of their........

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