Germantas Kneita
Here at Pickswise, we have hit 2 straight NBA first basket best bets at +450 and +425 odds, and tonight we’re looking to make it 3 in a row in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals! If you’d have bet all of our first basket best bets during the 2025 NBA Playoffs, you’d be up +5.8 units! We’re now looking to continue this run at the start of the most important series of them all. The Oklahoma City Thunder have looked like title contenders from the opening tip of the season. While their opponents, the Indiana Pacers, have sprung a surprise to get this far, they seem to have discovered their form at the perfect time. Let’s get into our Pacers vs Thunder first basket best bet for tonight’s Game 1, while you can also get our NBA picks for EVERY NBA Finals game.
Find out my Pacers vs Thunder best bet for Game 1 — I’m up +45.4 units on my NBA game predictions this season!
Pacers vs Thunder first basket best bet: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (+700)
Odds available at bet365 at time of publishing.
In the regular season, Myles Turner and Isaiah Hartenstein both won the opening possession for their teams on 1 occasion each. However, the Thunder had much more success winning the opening tip overall during the season, doing it in 48% of their games as opposed to 30.6% by the Pacers. Turner continuously lost out in the previous series against the Knicks, giving them the opening possessions in all but one game. The hosts in this one have also been leading this postseason in defensive rating while the Pacers are just 9th in that category. Expect the Thunder to have more success getting stops early in this one.
No player between these teams has opened the scoring in a game more than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, having done so 13 times this season. No other player is in double digits. The Pacers have also given up the first basket in 2 straight games to Jalen Brunson, and it would not be surprising to see another point guard punish them from the beginning. The Thunder star is also a mid-range merchant and I expect him to go at Turner early in pick-and-roll action and open the scoring in the 2025 NBA Finals.
Lock in our Pacers vs Thunder Same Game Parlay for tonight at +310 odds, while you can also find out Pips’ best Pacers vs Thunder player prop bets
