If the Thunder is the favorite of these NBA 2025 finals, the Pacers have the advantage of the experience, Pascal Siakam having been titled in 2019 with the Raptors … and Rick Carlisle Having already been champion as a coach.
The 65-year-old technician was at the head of the MAVS in 2011 when Dirk Nowitzki and his troop “sweep” the Lakers of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol in the conference semi-final, before dominating the Kevin Thunder Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden in the conference final. To then bring down LeBron James' Heat, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in the finals, in particular by frustrating the “King” like almost no other team …
Fourteen years later, here he is back in the finals, at the head of another franchise, the Pacers, and a completely different team, which plays much faster around Tyrese Haliburton.
Style change
For Rick Carlisle, who joined the top 10 of the most victorious coaches in Playoffs (83) during this “Postseason”, notably going beyond KC Jones (81), George Karl (80), Lenny Wilkens (80), Rick Adelman (79), Chuck Daly (75) and Don Nelson (75), it was Outside by the Mavericks four years ago.
And it especially shows the adaptability of the coach, which started on the bench in Detroit then Indiana in a very slow and defensive style, and which shines today with a very offensive game.
In the event of a final victory, he could even become the fourth coach to win the title with two different franchises. So far, alone Alex Hannum (St. Louis Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers), Pat Riley (Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat) and Phil Jackson (Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers) have already succeeded in such a feat.
