NBA Finals guide: When the games are, how to watch, what the odds are

For the first time in 25 years, an NBA Finals game will be played in Indianapolis on Wednesday night.

Indiana plays host to Oklahoma City in Game 3 of the NBA Finals, with the series tied at a game apiece. The Pacers took Game 1, the Thunder responded in Game 2.

And now, it's the Pacers' turn to respond. Since mid-March, they're 9-0 in the game after a loss.

Game 4 is Friday night in Indianapolis.

Tuesday's NBA Finals news

— Game 3 preview

— Wemby is in China, studying with monks

Previous stories of note

— Pacers, back home, have things to figure out

— The moment is not too big for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander

— Don Nelson wins Chuck Daly Award and makes a Luka Doncic statement

— There's Canadian intrigue in these finals

— Tyrese Haliburton is Mr. Clutch

— In OKC, everybody must visit the memorial

— It's the Comeback Playoffs

— Commissioner Adam Silver talks parity, expansion, more

— Things to know about these NBA Finals

— The long, winding road for Rick Carlisle

— Players play for the trophy. Referees ref for the jacket

— Ashley Kerr wins a lot of titles. She's Mark Daigneault's wife

— The ratings might not be good. The NBA has 76 billion reasons not to worry

— In Seattle, the message is clear: 'Go Pacers'

The last time

The last NBA Finals game in Indianapolis before now was on June 16, 2000. The Pacers blew out the Los Angeles Lakers 120-87, despite the Lakers getting 35 points and 11 rebounds from Shaquille O'Neal.

Jalen Rose led the Pacers in that game with 32 points, and Reggie Miller added 25.

The Lakers went back to Los Angeles and won Game 6 to finish off the series, the first in a run for three straight titles for O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Moving on up

The win in Game 2 of the NBA Finals was Oklahoma City’s 81st of the season (68 regular season, 13 playoffs).

The Thunder won’t catch Golden State and its record 88 wins in 2015-16, nor will it catch Chicago and its 87 wins in 1995-96.

But the Thunder could move into a tie with the 1996-97 Bulls for No. 3 all-time for most wins in a season.

A look at where the Thunder are on the all-time wins list:

88 wins — Golden State, 2015-16

87 wins — Chicago, 1995-96

84 wins — Chicago, 1996-97

83 wins — Golden State, 2016-17

82 wins — Los Angeles Lakers, 1999-2000; Boston, 1985-86; Miami, 2012-13; Boston, 2007-08; Chicago, 1991-92.

81 wins — Oklahoma City, 2024-25; Los Angeles Lakers, 1971-72; Los Angeles Lakers, 2008-09.

Betting odds

Oklahoma City (-600) remains a big favorite to win the NBA title, according to BetMGM Sportsbook. Indiana's odds are now +425 after the Game 2 loss.

The Thunder are 5.5-point favorites over Indiana for Game 3.

The Pacers have covered in 12 of their first 18 games of these playoffs. The Thunder — favored in every game so far — have covered eight out of 18 times to this point.

NBA Finals schedule

All games of the NBA Finals will be aired on ABC.

June 5 — Game 1, Indiana 111, Oklahoma City 110

June 8 — Game 2, Oklahoma City 123, Indiana 107

Wednesday — Game 3, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT

Friday — Game 4, Oklahoma City at Indiana, 8:30 p.m. EDT

Monday — Game 5, Indiana at Oklahoma City, 8:30 p.m. EDT

June 19 — Game 6, Oklahoma City at Indiana, if necessary, 8:30 p.m. EDT

June 22 — Game 7, Indiana at Oklahoma City, if necessary, 8 p.m. EDT

(And good news: No NBA Finals games conflict with Stanley Cup Final dates!)

A close finals, geographically

The 688 miles by air between Oklahoma City and Indiana — by road, it is a bit longer — represents the shortest distance between finals cities in 69 years. That doesn’t count the bubble season, when the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat were in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, for the entirety of the 2020 finals.

The last time a between-cities finals trip was this short was 1956, with only 530 miles separating Fort Wayne and Philadelphia.

Other short finals trips, in air miles: Syracuse to Fort Wayne (489 miles, 1955), Rochester to New York (253 miles, 1951) and Baltimore to Philadelphia (90 miles, 1948).

The longest distance between finals cities was Boston to San Francisco for the 2022 finals; those cities are 2,704 miles apart by air. That’s just about 10 miles longer than Boston to Oakland, and about 100 miles longer than Boston to Los Angeles.

Under the current league format, the shortest possible distance between finals cities would be the 297 miles that separates Minnesota and Milwaukee. That’s just a bit shorter than Memphis-Atlanta (331) and Minnesota-Chicago (334).

Key upcoming events

June 25 — NBA draft, first round.

June 26 — NBA draft, second round.

SGA is the MVP

A recap of Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s winning of the NBA MVP award.

The story: Gilgeous-Alexander tops Jokic for MVP award

The reaction: SGA tears up when talking about his wife

Steve Nash speaks: Canada's 1st MVP thrilled to see SGA follow him

The notebook: Jokic finishes top-2 again, Giannis' streak ends, LeBron gets votes

Stats of the day

— History says that when the NBA Finals are tied 1-1, the Game 3 winner ultimately prevails 80.5% of the time. But not lately. This is the ninth finals to be tied 1-1 since 2011; in the last eight, the Game 3 winner actually has lost the finals five times.

— From the somebody's-got-to-win department: The Pacers (0-3) and Thunder (1-2) are a combined 1-5 in Game 3s in these playoffs entering Wednesday night. It's the first time the teams in the NBA Finals have been so bad in Game 3s since Houston (1-2 in Game 3s entering the game) beat New York (0-3 in Game 3s entering the game) in Game 3 of the 1994 finals.