Helena Frye
The NBA Finals for the 2024-25 season are set to begin on Thursday, June 5, 2025, with Game 1 featuring the Indiana Pacers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA finals are best-of-seven in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, with the team boasting the better record hosting Games 1, 2, 5, and 7 (if necessary). The 2024 NBA Finals saw the Boston Celtics claim their 18th Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy by defeating the Dallas Mavericks.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Date | Thursday, June 5, 2025 |
| Teams | Indiana Pacers vs Oklahoma City Thunder |
| Time | 8:30 p.m. ET |
| Location | Oklahoma City |
| Channels | ABC, ESPN, TNT, truTV, ESPN+, MAX |
| Playoffs Start Date | Saturday, April 19, 2025 |
| Conference Semi-Finals Start Date | May 5-6, 2025 |
| Conference Finals Start Date | May 20-21, 2025 |
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What You'll Learn
The 2025 NBA finals schedule
The 2024-25 NBA season will conclude with the 2025 NBA Finals, which will be played between the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers and the Western Conference champion Oklahoma City Thunder. The best-of-seven series is scheduled to begin on June 5, with a possible Game 7 on June 22. The Thunder will have home-court advantage in the Finals.
- Game 1: Pacers at Thunder (Thursday, June 5, 8:30 ET, ABC)
- Game 2: Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 8, 8 ET, ABC)
- Game 3: Thunder at Pacers (Wednesday, June 11, 8:30 ET, ABC)
- Game 4: Thunder at Pacers (Friday, June 13, 8:30 ET, ABC)
- Game 5: Pacers at Thunder (Monday, June 16, 8:30 ET, ABC)
- Game 6: Thunder at Pacers (Thursday, June 19, 8:30 ET, ABC)
- Game 7: Pacers at Thunder (Sunday, June 22, 8 ET, ABC)
- if necessary
The 2025 NBA Finals will be presented by YouTube TV, with ABC as the exclusive broadcaster. The Thunder are the favourites to win their first NBA championship, with the Pacers also defying expectations to reach the Finals. Both teams traded former star player Paul George, with the trade yielding their current best players, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Tyrese Haliburton. The Thunder are the youngest team to make the NBA Finals since the 1977 Portland Trail Blazers and had their best season in franchise history, finishing 68-14. The Pacers' season was more turbulent, with star point guard Tyrese Haliburton experiencing personal struggles.
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Where to watch the NBA finals
The NBA Finals can be watched in a variety of ways, both online and on television. The official broadcast partner for the NBA Finals is ABC, so you can watch the games on TV or online through the ABC website and app. Additionally, the games are also available on ESPN Radio, ESPN Deportes, and the ESPN App.
For a more comprehensive viewing experience, you can subscribe to the NBA League Pass, which offers live games, replays, and highlights. The League Pass is available through the NBA App on iOS, VisionOS, Android, Android TV, Apple TV, Xbox One, Xbox Series X (in select countries), Roku (in select countries), Chromecast, Amazon Fire TV, Fire Stick, Hisense, Comcast, PlayStation 4 and 5 (in select countries), and Peloton. You can also stream online at NBA.com on your desktop. With the NBA League Pass, subscribers can choose from different viewing options, such as home and away broadcasts, mobile view, and alternate camera angles. League Pass Premium subscribers also get access to exclusive features like in-arena streams during halftime and game breaks, as well as the ability to download full-length games and recaps to watch offline on Android and iOS devices.
It's worth noting that nationally broadcast games are typically not available to watch live on the NBA League Pass and will be available to watch 3 hours after the game. Similarly, locally televised games in your area may not be accessible live and will be available to watch 3 days after the game.
So, whether you're tuning in through the official broadcast partner ABC, utilizing the NBA League Pass for a more immersive experience, or catching the action through ESPN's radio and digital platforms, there are numerous options available to watch the NBA Finals and enjoy the excitement of basketball's premier championship series.
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The 2024 NBA finals results
The 2024 NBA Finals saw the Boston Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks with a final score of 4-1, winning their first championship since 2008 and their 18th championship overall. The series started on June 6 and concluded on June 17.
The Celtics' star tandem of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, who was named Finals MVP, led the team in points, rebounds, and assists. Derrick White also proved to be an ultimate utility player for the Celtics, and Al Horford won his first title in his 17th season.
The Mavericks, led by superstar Luka Dončić, reached their third NBA Finals and their first in 13 years. However, they struggled to find easy shots against the Celtics and were unable to overcome their dominant season.
This was the first playoff meeting between the Celtics and the Mavericks, as well as the third time the Celtics played a team from Texas in the Finals. The victory marked the Celtics' 18th NBA championship, the most of any franchise, and their first since 2008.
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The NBA play-in tournament
Some critics have argued that the play-in tournament ensures that only genuinely bad teams will miss the postseason, meaning that good teams never really need to worry about their standings. However, since the inception of the 7-10 seed play-in format in 2021, the 7th seed has always made it into the playoffs, while the 10th seed has only done so once.
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The NBA finals format
The NBA Finals is the annual championship series of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Eastern and Western Conference champions play a best-of-seven series to determine the league champion. The team that wins the series is awarded the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy.
The NBA Finals was initially structured in a 2–2–1–1–1 format. In 1985, to ease the amount of cross-country travel, it was changed to a 2–3–2 format, in which the first two and last two games of the series were played at the arena of the team with the better record during the regular season. In 2014, the 2–2–1–1–1 format was restored. The team with the better regular season record hosts the first two games and the other team hosts the next two games. If needed, the remaining three are played at each team's home arena alternately, starting with the team with the better regular season record.
Six teams from each of the two conferences automatically advance to the playoffs based on the regular season winning percentage. As of 2021, those teams finishing seventh through tenth from each conference compete in the play-in tournament to determine the final two playoff seeds. The playoffs culminate with the NBA Finals, where both conference champions from the NBA conference finals play each other. The top six teams in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference, ranked by winning percentage, directly advance to the playoffs. Teams ranked seventh through tenth compete in the NBA play-in tournament for the seventh and eighth seeds.
In 1984, the tournament expanded to its present 16-team, four-round knockout, and the now-complete set of first-round series was expanded to a best-of-five. In 2003, the first round was changed to also be best-of-seven. Beginning with the 2004 season, with the addition of the 30th NBA franchise, the Charlotte Bobcats, the NBA realigned its divisions. The result was that each conference would have three divisions of five teams each, and the winner of each division was guaranteed a top-three playoff seed.
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Frequently asked questions
The NBA finals start on Thursday, June 5, 2025.
There are seven games in the NBA finals, but only the first five are played if one team wins the first four out of five games.
All NBA finals games are televised and can be found on the league's NBA TV app. They can also be found on ABC, ESPN, TNT, and truTV.
