AILSA CHANG, HOST:
We'll see one of the most high stakes moments in sports this Sunday, Game 7 of the NBA Finals. The Indiana Pacers kept hope alive last night with an epic win against the Oklahoma City Thunder. With so much riding for both teams, we called up Mike Vorkunov from The Athletic, who's been following the games closely. Welcome back to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, Mike.
MIKE VORKUNOV: Thank you for having me on again. I appreciate it.
CHANG: We appreciate you. OK, so I have to say, like, a lot of people thought this matchup of these two small market teams would be kind of boring, right? But instead, there's been all this great basketball so far. And this is, if I'm correct, the first Game 7 in nine years. What do you think the viewership is going to be like on Sunday?
VORKUNOV: I think a lot of basketball fans thought this would be a short coronation for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who were the best team in the NBA all year. Instead, we've gotten just an exquisite series that's now been pushed to seven games, a very rare Game 7. Viewership has been low for the finals so far. I think it's - I haven't checked the numbers for Game 6, if they've come out yet, but, you know, through the first five games, I believe it was the lowest-rated or very close to the lowest-rated NBA Finals that hadn't happened during a pandemic season. But people usually do tune in to Game 7. You can see sometimes that a Game 7 attracts maybe even as - twice as many people as who watched a Game 1.
CHANG: OK, well, as you were saying, the Thunder - they were favored to win, and no one really had the Pacers making it even to the finals. Now it's 3-3. So who is the underdog here, exactly? What do you think?
VORKUNOV: I think the Pacers are still the underdog. You know, they did come in as the pretty big underdog coming into the series, and Game 7 will be in Oklahoma City, so the Thunder do have home-court advantage. Teams that are playing at home in Game 7 in the finals are 15 and 4 in NBA history. But the way this series has gone, it's not going to be a shock if the Pacers pull it out.
CHANG: Well, can you just explain, how have the Pacers been able to hold their own against Oklahoma?
VORKUNOV: They've done it in a number of ways. You know, one, their style of play is just - one, it's so fun to watch, but also it's - it kind of works very well against how the Thunder like to play. They like to get up and down the court quickly. They play fast. They like to push tempo. They get up a lot of threes. The Thunder, who do not shoot as many threes, you know, kind of fall into a math problem against that. And the Pacers just this - have this kind of, like, team style of play where they do have some stars like Tyrese Halliburton and Pascal Siakam, but anyone can contribute on any given night, and the ball can find so many shooters, all of them who can make shots, and that's worked against the Thunder and their, like, really, you know, sharklike style of defense, which has just obliterated the other teams it's faced this season.
CHANG: OK, the question you know I am going to ask you because both teams here have a chance to earn their very first title ever on Sunday - so who do you see taking this one?
VORKUNOV: Ah, man, predictions are just a downfall waiting to happen.
CHANG: (Laughter).
VORKUNOV: You know, I'll...
CHANG: Let's assume the opposite of what you say is actually what's going to happen.
VORKUNOV: Yeah. Look, I'll make the easy prediction, which is, I still think it's gonna be Oklahoma City. They won 68 games during the regular season. They're playing at home. They have the reigning MVP, the best player in the league this season. Those are usually the right conditions to win a game like this. But, you know, the Pacers have just been so tough all series long. And if it stays tight late, you know, the Pacers have shown these entire playoffs that they are the team who are best equipped to win that kind of game.
CHANG: That was Mike Vorkunov from The Athletic. Thank you so much for coming on today.
VORKUNOV: Ah, thanks for having me. I hope we can all enjoy a great game. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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