This is an excerpt from The Buzzer, which is CBC Sports' daily email newsletter. Stay up to speed on what's happening in sports by subscribing her

If the basketball pundits, podcasters and gamblers are correct, the NBA Finals could be a bit of a snoozer.

Pretty much everybody in the media is picking the Oklahoma City Thunder to beat the Indiana Pacers, and most figure it'll be over in five or six games. The betting markets see a blowout too: a quick scan of some online books shows OKC listed as high as -700 to win the series, meaning you have to wager 700 bucks to win 100. The implied odds of the Thunder hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy are around 85 per cent.

This all tracks with what we've seen on the court over the last eight months. Oklahoma City dominated the regular season, going a league-best 68-14 (four wins better than anyone else) before sweeping Memphis, defeating three-time MVP Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets in seven and dispatching Minnesota in five to reach the Finals. The Thunder are the best defensive team in the NBA, they have a top-three offence and they're powered by a genuine superstar in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the league in scoring this season with 32.7 points per game and won the MVP award. Oh, and they're also one of the youngest teams in the league, so forget about them wearing down.

The Pacers are also young and quite good — just not as good as the Thunder. Led by veteran power forward Pascal Siakam (20.2 points, 6.9 rebounds) and 25-year-old point guard Tyrese Haliburton (18.6 points, 9.2 assists), Indiana went 50-32 to place eighth overall and fourth in the East. They've elevated their game in the playoffs, beating Giannis Antetokounmpo's Milwaukee Bucks and the top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in five before knocking off Jalen Brunson's New York Knicks in six to reach the Finals. Indiana has actually had a more efficient offence in the playoffs than OKC, but the Pacers rank just ninth defensively, and that's probably going to get them torched by the Thunder.

WATCH | 4 Canadians to follow in the NBA Finals:

4 Canadian basketball stars you can cheer for in the NBA Finals

The Toronto Raptors may be out of the season, but there's still plenty of Canadian talent to root for in the NBA Finals. CBC's Dwight Drummond spoke to the CEO of the Ontario Basketball Association to find out what fans need to know.

Having said all that, if you're a patriotic Canadian basketball fan, it's hard to imagine a better Finals matchup. Three of the 10 starters on the court for Game 1 tonight will hail from this country, while another Canadian could play a significant role off the bench.

Let's start with the starters. OKC's backcourt is all Canadian, featuring the aforementioned Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who just became the first Canadian to win the NBA MVP since Steve Nash two decades ago, and Lu Dort, a dogged perimeter defender who earned his first All-Defensive First Team selection. SGA is trying to become just the fourth player in league history to win the scoring title, the MVP and a championship in the same season, joining (heard of these guys?) Michael Jordan, Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Dort is averaging less than eight points a game in the playoffs, but his primary assignment is guarding the other team's best perimeter player. So look for him to lead the Thunder's efforts to frustrate Haliburton.

Starting at guard for Indiana alongside Haliburton is Canada's Andrew Nembhard. He was a prototypical college point guard at Florida and Gonzaga, where he set the all-time record for assists by a Canadian in NCAA Division I men's basketball before his younger brother Ryan broke it this year at Gonzaga. With Haliburton doing most of the ballhandling for the Pacers, Nembhard ranks second on the team with 5.1 assists per game in the playoffs while chipping in 12.8 points. He's also one of those guys that basketball experts will praise for doing the subtle things that help their team win but may not show up on the scoresheet.

WATCH | Thunder's Gilgeous-Alexander named 2025 NBA MVP:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 2nd Canadian to win NBA's MVP award | Hanomansing Tonight

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Oklahoma City Thunder star from Hamilton, has won the NBA's MVP award. He averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists and five rebounds per game. He was fifth in the MVP voting in 2023 and second last season. Find out what makes him such a special basketball player.

One of Indy's key reserves is Canada's Bennedict Mathurin, a scoring wing who was drafted sixth overall in 2022 and started a career-high 49 games this season while the team dealt with injuries. He averaged 16.1 points