Head 1, Heart 0

 OK, so let's get this out there right from the top, as the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder prepare to face off in Game 1 of the NBA Finals tonight: I do not think the Pacers are going to win the title.

I think the Thunder is going to win it in five games.

I think the Thunder, who've been the best team in the league all season, have too many weapons, too much firepower, too many questions for which the Pacers will not have enough answers.

I think, in making this pick, I threw my heart into the ring with my head, and my head won. And so I hate my head now with the white-hot intensity of a thousand suns. 

However.

However, I also think this: If the Thunder don't win in five games, they'll have to go the full seven to clinch it.

I think this because I can't see the the Thunder hoisting the Big Trophy in Gainsbridge Fieldhouse, and not just because it would be sacrilege tantamount to Coach Dale not letting Jimmy Chitwood take the last shot. A bunch of johnny-come-latelys celebrating in the very beating heart of basketball? James Naismith forbid.

No, I think if the Thunder don't end it in Game 5 in Oke City, they're not going to do it in Indianapolis in Game 6. The Pacers, and all those baying Hoosier basketballheads, will not let them celebrate on their floor. Tyrese Haliburton will go off like a Roman candle. Pascal Siakam will drop a 30-spot. Aaron Nesmith will go 8-for-6 from distance or some such thing.

And the Thunder will have to save the champagne for their own fans. Which, if you think about it, is how it ought to be.

Of course, how it really ought to be is the Pacers winning it all in front of their fans. But that's a bridge too far for my head, if not for my heart.

Stupid head. Stupid, stupid head.