NBA-Thunder cap incredible season by beating Pacers in Game 7 to win NBA Finals
The Oklahoma City Thunder capped an extraordinary season by defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday to win the franchise's first title since relocating from Seattle in 2008.
League MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the scoring in front of a raucous home crowd at Oklahoma City's Paycom Center with 29 points and 12 assists.
He was also crowned the best player of the Finals, marking the first time since Shaquille O'Neal in 2002 that the same player had won the scoring title, regular season and Finals MVP honors.
The Pacers suffered a huge blow early on when they lost star point guard Tyrese Haliburton midway through the first quarter with an Achilles injury and saw their title hopes dashed by a stifling Oklahoma City defense in the second half.
"It doesn't feel real," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "So many hours, so many moments, so many emotions, so many nights of disbelief, so many nights of belief.
"This group works hard. This group put in the hours and we deserve this," he added.
The championship capped an extraordinary run for the Thunder, who ended the regular season with a 68-14 record, good for the fifth-most wins in a single NBA season.
The Finals between two small-market teams was light on star power but delivered on thrills, as the surprise Eastern Conference champions Pacers pushed the best team in the league to the winner-take-all finale.
The Pacers got off on the right track as Haliburton drained his third three-pointer five minutes into the game but the night took a terrible turn for Indiana when he slipped and fell two minutes later.
The two-time All Star was in tears as his team's medical staff rushed to his side and a hush fell over the building packed with Oklahoma City fans.
Haliburton was helped to the locker room but did not return, and while there was no official update from the team a TV broadcast reported he had suffered an Achilles injury.
The resilient Pacers kept the game tight through a physical second quarter, putting up a terrific defensive effort to end the half up by one.
However, the Thunder took soon control with Gilgeous-Alexander, who went 0-5 behind the arc in the first half, lighting the fuse with a 25-foot three-point jumpshot four minutes into the third quarter.
The Pacers were masters of the late comeback in the postseason but without Haliburton they were unable to claw back the deficit with the Thunder opening the fourth quarter with a 9-0 run.
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Straits Times
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Straits Times
5 hours ago
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes just the fourth player in history to win NBA regular season and NBA Finals Most Valuable Player honours, as well as the league's scoring title. PHOTO: EPA-EFE Oklahoma City – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander believes Oklahoma City's National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals triumph could be the beginning of a golden era for him and his youthful Thunder teammates. The Thunder completed a 4-3 series victory over the Indiana Pacers on June 22, powering to a 103-91 win at the Paycom Centre to seal the franchise's first title since moving to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008. For Gilgeous-Alexander, the win completed a dazzling season that saw him become just the fourth player in history to win NBA regular season and NBA Finals Most Valuable Player honours, as well as the league's scoring title. 'It's hard to believe that I'm part of that group. It's hard to even fathom that I'm that type of basketball player sometimes,' he said after Game 7. 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' Throughout a regular season campaign that saw them compile a franchise record 68-win season, the obvious bond between Oklahoma City's players emerged as a feature of their march to the title. Post-game television interviews on-court invariably became joyous, spontaneous team-bonding sessions, with Gilgeous-Alexander joined by several teammates as they celebrated yet another win. 'Our togetherness on and off the court, like how much fun we have, it made it so much easier,' Gilgeous-Alexander said. 'It made it feel like we were just kids playing basketball. It was so fun.' The Thunder's head coach Mark Daigneault – himself a relatively youthful 40 – said his team had successfully blended steel and selflessness. 'They behave like champions, they compete like champions,' Daigneault said. 'They root for each others' success, which is rare in professional sports. 'I've said it many times and I'll say it one more time – this is an uncommon team and now they're champions.' Gilgeous-Alexander scored 29 points and handed out a career playoff high 12 assists and the Thunder's swarming defense finally proved to much for a Pacers team that lost talisman Tyrese Haliburton to a leg injury just seven minutes into the contest. Jalen Williams scored 15 of his 20 points in the second half and Chet Holmgren added 18 points, eight rebounds, a steal and five of the Thunder's eight blocked shots. Gilgeous-Alexander's Finals-Regular Season MVP double puts him into an exclusive club of only 11 players to have achieved the feat which comprises LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Hakeem Olajuwon, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Willis Reed. Only three other players – Abdul-Jabbar, Jordan and O'Neal – have also added the league's scoring title in the same season. But for Gilgeous-Alexander, the individual milestones pale in comparison to the collective success. 'All the achievements and accolades and things, they don't even come close to the satisfaction of winning with your brothers and people that you are so close to and want to succeed just as much as you want yourself to succeed,' he said. 'That's been the most impressive and fun part of it – just to know that I have 15 brothers that I just experienced a once-in-a-lifetime experience with. 'I'll never forget them, they'll never forget me.' The No. 11 overall pick by the Charlotte Hornets in the 2018 draft, the Canadian was traded on draft night to the Los Angeles Clippers. After his rookie season, the Clippers shipped the Kentucky product to Oklahoma City in a package for Paul George, tipping the first domino in what would become one of the league's most successful rebuilds. Gilgeous-Alexander was a fringe All-Star calibre player for three seasons, in two of which the Thunder won fewer than 30 games, until he burst into the forefront of the NBA in the 2022-23 season, averaging 31.4 points per game. Last season, he was the runner-up for MVP gong while Oklahoma City fell short of a title in a second-round exit. A year later, Gilgeous-Alexander hoisted the first Larry O'Brien and Finals MVP trophies that Oklahoma City has ever seen. AFP, REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
