Latest news with #NBAChampionship
News18
8 hours ago
- Sport
- News18
OKC Thunder's Jalen Williams Scripts Unwanted NBA History In Blowout Game 6 Loss vs Pacers
Last Updated: Williams had a historic low in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with a -40 +/- as the Thunder lost 108-91 to the Pacers. The series is now tied 3-3, with Game 7 set for Sunday. From scoring a whopping 40 points in Game 5 to registering a dismal -40 +/- total today, the OKC Thunder's Jalen Williams had a historic night in Indiana he'd like to forget as soon as possible. A hobbled Haliburton, backed by his relentless Pacers teammates, dismantled the SGA-led Thunder in a 108-91 blowout win in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on Thursday, forcing a Game 7 for the winner to take all the spoils. Hundreds of confident Oklahoma City fans who flocked to the Paycom Center expecting to celebrate the Thunder's first NBA championship on Thursday night headed for the exits when their team fell behind by 30 points. Williams couldn't replicate his success from Game 5, finishing with just 16 points, 3 rebounds, and a staggering plus-minus of -40 — the worst in NBA Finals history, according to Basketball Reference. The previous record of -38 was held by Jrue Holiday, set during last year's Finals when he was with the Boston Celtics in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks. For comparison's sake, Williams was a game-high +14 in his much-discussed Game 5 masterpiece. The Thunder brought a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series into Game 6 in Indianapolis, only for everything to go wrong, as superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was left dismayed. Yet, all that he could do was watch helplessly as Pascal Siakam slam-dunked an exclamation point of a bucket onto his head. Till Game 6, the 24-year-old Williams had averaged 25.8 PPG, 5.6 RPG, and 4.2 APG this series, with his rise in the last three games having elevated the Thunder to astronomical levels. Yet, it seems like they have still fallen one step short of a much-craved NBA Championship, and when the lights shone the brightest, Williams folded in the worst of fashions. 'We didn't do a good job trusting each other to make the next play like we did Game 5," Williams expounded in a post-game conference. 'That starts with me being better.. Good news is we have another game to figure it out." One can expect Williams and co. to regain their mojo back home when the Thunder and the Pacers set out to script history for their franchises in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, scheduled to take place this coming Sunday. First Published: June 20, 2025, 13:45 IST
Washington Post
8 hours ago
- Sport
- Washington Post
Thunder fans expecting to celebrate NBA title see hopes dashed as Indiana forces Game 7
OKLAHOMA CITY — Hundreds of confident Oklahoma City fans who flocked to the Paycom Center expecting to celebrate the Thunder's first NBA championship on Thursday night headed for the exits when their team fell behind by 30 points. The Thunder brought a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series into Game 6 in Indianapolis, and Indiana's star guard, Tyrese Haliburton, was hobbled. Thunder fans with high hopes watched the game together on the big screen at Oklahoma City's home arena.
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
LeBron James Sends 5-Word Message on Cavaliers' NBA Championship Anniversary
LeBron James Sends 5-Word Message on Cavaliers' NBA Championship Anniversary originally appeared on Athlon Sports. During LeBron James' second stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he finally brought an NBA championship to his hometown team. In what was his third title run and in earning his third NBA Finals MVP, James led Cleveland to a championship for the first time in the modern era. Advertisement The previous championship before the Cavaliers' 2016 title was the NFL's Cleveland Browns, who won an NFL championship in 1964, before the league's Super Bowl era. On Thursday, the 21-time NBA All-Star shared a picture noting the ninth anniversary of himself and his Cavaliers' teammates celebrating their Finals win with a caption that read, "WHAT A TIME IT WAS!!" LeBron James celebrates the June 19th anniversary of the Cleveland Cavaliers' NBA James averaged 26.3 points, 9.5 rebounds, 7.6 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game during the 2015-16 playoffs. In his first stint with the Cavaliers from 2003 to 2010, James was unable to win a title in Cleveland. In those seven seasons, James won several individual awards like Rookie of the Year and MVP, but the closest Cleveland came to winning was in his second season. Advertisement Led by a 22-year-old James, the Cavs were swept 4-0 by the San Antonio Spurs. After "The Decision," which saw James take "his talents to South Beach" over four seasons, the NBA superstar would return to Cleveland to complete the unfinished business of winning a title. Now 40 years old and a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, James has accumulated one of the most outstanding resumes in sports history. He is a four-time NBA champion, four-time NBA Finals MVP, four-time NBA MVP, and has been a member of the All-NBA First Team 13 times. Related: Draymond Green Doesn't Hold Back on LeBron James' Strong Statement Related: Stephen A. Smith Suggests NBA Helped LeBron James Win 2016 Title This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 19, 2025, where it first appeared.
CBC
19 hours ago
- Sport
- CBC
Canada's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is about to complete one of the greatest seasons in NBA history
The Oklahoma City Thunder can win the NBA championship tonight with a victory over the Pacers in Game 6 of the Finals in Indiana. This is likely to happen. With Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton potentially sidelined due to a calf injury, the league-best Thunder are favoured by six points, implying they have about a 2-in-3 chance of hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy tonight. If they don't, they'll get another crack in Game 7 back in Oklahoma City, where they'll be even bigger favourites. A Thunder championship would presumably result in Canadian superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being voted the Most Valuable Player of the Finals. The current betting odds for this award suggest the regular-season MVP's chances are higher than 85 per cent, and the only other OKC player with a real shot is Jalen Williams. He scored a series-high 40 points in Game 5 but is averaging 25.8 in the Finals compared to 32.4 for Gilgeous-Alexander, who's just a shade off his league-leading 32.7 from the regular season. This puts SGA on the verge of completing not just the best season ever by a Canadian, but one of the greatest by any player in NBA history. The 26-year-old from Hamilton, Ont., can become only the fourth man ever to lead the league in scoring, capture the regular-season MVP, win a championship ring and add the Finals MVP in the same season. You may have heard of the others: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan. WATCH | Canada's Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 2nd NBA MVP from Canada: Hamilton's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander becomes 2nd Canadian named NBA MVP 28 days ago Duration 2:25 Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA's all-time scoring leader until LeBron James surpassed him two years ago, was the first to do it — in 1971 with the Milwaukee Bucks, when he was still known as Lew Alcindor. Jordan, the greatest basketball player ever (sorry, LeBron), accomplished it four times during his six championships with the Chicago Bulls (1991, '92, '96, '98). O'Neal, the incomparable big man who won three straight Finals MVPs with the Lakers, was the last guy to join the club, in 2000 with L.A. In each of those instances except for Jordan in 1991, they also led their team to the league's best record in the regular season. Gilgeous-Alexander ticked that box by powering OKC to a 68-14 mark — four wins better than any other club. Plus, he was voted a starter for the All-Star game, an All-NBA First Teamer and the MVP of the Western Conference final. At first blush, you might think the scoring-title/MVP/championship/Finals-MVP quadruple would be highly correlated. After all, star players in pro basketball have a bigger effect on their team's fortunes than in any other major sport. So shouldn't the team with the best and highest-scoring player in the league win the title more often than not? WATCH | 4 Canadian players to watch in the NBA Finals: 4 Canadian basketball stars you can cheer for in the NBA Finals 15 days ago Duration 5:20 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. The extreme exclusivity of the Jordan/Shaq/Kareem club shows that it's much harder than it looks. In fact, Gilgeous-Alexander is the first regular-season MVP in nine years to even reach the Finals, and he'd be the first in a decade to win the title. You have to go back even further, to O'Neal a quarter century ago, to find a regular-season scoring champion who went on to win a ring that same season. This speaks to the difficulty, in the modern NBA, of playing at an MVP level throughout a gruelling 82-game regular season and still having enough left in the tank to lead your team through the two-month playoff gauntlet. It's probably not a coincidence that current superstars Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic won their MVPs in seasons where they did not make it to the Finals, much less win a ring. Are you not entertained? Given the rarefied air he's in right now, it's kind of puzzling that Gilgeous-Alexander isn't a bigger deal among basketball fans. Despite the fact that he scores in bunches as a guard (in general, the most aesthetically pleasing position), some accuse him of being a "free-throw merchant" who has mastered the dark art of drawing fouls and gets many of his points from the line. Other nitpickers say he skirts the rules on offensive fouls, often using his non-ball-handling arm to ward off defenders when he's driving to the bucket. But the overarching complaint from SGA critics seems to be that they don't find him all that interesting, either as a player or a personality. Feeling underwhelmed by the best player in the world is not a new phenomenon among basketball fans. Though they play different positions, Gilgeous-Alexander has been likened to Tim Duncan, the businesslike, fundamentally sound power forward who won five championships, three Finals MVPs and two regular-season MVPs over 19 seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. Despite his undeniable greatness, Duncan never connected with fans to the degree that flashier contemporaries like Shaq, Kobe Bryant or even the far less successful Allen Iverson did. There's an echo of that in how today's fans seem to prefer the likes of Jokic, the Lakers' Luka Doncic and even, at the moment, the Pacers' Haliburton. Nothing against those guys, but there should be room in everyone's heart for SGA. He scores. He passes. He defends. He hits big shots. And he shows up to work: in an age where every fan complains about load management, SGA played in 76 of OKC's 82 games this season. That's more games than every other top-10 scorer except Minnesota's Anthony Edwards. The thing to understand about SGA is that he doesn't concern himself with playing TikTok basketball — follower count by damned. Instead, like Duncan in the pre-social-media days, he's laser-focused on doing whatever it takes to win. "The way I see it," he said the other day. "Winning is all that matters."
Scotsman
a day ago
- Sport
- Scotsman
What is the NBA Championship trophy made out of? Why is it called the Larry O'Brien trophy? Worth, history
It's the trophy that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his Oklahoma City Thunder teammates are desperate to get his hands on this summer. Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The NBA season is now reaching it's conclusion with game six of the NBA Championship Final between Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers set to get underway on Thursday night at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Leading by three games to two, the Thunder are now just one win away from lifting the 2025 NBA Championship trophy having eradicated the Pacers 2-1 lead thanks to some huge performances from 2025 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and his teammate Jalen Williams. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad While the Pacers can take to a game seven with a win, the 2025 NBA Championship will conclude with a Thunder win this evening, and the famous Larry O'Brien trophy will be presented to Mark Daigneault team. Here's everything you need to know about the history of the Larry O'Brien Trophy given the winners of the NBA Championship and the rings awarded to the victorious team, including its history and worth: Jayson Tatum #0 of the Boston Celtics hoists the Larry O'Brien trophy after winning the NBA Championship in 2024. | Getty Images What is the NBA Championship trophy made out of? Known officially as the Larry O'Brien Championship trophy, it was introduced in 1977 and is primarily made of sterling silver, with an added 24-karat gold vermeil overlay. The trophy is two foot tall in height, and is reported to weight around 14.5 lbs. It's design shows a basketball going into a net, and it's materials and design are made to reflect its prestige. The trophy is made by Tiffany & Co., a world renowned jeweller formed in New York City in 1837 by Charles Lewis Tiffany. Why is it called the Larry O'Brien trophy? The trophy's name was coined in honour of former NBA Commissioner Larry O'Brien, who held the role from 1975 until 1984. It was official named the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy in 1984, prior to that, it was named simple the NBA Championship Trophy. It was renamed in order to recognize his significant contributions to the league, his efforts in growing the game overseas and the major TV deals he was able to broker. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Born in 1917 in Massachusetts, America, O'Brien was also heavily involved in American politics, serving more than two decades as one of the United States Democratic Party's leading electoral strategists. He was also a Postmaster General in the cabinet of President Lyndon Johnson, and latterly chair of the Democratic National Committee. How much is the NBA Championship trophy worth? According to the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy has an estimated worth of between $13,500 to $14,000, the cost of the trophy is reflected in it's materials, design, and crafting process which takes approximately six-month. The symbolic value of the trophy to it's franchise, players and - of course - winner exceed its worth, though. Are NBA Championship rings made of solid gold? The NBA Championship rings, awarded to each player for winning the NBA Championship Finals, are not made of solid gold due to weight and practicality. However, each ring is customer designed and vary by year, with the designs typically crafted from gold alloys, using materials such as 10-karat or 14-karat gold combined with other metals for durability. On occasion, the rings feature silver, or white gold, with diamonds or other gemstones included in the design. Jamal Murray #27 of the Denver Nuggets shows his championship ring before the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at Ball Arena on October 24, 2023. | Getty Images How much are NBA Championship rings worth? The value of NBA Championship rings can vary, due to the fact the design is varied annually. According to the average production cost can range between $30,000 to $150,000, though some individual NBA Championship rings have been sold for far more. For example, the title winner Toronto Raptors rings, made in 2019, included 650 diamonds and 16 rubies and had a huge value of over $150,000 each for the top-tier versions.
