The Oklahoma City Thunder completed its dominant season by winning its first National Basketball Association championship in franchise history.
The Thunder defeated the visiting Indiana Pacers 103-91 in the seventh and deciding game on Sunday night to bring the city its first championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle 17 years ago.
Oklahoma City was the best team in the league from start to finish as they won a franchise-record 68 games.
The Thunder trailed at halftime 46-45, but they turned up their dominating defense to take control of the game in the third quarter. They led by as many as 21 points in the second half and managed to fight off a late Pacers rally in the fourth quarter.
Superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander completed his magical season by being named the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Finals. Gilgeous-Alexander was also the MVP of the regular season and the Western Conference Finals in addition to being the league’s leading scorer.
Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game with a team-high 29 points along with 12 assists. Forward Jalen Williams added 20 points while 7’1 forward Chet Holmgren had 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, which is a new record for a Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Pacers had to play most of the game without its star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an injury to his Achilles in the first quarter. Haliburton had started the game by making three 3-pointers before going down with the injury. His replacement, Ben Mathurin, scored 24 points to lead the Pacers.