From Rebuild to Reign: Thunder Complete the Journey
The Oklahoma City Thunder capped off their historic season defeating the Indiana Pacers to claim the city’s first NBA championship.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who finished off a season for the ages. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
The Pacers for their part put forth a valiant effort despite losing arguably their best player and face of the franchise; Tyrese Halliburton, midway through the first quarter.
Already playing on a strained calf that he suffered in game 5, Halliburton went down with an apparent Achilles injury with 4:55 remaining in the opening quarter. He had scored nine points, knocking down 3 of 4 3-pointers, when the injury occurred.
Despite the loss of Halliburton, the Pacers led 48-47 at the half.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers — who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn’t have enough in the end.
