The NBA championship is headed to Oklahoma City for the first time ever.
In Game 7 of the NBA Finals Sunday, the Oklahoma City Thunder emerged victorious at home with a 103-91 win over the Indiana Pacers. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took home the Finals MVP honors in the same season he won his first league MVP.
The excitement was palpable, given it was the first Game 7 in a final series since 2016 when the Cleveland Cavaliers overcame the Golden State Warriors.
But the good vibes were sucked out of the air at Paycom Center and behind TV screens at the five-minute mark of the first quarter.
Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who entered the game with a calf strain suffered earlier in the series, went down with an Achilles injury and later ruled out. He was visibly in tears and overcome with emotion after a blazing-hot start. His season ended with a lead on the biggest stage in basketball.
Without their franchise cornerstone, the Pacers needed to do the improbable. Indiana looked shaken after Haliburton left the court, but remained composed and actually went into overtime with a 48-47 advantage.
But the Thunder turned it around in the third quarter, showing much more determination and less nervy hands than the opening half. They opened to a nine-point lead before T.J. McConnell, Haliburton’s backup, singlehandedly took matters into his own hands.
McConnell’s run didn’t last long enough, however, as Oklahoma City then pushed to a double-digit cushion and led by 13 going into the fourth. The 33-year-old guard was responsible for his team’s last 12 points, with Pascal Siakam questionably on the bench.
The lead ballooned in favor of Oklahoma City in the early stages of the fourth to as much as 22. Indiana, which had a miraculous run of stunning comebacks victories in its journey to this stage, did not have one last complete turnaround in the tank despite trimming the gap.
Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC with 29 points. He struggled on 8 of 27 shooting, but went 11 of 12 from the foul line. Jalen Williams, who had a major 40-burger earlier in the series, added 20 points on 7 of 20 shooting.
Chet Holmgren turned in a smoother performance, going 6 of 8 from the floor for 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocks. Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace each chipped in 10 points off the bench.
Indiana was led by Bennedict Mathurin’s 24 bench points and 13 rebounds, while McConnell had 16. The starters didn’t have the momentum, as Siakam finished with just 16 points on 5 of 13 shooting in 37 minutes. Andrew Nembhard was the only other player in double figures with 15 points on 4 of 10 shooting.
Defense wins championships, and the key difference boiled down to the turnover differential. The Thunder had eight turnovers and conceded 10 points off them. Indiana coughed up the rock 23 points, allowing 32 Thunder points to come to fruition.
It’s a whopping tilt, especially given the 3-point numbers that have become ever so important in the modern game. The Thunder went 11 of 40 for a 27.5% rate, while Indiana shot 11 of 28 from deep for a 39.3% clip. Should Indiana have let it fly more in a do-or-die scenario?
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, 40, also won his first league title, exhibiting a steady five-year climb from being at the bottom of the Western Conference to the top of the NBA summit.
Both teams entered the series seeking their first ever NBA championships. Oklahoma City started the season with contending aspirations given its upward trajectory the last few years, with the last Finals appearance coming in 2012 — a loss to LeBron James and the Miami Heat with a core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
The Thunder do have a championship under their name from 1979, but that was when they were the Seattle Supersonics.
For Indiana, it also has just one Finals appearance in its current history. That came in 2000 when the Pacers fell to a Los Angeles Lakers side anchored by Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. Indiana’s core featured Reggie Miller, Jalen Rose, Chris Mullin and Mark Jackson.
Pacers fans and the entire organization and will now forever the ponder of “What if?” of Haliburton staying healthy after how the game began.