Thunder Strike Gold! OKC Outlasts Pacers in Epic Game 7 Finals Thriller

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Oklahoma City wins its first championship since the team relocated from Seattle. This game could have got interesting without a critical performance from Chet Holmgren. He scored 18 points on an uber-efficient 6-8 shooting, grabbed eight boards and blocked five shots.

Holmgren, who battled through injuries this season, was ultimately the anchor of OKC’s elite defense and he proved that again tonight.
Thunder stole Clippers’ lunch

In April 2022, Sam Presti’s Thunder were blown out by 50 points in their season finale vs. the LA Clippers to cap a 24-58 season. Presti met with the media and said he expected the Clippers to win the championship in the near future.

“The Clippers, like I said before, I don’t think we’re going to be looking at that again,” Presti said of benefiting from an underwhelming Clippers seasons as it related to owed draft capital. “I think they’re going to be the odds-on favorite to probably win the title in the (near) future.”

Three years later., the Thunder are champions.

For a majority of the night, Oklahoma City’s offense sputtered. They shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from three.

As usual though, the Thunder’s defense showed up for 48 minutes, forcing 23 turnover and turning those mistakes into 32 points on the other end. Oklahoma City also blocked eight shots, five of which belonging to Chet Holmgren.
SGA closes things out

No, it was not Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s most efficient scoring output but it was enough to win tonight and the Thunder are now NBA champions.

The NBA MVP and NBA Finals MVP scored 29 points on 8-of-27 shooting and had a playoff-high 12 assists in 40 minutes. He also added two blocks and a steal.

The Thunder made 35 more free throws, had 31 fewer turnovers, three more offensive rebounds and made one more field goal overall through the seven-game series.

The Sonics’ sole NBA championship (1979) stayed in Seattle, legally speaking. Their banners and trophies had to stay there as part of a legal settlement between the city and Thunder owner Clay Bennett after he pulled the team out of there. So this is, by all intents and purposes, the Thunder’s first title.