The league’s best regular season team became the league’s best playoff team as well Sunday night, as the Oklahoma City Thunder earned their first NBA championship in franchise history. OKC would earn a convincing 103-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers, in a back and forth affair, that was marred by an apparent Achilles injury to Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton.
Haliburton was forced out of the contest with 4:55 left in the first quarter as he was driving to the basket. Although the Pacers would hang tough, taking a 48-47 lead into halftime, the Thunder’s depth was too much for them to overcome, as OKC poured it on in the 3rd quarter, outscoring Indiana 34-20.
With the win, Oklahoma City caps off an historic season in which they won 68 games in the regular season, and another 16 in the playoffs to tie the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for the third most wins in a season in NBA history. The club also set the record for the largest point differential of all time during the regular season, and postseason, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 1,243 points.
For his efforts, Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander took home Finals MVP honours, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan, and Shaquille O’Neal as the only players to take home the regular season MVP, Finals MVP, and scoring title in the same year.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the game. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”
Forward Chet Holmgren, who struggled offensively in the Finals, set his own record on the defensive end of the court, recording 5 blocks Sunday to set a new Finals single game record.
“Honestly, I never really play for records,” Holmgren said. “I never play for stats. All that will be forgotten. But us winning is forever. It’s immortal. I’m just so happy we were able to do that together as a team.”
And the scary part for the rest of the league is that OKC may just be getting started. With only 2 players on their roster older than 27 years old, the Thunder’s core might be terrorizing opponents for years to come. Only the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers have captured an NBA title with a roster younger than what Oklahoma City fielded this year.
“They behave like champions. They compete like champions,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “They root for each other’s success, which is rare in professional sports. I’ve said it many times, and now I’m going to say it one more time. They are an uncommon team, and now they’re champions.”
While the player’s and coaches will be in parade mode for the coming days, the Thunder’s front office will now turn their attention to the NBA Draft which takes place Wednesday June 25th at 8pm ET.
Photo: All-Pro Reels. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.