Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA finals to win their first championship since moving from Seattle to Oklahoma.
After a 68-14 regular season, Oklahoma City finished the season with 84 wins, tied with the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in NBA history.
Oklahoma City captured the franchise’s first championship since 1979 when it was the Seattle Supersonics.
Shai-Gilgeous Alexander, the regular season MVP and now the Finals MVP, posted 29 points, 12 assists, and 5 rebounds. He became just the third player to record at least 25 points and 12 assists in an NBA Finals Game 7, joining Walt Frazier and Jerry West.
The Pacers suffered a devastating blow early in the first quarter when Tyrese Haliburton injured his Achilles trying to drive to the basket. After suffering a calf strain in Game 5, Haliburton fought through the pain in Game 6 and tried to gut it out in the final game of the series, NBA reports.
But losing him meant Indiana did not have the offensive firepower to overcome the Thunders’ suffocating defense.
Moreover, OKC became the second-youngest NBA championship team in history. The Thunder have just two players in their 30s on their entire roster: Alex Caruso (31) and Kenrich Williams (30). Nine of their 18 rostered players are under the age of 25, and another seven are under the age of 28.
According to NBA.com, the Thunder entered the 2024-25 season as the youngest team in the league with an average age of 24.148 years old. By the calculations of the site NBAAge.com, the Thunder currently have the second-lowest average age in the league overall but the sixth-lowest average age when accounting for how many minutes each player plays.
Following the triumph, Oklahoma City will host the Champions Parade on June 24 in downtown Oklahoma City.
Prior to the start of Tuesday’s parade, the team will gather inside Paycom Center for a ceremony featuring player addresses and the team hoisting the Larry O’Brien trophy.
(IANS)
