Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the court for the final time this season, collapsed into the arms of coach Mark Daigneault and finally smiled.
It was over.
The climb is complete. The rebuild is done. The Oklahoma City Thunder are champions.
The best team all season was the best team at the end, bringing the NBA title to Oklahoma City for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers 바카라 who lost Tyrese Haliburton to a serious leg injury in the opening minutes 바카라 103-91 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.
바카라It doesn바카라t feel real,바카라 said Gilgeous-Alexander, the Finals MVP. 바카라So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It바카라s crazy to know that we바카라re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours and we deserve this.바카라
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.
It바카라s the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There바카라s nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.
In October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner.
The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game. But they were outscored 34-20 in the third quarter as the Thunder built a 13-point lead and began to run away.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers 바카라 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 바카라 had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn바카라t have enough in the end.
Home teams improved to 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic 바카라bubble바카라 in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last year바카라s title.
And now, the Thunder get their turn. The youngest team to win a title in nearly a half-century has reached the NBA mountaintop.
The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's 12 seasons. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.
바카라They behave like champions. They compete like champions,바카라 Daigneault said. 바카라They root for each other바카라s success, which is rare in professional sports. I바카라ve said it many times and now I바카라m going to say it one more time. They are an uncommon team and now they바카라re champions.바카라
