Oklahoma City (AP) -Shai Gilgeous-Alexander left the court for the last time this season, collapsed in the arms of coach Mark Daigult and finally smiled.
It’s over.
The climb is complete. The reconstruction is done. Oklahoma City thunder are champions.
The best team of the whole season was the best team in the end, holding the NBA title in Oklahoma City for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander finished his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the thunder beat the Indiana Pacers- which lost Tyrese Haliburton in the face of a serious leg injury in the initial minutes -103-91 in match 7 of the NBA finals on Sunday night.
“It does not feel real,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, the final MVP. “So many hours. Moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It is crazy to know that we are all here, but this group worked for it. This group put the hours and we deserve this.”
Jalen Williams scored 20 points and Chet Holmgren had 18 for Thunder, which ended a season for the centuries. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the Playoffs, tie the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls by third parties in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
It is the second championship of the franchise. The Seattle Supersonics won the NBA title in 1979; The team moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There is nothing in the ponds in Oklahoma City to commemorate this title.
In October, a championship banner finally arrives. A banner of thunder.
The pacers led 48-47 in half even after losing Haliburton to what their father said was a Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes from the game. But they surpassed 34-20 in the third quarter, as the thunder built a 13-point advantage and began to flee.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, who is still waiting for his first NBA title. The pacers, who were 10-15 after 25 games and bid for being the first team in the NBA history to become a championship pain, had 1-0 and 2-1 leadership in the series, but they simply did not have enough at the end.
Home teams improved up to 16-4 End of the nba Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion of the last seven seasons, a parity like no other in the history of the NBA.
Pacers Forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder’s guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team, which he won at the Pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee won by 2021, Golden State in 2022, the Pacers striker Thomas Bryant and Denver prevalent the 2023 and the Boston won last year’s title.
And now, the thunder turns. The youngest team to win a title in almost half a century has reached the NBA mountain.
Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in the 12 seasons of the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as curator.
“They behave as champions. They compete as champions,” said Daigneaault. “They are offered for the success of the other, which is rare in professional sports. I have said it many times and now I will say it again. They are an unusual team and now they are champions.”