Thunder Dominate Shorthanded Pacers to Win First NBA Title In OKC

Melissa Rohlin

FOX Sports NBA Writer

The Oklahoma City Thunder have won the NBA championship, beating the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the Finals, 103-91. It’s the franchise’s first and only championship since 1979, when it was based in Seattle and known as the Supersonics.

The Thunder, who have an average roster age of 25.6 years old, are the second-youngest team to win a title, behind the 1976-77 Portland Trail Blazers.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the team to the best record in the regular season (68-14) and won the MVP Award, led the way with game-highs in points (29) and assists (12) while also having five rebounds, one steal and two blocked shots. He was named Finals MVP, making him the first player since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000 to win the regular season MVP, the scoring title and Finals MVP in the same season.

Jalen Williams had 20 points and Chet Holmgren added 18 points, eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

In a game with 11 lead changes and 10 ties, the Thunder pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring the Pacers, 34-20. Oklahoma City had no turnovers in the period while forcing the Pacers to commit eight, which led to 18 points for the Thunder.

The Pacers went cold on the offensive end at the top of the fourth quarter as the Thunder pushed their lead to as much as 22 points. The Thunder’s top-rated defense had 14 steals, more than twice as many as the Pacers’ six.

The Pacers, who never give up, cut their deficit to as few as 10 points with just over 2 minutes left.

But there would be no wild comeback for the Pacers in Game 7, not without their star, Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered a strained calf in Game 5, and then sustained a devastating Achilles injury with just over 5 minutes left in the first quarter and didn’t return. In a gut-wrenching scene, he lied on his stomach, pounding his hand against the court as emotions and frustration poured out of him.

(Photo by Justin Ford/Getty Images)

Haliburton, of course, was voted the most overrated player in the NBA by his peers in a poll by The Athletic, before making a stunning four game-winners or go-ahead shots in the final five seconds of the fourth quarter or overtime this postseason, including making one in each round, the only player in NBA history to do that over a single postseason run.

Without Haliburton, Bennedict Mathurin led the Pacers with 24 points and 13 rebounds. Pascal Siakam and T.J. McConnell added 16 points a piece while Andrew Nembhard had 15 points.

The Pacers, who were underdogs throughout the playoffs, had a remarkable run, getting past the fifth-seeded Milwaukee Bucks, top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers and third-seeded New York Knicks and then reaching the Finals for the first time in 25 years.

But this season belonged to the Thunder, who had one of the greatest seasons in NBA history before winning two Game 7s to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy.

This was just the ninth Game 7 of the Finals since the NBA-ABA merger at the start of the 1976-77 season. The Thunder’s title run marks the seventh NBA champion in the last seven seasons.

Melissa Rohlin is an NBA writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the league for Sports Illustrated, the Los Angeles Times, the Bay Area News Group and the San Antonio Express-News. Follow her on Twitter @melissarohlin.