It all comes down to this Sunday between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Paycom Center will host the first Game 7 of the NBA Finals in its relatively short history and the first Game 7 in this glorious stage since 2016, when Lebron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the world against the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
The Thunder were the best team in the NBA this season according to their record, they have the MVP of the association in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and are regularly placed as the best situation of all franchises for the next years to come in terms of roster and draft capital. The Indiana Pacers are this year’s cinderella story, defying all odds by reaching the finals, with unimaginable comebacks against superior teams in paper and looking to change the NBA‘s culture on forming a team instead of loading up with stars.
Players are ready for Game 7 of the NBA Finals
A day before everything’s resolved and the NBA 2024-25 season ends, the media had a last opportunity to sense the readiness and emotions that the protagonists are carrying towards this Game 7. “They’re in their building. They are definitely going to have the crowd’s energy (in their favor), but we want to celebrate on their floor. We want to be the guys that celebrate on their floor,” expressed Obi Toppin ahead of the second elimination game the Pacers will face in this series.
“We’re two teams that play really hard offensively and defensively and that takes a lot of our energy. We are prepared for that, we are two teams that obiously worked really hard to get to this point, and we won’t put anything as an excuse, you got to go out there and play your best, if you’re on the floor you give it your all”, declared the Thunder‘s Lou Dort to add significance to this Game 7.
Another way of seeing Game 7 of the NBA Finals
This stage of the NBA season resides in focus, mental clarity, commitment and hunger; ‘Who wants it more?‘ is a phrase that pretty much defines what a Game 7 in the NBA Finals is all about. For Oklahoma City‘s Isaiah Hartenstein, other challenges in his basketball career may have been just what he needed to be ready for this moment. “My whole career has kind of been a Game 7. Weird as it sounds, I might have been more nervous going into training camp when I was on a ‘training camp deal’ than now. You don’t understand it at the time, and it kind of helps you now to navigate what I’m going through.”
For Indiana‘s Aaron Nesmith, this is a dream come true. What kid that fantasizes of playing in the NBA hasn’t visualized himself going through a Game 7 in the NBA Finals? “It’s amazing (to play in this stage). Yesterday I went back and watched the Cavs and Warriors Game 7 just to feel the moment and understand how special an opportunity we have tomorrow.”
Safe to say, a dream, a challenge, a privilege, an opportunity, every player has their own mentality going into Game 7, but surely everyone of them has one common goal: winning it all.
Results of this NBA Finals series
- Game 1: Pacers 111-110 Thunder
- Game 2: Pacers 107-123 Thunder
- Game 3: Thunder 107-116 Pacers
- Game 4: Thunder 111-104 Pacers
- Game 5: Pacers 109-120 Thunder
- Game 6: Thunder 91-108 Pacers
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