By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Basketball Author
OKLAHOMA CITY — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walked off the courtroom for the ultimate time this season, collapsed into the arms of coach Mark Daigneault and eventually smiled.
It was over.
The climb is full.
The rebuild is completed.
The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder are champions.
One of the best group all season was the perfect group on the finish, bringing the NBA title to Oklahoma Metropolis for the primary time.
Gilgeous-Alexander completed off his MVP season with 29 factors and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers — who misplaced Tyrese Haliburton to a critical leg harm within the opening minutes — 103-91 in Sport 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday evening.
“It doesn’t really feel actual,” mentioned Gilgeous-Alexander, the Finals MVP. “So many hours. So many moments. So many feelings. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of perception. It’s loopy to know that we’re all right here, however this group labored for it. This group put within the hours and we deserve this.”
Jalen Williams scored 20 factors and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who completed off a season for the ages.
Oklahoma Metropolis received 84 video games between the common season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in any season.
Solely Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) received extra.
It’s the second championship for the franchise.
The Seattle SuperSonics received the NBA title in 1979; the group was moved to Oklahoma Metropolis in 2008. There’s nothing within the rafters in Oklahoma Metropolis to commemorate that title.
In October, a championship banner is lastly coming. A Thunder banner.
The Pacers led 48-47 on the half even after shedding Haliburton to what his father mentioned was an Achilles tendon harm about seven minutes into the sport.
However they had been outscored 34-20 within the third quarter because the Thunder constructed a 13-point lead and started to run away.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 factors and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which nonetheless is ready for its first NBA title.
The Pacers — who had been 10-15 after 25 video games and had been bidding to be the primary group in NBA historical past to show that unhealthy of a begin right into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 within the sequence, however they merely didn’t have sufficient ultimately.
House groups improved to 16-4 in NBA Finals Sport 7s. And the Thunder turned the seventh champion within the final seven seasons, a run of parity like none different in NBA historical past.
Pacers ahead Pascal Siakam was a part of the Toronto group that received in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was a part of the Los Angeles Lakers group that received within the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee received in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers ahead Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston received final yr’s title.
And now, the Thunder get their flip. The youngest group to win a title in almost 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, noticed eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.
“They behave like champions. They compete like champions,” mentioned Daigneault, a College of Florida alum and former Gators assistant. “They root for one another’s success, which is uncommon in skilled sports activities. I’ve mentioned it many occasions and now I’m going to say it yet one more time. They’re an unusual group and now they’re champions.”
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