Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship, pulling away in the second half to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-91 on Sunday night, the AP reports. Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who were pushed to a Game 7 brink in the NBA Finals—but 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.
It's the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There's nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title. Next October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner. It was not easy to secure. The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing star guard Tyrese 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—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—had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn't have enough in the end. Home teams are now 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s.
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