The Oklahoma City Thunder are the 2024-25 NBA champions after they defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the Finals on Sunday.
The championship is the Thunder’s first since the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the regular season MVP, led all scorers in Game 7 with 29 points. He added 12 assists and five rebounds.
The Pacers played the majority of the game without star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who left in the first quarter with what his father said was an Achilles injury. Haliburton played Sunday despite having suffered a right calf strain earlier in the series.
Indiana was led in scoring by backup guard Bennedict Mathurin, who finished with 24 points.
Sunday’s Game 7, the 20th in NBA Finals history, remained close through the first half even after Haliburton’s injury cast a pall over the proceedings. Indiana, which became famous during the postseason for its resilience, actually took a 48-47 lead into halftime.
The Thunder turned the game around in the third quarter, however, specifically by turning the Pacers over. Oklahoma City outscored Indiana 34-20 in the third, scoring 18 points off eight Pacers giveaways.
For the game, Indiana had 23 turnovers, which the Thunder turned into 32 points.
Oklahoma City also held the Pacers to only 41.4% shooting on field goals. Indiana’s 91 points were the team’s lowest total of the playoffs.
The championship caps the best season in OKC’s 17-year history.
The Thunder won 68 games during the regular season, the most in franchise history. Oklahoma City also entered the playoffs with the best scoring differential in league history, beating opponents by 12.9 points per game.
The Thunder will finish the postseason with a 16-7 record, winning two Game 7s en route to a title.
The Pacers, who pulled off at least one improbable comeback in each round of the playoffs, will now enter the offseason with some level of uncertainty after having come the closest the franchise has ever come to an NBA title. If Haliburton has a torn Achilles, he may miss the entirety of the 2025-26 season.
The league will now shift its attention to the draft, which takes place Wednesday. Oklahoma City will have two selections in the first round.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 'Jalen Williams is a once-in-a-lifetime player'
SGA is on the podium after winning his Finals MVP trophy and is playing hype man for his running mate Jalen Williams, who averaged 23.6 points per game against the Pacers.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named Finals MVP
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who already has one MVP trophy from the regular season, just took home another.
SGA was named Finals MVP after averaging 30.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.6 assists against the Pacers.
He's the first player in 25 years to lead the league in scoring, win the regular season MVP and the Finals MVP.
Tyrese Haliburton is already on crutches
ABC’s cameras caught Tyrese Haliburton on crutches in the tunnel as the Pacers walked off the court after losing the NBA Finals. It was an emotional scene, as multiple Indiana players were in tears on the way to the locker room.
NBA has seventh different champion in as many seasons
Oklahoma City won its first NBA title since relocating from Seattle 17 years ago. It continues the NBA's run of championship parity, becoming the seventh different champion since 2018. There was a moment to remember with 30 seconds left, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander checked out and gave his coach a hug.
The Thunder are your 2025 NBA champions!
Oklahoma City held off one last mini-comeback from the Pacers and won Game 7 of the NBA Finals 103-91.
This is the Thunder’s first title since relocating to OKC in 2008.
Pacers refuse to quit
Thunder lead 98-87 with about 90 seconds to go as the Pacers continued to hang around.
Thunder 93, Pacers 81 with 3:31 left
The Pacers are ever so slightly hanging around, though it would take a Herculean effort to win this game.
Keep an eye on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — he has five fouls.
11-1 run by Pacers makes this a game again
Indiana needed only 2:42 of game time to cut its deficit to 91-79 with more than 4 minutes left in the game. That came after Oklahoma City had gone on its own run, of 20-4.
Oklahoma City looks comfortable, and Indiana looks spent
Oklahoma City leads, 90-75, with 5:50 to play in the fourth quarter, as a Thunder championship appears within reach.
Indiana's ability to rally late in games does funny things to opponents, who tighten up and stop playing the way that built their leads. But that isn't happening tonight, as Oklahoma City is as loose in the fourth quarter as they have been all night. The fact that Indiana has made only two 3-pointers the entire second half has something to do with that.
The Pacers have no answers on offense
The Thunder have raced out to a 89-68 lead in the fourth as a championship appears to be all but a formality at this point.
No Pacers players except T.J. McConnell have scored since the 8:32 mark of the third quarter. Without Tyrese Haliburton, Indiana can’t seem to create any semblance of an offense right now.
The Pacers have not scored yet in the fourth quarter as they've played for three and a half minutes.
