Drown out, but electrifying in the end, the Thunder acceded to the top of the NBA mountain.
Oklahoma City deserved a first championship on Sunday, triumphant at home 103-91 in front of the Pacers of Indianapolis, during the seventh game of the final.
Don’t Stop Me Nowfrom Queen, never seemed so soft and delightful for fans of the Thunder. Since 2022-2023, the song of Thunder, at the Paycc Center, since 2022-2023. This time, she was of course followed by We are the Championsfrom the same legendary group.
The most useful player in the NBA this season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has honored this description. The Hamilton athlete collected 29 points and 12 assists, without forgetting five rebounds, a flight and two blocks.
It is the first time since 2015 that a player deserves the most useful player title of the season and the NBA championship the same year (Stephen Curry, Warriors of Golden State).
Champion pointer in the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander was also appointed the ultimate player of the final.
Only three other players gathered so many awards the same year: Michael Jordan (four times), as well as Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul Jabbar (once each).
Jalen Williams supported him with 20 points, two more than Chet Holmgren. The latter also obtained five blocks.
Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace added 10 points each.
Luguentz Dort, from Montreal, has gone nine points, including two long -term shots. Dort also obtained seven rebounds and three flights. He concluded the final with a success rate of 44.7 % beyond the perimeter.
This season, Dort has shown the best success rate of his career for three -point shots (41.2 %). He was also appointed to the first brigade of stars in defense of the NBA. Dort finished fourth during the ballot determining the defensive player of the year in the circuit, obtaining 11 votes of first place out of 100. An exceptional course now crowned with a title, for a player not drafted in 2019.
Dort has become the fourth player of the beautiful province to win the NBA championship after Bill Wennington, Joel Anthony and Chris Boucher.
Although in deficit by a point to the half (48-47), the Thunder walked towards a match in its image, dominating 23-8 in terms of the reversals caused. The favorites of the crowd noted 32 points.
OKC prevailed despite an evening of 11 in 40 for three -point shots. Indiana was 11 in 28 in the same category.
Several members of the Thunder will soon celebrate birthdays which will be all the more tasty. SGA will be 27 years old on July 12; Jaylin Williams will celebrate his 23 years on June 29, while Isaiah Joe will be 26 years old on July 2.
In the NBA final, 16 of the 20 matches number 7 were won by home training.
Bennedict Mathurin, from Montreal, has scored 24 points and 13 rebounds for the Pacers, who have lost three of the last four matches in the series.
Tyrese Haliburton injured his right leg with 4:55 to play at the first quarter, not returning to the game afterwards. He tried to thwart Gilgeous-Alexander when he slipped, groaning in great pain immediately. He had managed three three -point shots in the first half of the first quarter.
Later Sunday, his father John said that the injury is at the Achilles tendon, according to what the ABC broadcaster reported.
Haliburton underwent an elongation in the right calf in the fifth match, but he was very effective in the sixth meeting.
TJ McConnell and Pascal Siakam delivered 16 points each. In the third quarter, where the Thunder began to move away, 12 consecutive points of the Pacers were generated by McConnell. Ontarian Andrew Nembhard contributed 15 points.
The Thunder dominated the circuit with a yield of 68-14 in the regular season, including a 35-6 sheet at home.
The team also established a brand of the NBA with an average margin of victory of 12.9 points.
Oklahoma City started the season by winning seven matches in a row. The club settled in the front row on November 25 and was not dethroned later.
Before facing the Pacers, OKC eliminated Memphis, Denver and Minnesota.
In the second round, a match 7 at the Paycc Center resulted in a 125-93 victory for the Thunder, against the Nuggets.
The Nuggets showed a 50-32 file in the regular season, like the Pacers.
The Larry O’Brien trophy has gone to a different club every year for seven years.
It was the first final to conclude in seven matches since 2016 (a victory in Cleveland at the Warriors’ home). The six cases before it had been won by the club at home, however.
The victory completes a brilliant ascent of the Thunder since 2022-2023: crops of 22 and 24 gains were followed by campaigns of 40 and 57 gains, before the season which has just ended.
The pilot of the Thunder Mark Daigneault, whose great-grandfather came from Montreal, was appointed the head coach of the year in the NBA in 2024.
