Shai Gilgeous-Alexander capped a dominant season as he led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the NBA Championship after beating the Indiana Pacers in game seven of the play-off finals.
The Canadian, 26, scored 29 points and had 12 assists in their 103-91 success over the Indiana Pacers in Oklahoma to clinch the series 4-3 – the first time since 2016 that the finals had gone to a deciding seventh game.
He was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) to add to his NBA regular season MVP award and scoring title, just the fourth player and the first since Shaquille O’Neal to achieve the rare treble in one season.
It is the Thunder’s first title since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City from Seattle in 2008 after Seattle won the 1979 crown.
The Pacers lost key player Tyrese Haliburton to a leg injury just seven minutes into the contest when he slipped and fell while driving towards the basket, but still held a narrow 48-47 lead at half-time.
However, the Thunder, who with an average age of 25.6 are the youngest side to win an NBA Finals title since the Portland Trail Blazers in 1977, out-scored them 34-20 in the third quarter and pushed the lead out to as many as 22 points (90-68) in the fourth.
The Thunder completed a franchise record 68-win season, just four years after they recorded only 22 victories across a COVID-shortened 2020-21 campaign, their first under Coach Mark Daigneault, who took over in November 2020.
The 40-year-old has overseen a dramatic change of fortunes which saw the Thunder break through last season with a play-off appearance.
The exit of Haliburton, who had scored three three-pointers in the first five minutes of the game, was a cruel blow for the Pacers.
The 25-year-old point guard had suffered a right calf strain in Game 5 which he had been playing through, but he screamed with pain as he fell to the ground and had to be helped off court. -BBC
The post Thunder beat Pacers to become NBA champions appeared first on Ghanaian Times.
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