On Sunday night, the OKC Thunder finally vanquished the Indiana Pacers 103-92 in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, giving the team its first NBA Championship in franchise history.
The seven-game series was a surprisingly exciting one, and while it lacked superstar names such as LeBron, Curry or Giannis, the Finals introduced fans to a new superstar and a team built around old-school basketball fundamentals.
The Thunder had the NBA’s best overall record during the regular season at 68-14 while the Pacers finished 50-32, fourth best in the East.
While the Thunder basically rolled through the Western Conference Playoffs, the Pacers were fighting hard and proving the doubters wrong in every round.
First they took out Giannis and the Bucs 4-1. Then they stunned NBA fans by beating up the Cleveland Cavaliers, the no.1 seed in the East, 4-1. Then it was time to face the Knicks, who had upset the Celtics.
After pulling off a Game 1 stunner, the Pacers whittled New York down in six games with pick-and-rolls and timely threes to reach the Finals.
This was when their surprising run was supposed to end, but no one told Indiana that.
It was a back and forth Finals series, with no team dominating an entire game except for the Pacers in Game 6.
Unfortunately, Indiana’s star guard Tyrese Haliburton went down early in the first quarter in Game 7, with most predicting that he tore his Achilles.
It was a devastating blow to the team and everyone felt the pain as Haliburton punched the court in agony.
Yet for the next two quarters, the Pacers rallied and actually held a one point lead at halftime.
But as the third quarter progressed, you could tell the Pacers were hurting without their leader. In the end, the Thunder had too much firepower to overcome.
This morning, some are claiming that the Pacers would have won it if Haliburton hadn’t gotten hurt.
That’s unfair for injuries are part of the game and no one could say with absolute certainty what would have happened if Haliburton hadn’t gotten injured. The series made that clear as neither team was decisively better than the other.
And that’s why the Thunder deserved this title.
