For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the 2024-25 season was a season of destiny.
The team that finished the regular season with the league’s best record, thanks largely to the play of scoring champion and MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, can now call itself NBA champions.
The Thunder held off a gritty effort from the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals on Sunday night, putting a euphoric ending to a historic season by way of a 103-91 victory. The championship is the franchise’s first since relocating to Oklahoma City in 2008 — it last won an NBA title as the Seattle Supersonics in 1979.
“It doesn’t feel real,” said Gilgeous-Alexander, who became the 10th individual to earn MVP and Finals MVP honors in the same season. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”
Gilgeous-Alexander played every bit like his MVP self Sunday night, shooting his way to a game-high 29 points and 12 assists. That effort, compounded by a devastating injury to Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton late in the first quarter, proved too much for Indiana to overcome in its quest for its first NBA championship.
Haliburton started his second-straight game with what team officials called a strained-right calf muscles, despite concerns that playing through the injury could result in further damage. And those concerns were realized when Haliburton, guarded by Gilgeous-Alexander, went down awkwardly on a non-contact play and remained on the floor. Family later confirmed he ruptured his Achilles tendon.
“All of our hearts dropped,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle told reporters of the moment Haliburton went down.
After being helped to the locker room, reporters said Haliburton could be heard cheering on his team for the remainder of the contest.
“That’s just who Ty is,” Indiana guard T.J. McConnell said. “To go down like that, be selfless and just continuing to cheer for us. Even though he can’t play, I think that just speaks volumes to who Tyrese Haliburton is, one of the greatest human beings I’ve come in contact with.”
Without Haliburton, who had hit three of his four shots from beyond the arc prior to his injury, the Pacers struggled to find a rhythm offensively. In fact, it was Bennedict Mathurin who led the team in the scoring column with 24 points off the bench, followed by McConnell and Pascal Siakam with 16 points apiece. Andrew Nembhard (15 points, six assists, five rebounds) also scored in double figures for Indiana.
The Thunder, on the other hand, saw plenty of contributions throughout its lineup, with Jalen Williams adding 20 points, four assists, and two steals in a solid complement to Gilgeous-Alexander. Big man Chet Holmgren, who scored just four points in his team’s Game 6 loss on Thursday, added 18 points for the home team, followed by Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace with 10 points apiece.
For Gilgeous-Alexander, an NBA championship and Finals MVP caps off a season rarely equaled in league history. Only Michael Jordan (four times), LeBron James (twice), Larry Bird (twice), Tim Duncan, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon, Magic Johnson, Moses Malone, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Willis Reed have been named MVP and Finals MVP in the same season.
“This isn’t just a win for me,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of the Finals MVP award. “This is a win for my family. This is a win for my friends. This is a win for everyone who was in my corner growing up. This is a win for the fans.”
Whoever it’s for, it was well deserved.
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