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OKC win NBA final after victory in Game 7

Written by Boluwatitonisola Omoniyi | Jun 23, 2025 12:17:25 PM

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.

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.

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.