OKLAHOMA CITY: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship, pulling away in the second half to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-91 on Sunday night.
Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who were pushed to a Game 7 brink in the NBA Finals — but finished off a season for the ages. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third-most in any season.
Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.
It’s the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There’s nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.
Next October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner.
It was not easy to secure.
The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing star guard Tyrese Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game. But they were outscored 34-20 in the third quarter as the Thunder built a 13-point lead and began to run away.
Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers — who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn’t have enough in the end.
Home teams are now 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.
Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last year’s title.
The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver 12 seasons leading the league. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 29 points and Thunder beat Pacers 103-91 for NBA title
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 29 points and Thunder beat Pacers 103-91 for NBA title
- The Pacers without star guard Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game
- It’s the 2nd championship for the franchise, which first won the NBA title in 1979 when it was still the Seattle SuperSonics
Norway’s Carlsen wins first FIDE Freestyle World Chess Championship
Norway’s Magnus Carlsen added another crown to his collection on Sunday by becoming the first official FIDE Freestyle Chess world champion after a comeback win over Fabiano Caruana in Germany.
The chess master secured the title with a cautious draw in the fourth and final game, clinching a 2.5–1.5 match victory against his 33-year-old American opponent in Weissenhaus.
Sunday’s turning point came in the thrilling third game, in which Carlsen, 35, pulled off a stunning win from a seemingly lost position, swinging the entire contest in his favor.
The world number one only needed a draw in the decisive fourth game, and that’s exactly what he got in an equal endgame, with Caruana missing late opportunities to mount a comeback.
Carlsen has now won 21 world titles in various formats.
The World Championship marked a breakthrough collaboration between FIDE and private organizer Freestyle Chess, staging the first officially recognized title in this format.
Carlsen had previously failed to capture the FIDE Fischer Random World Championship, making this victory particularly sweet for the chess great.
In the bronze medal match, Uzbekistan’s Nodirbek Abdusattorov beat Germany’s Vincent Keymer, securing his spot by drawing from a winning position in the final game.
Both finalists and Abdusattorov have qualified for next year’s championship.
The tournament’s lower placings saw Hans Niemann of the United States take fifth with a 2-0 victory over India’s Arjun Erigaisi, while Armenia’s Levon Aronian won his Armageddon game against Uzbekistan’s Javokhir Sindarov for seventh place.
In the women’s exhibition match, Kazakhstan’s Bibisara Assaubayeva prevailed over Switzerland’s Alexandra Kosteniuk after their final encounter ended in a draw.
