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
Top matchups of young players set for Next Gen ATP
- 8 players to compete for over $2m from Dec. 17-21
- Favorite Learner Tien among the athletes competing
JEDDAH: The world’s top 20-and-under singles players of the ATP Tour season are set for big match-ups at the Next Gen ATP Finals after eight players were drawn into two groups at Sunday’s draw ceremony.
The event took place at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah with the participation of Mohammed Al-Sarah, president of the Saudi Tennis Federation, and ATP Supervisor Ahmed Abdel-Azim.
The eighth edition of the Next Gen ATP Finals 2025, from Dec. 17 to 21, will be held under the supervision of the Ministry of Sports, and sponsored by the Public Investment Fund.
The tournament features a special format. Matches are best-of-five sets, first to four games each, with a tiebreak at 3-all. Additionally, matches are played with no-ad scoring and reduced shot-clock times.
The blue group includes Martin Landaluce, Rafa Jodar, favorite Learner Tien, and Nicolai Budkov Kjaer, a former junior world No. 1.
The red group comprises Alexander Blockx, Dino Prizmic, Nishesh Basavareddy, and Justin Engel.
The tournament has a total prize pool of over $2 million with a maximum of $539,750 for the player who wins all five matches.
