The top defensive team in the NBA took over in the second half on Sunday night. The Oklahoma City Thunder outscored Indiana by 13 over the final 24 minutes, in claiming their first ever league title with a 103-91 win in Game 7 of the NBA Finals at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.
The Pacers put up a valiant effort, after starting guard Tyrese Haliburton went down with an achilles injury just over seven minutes into the game and didn’t return. Indiana had a 48-47 edge at halftime, but Oklahoma City used their defense to take over in the second half in eventually stretching their lead to as many as 22 points. The Thunder had eight blocked shots and 14 steals, would only turn the ball over eight times, and would force 21 turnovers by Indiana to outscore the Pacers 32-10 in points off those turnovers.
Oklahoma City (84-21) wins the championship for the first time in their second ever NBA Finals appearance, with the last coming in 2012. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander capped off one of the successful seasons in league history. The star guard led the way in the win Sunday night with 29 points and 12 assists, becoming just the fifth player in history to record a 20-10 performance in Game 7 of a Finals series. Gilgeous-Alexander won the league MVP and scoring title, while also being named the MVP of the Finals. Bennedict Mathurin led Indiana with 24 points. Halliburton had started out hot before his injury in the first quarter with nine points (3-4 three-pointers). The Pacers, who were also playing in their second ever NBA Finals and first since the 2000 season, finish their year with a record of 65-40.
