The Oklahoma City Thunder claim their first NBA championship after a historic win over the Pacers.

The best team all season was the best team at the end, bringing the NBA title to Oklahoma City for the first time. Gilgeous-Alexander capped his season MVP with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers –who lost Tyrese haliburton due to a serious leg injury in the first few minutes– 103-91 in the seventh and decisive game of the NBA Finals on Sunday night.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of faith. It’s crazy to know we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”

Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren added 18. for the Thunder, who completed a season for the ages. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying with the Chicago Bulls from 1996-97 for third place in any season.

Only Golden State Warriors (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) earned more.

It is the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics They won the NBA title in 1979; the team moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There's nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.

Next October, a championship banner will finally arrive. A Thunder banner.

The Pacers led 48-47 at halftime even after losing Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles 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 pull away.

Benedict Mathurin He had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which is still waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers, who had a 10-15 record after 25 games and were trying to become the first team in NBA history to turn a poor start into a championship, held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series but simply didn't have enough in the end.

Home teams now have a 16-4 record in NBA Finals deciders. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a streak of parity unmatched in NBA history.

The Pacers forward, Pascal Siakam, was part of the team of the Toronto Raptors who won in 2019, the Thunder guard, Alex caruso, was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee Bucks won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, the Pacers forward, Thomas Bryant, and Denver Nuggets prevailed in 2023, and Boston Celtics won last year's title.

And now, the Thunder have their turn. The youngest team to win a title in nearly half a century has reached the top of the NBA.

The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in Adam Silver's 12 seasons as NBA commissioner. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win championships in his 30 seasons as commissioner.