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 MVP-caliber season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Thunder beat the Indiana Pacers —who lost Tyrese Haliburton to a serious leg injury in the opening minutes— 103-91 in the decisive Game 7 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 capped off a historic season. Oklahoma City won 84 games between the regular season and playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third place in any season.

Only the Golden State Warriors (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 moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There's nothing on 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 had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which is still seeking its first NBA title. The Pacers, who were 10-15 after 25 games and were trying to become the first team in NBA history to turn a poor start into a championship, held 1-0 and 2-1 leads in the series, but simply couldn't pull it off 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.

Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto Raptors 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 Bucks won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver Nuggets prevailed in 2023, and Boston Celtics won the title last year.

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.