Oklahoma City Thunder basketball players have become NBA champions! In the seventh game of the finals, Oklahoma defeated Indiana with a score of 103:91 and won the trophy with a 4-3 series.
In front of their fans, the Oklahoma players played a great game and deservedly celebrated. However, the question is whether the outcome would have been the same if Tyrese Haliburton had not been injured in the seventh minute of the game. His Achilles tendon was injured, probably torn, and from the first quarter, his Indiana teammates were left without their primary playmaker, which significantly affected the events on the court.
Oklahoma reached a decisive lead at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth quarter. They led by 21 points (89:78), after which the rival could not come back.
Gilgeous-Alexander was named the MVP of the finals. In this duel, he recorded 29 points and 12 assists, Williams added 20, Holmgren 16 points, eight rebounds and five blocks, and Caruso and Wallace 10 points each.
In the defeated team, Mathurin stood out with 20 points, 13 rebounds and three assists.
Haliburton, who opened the duel brilliantly for Indiana with three three-pointers, played evenly, but when he left the court, nothing was the same for his team. The sight of him leaving the court in tears was difficult for the guests; it united them, carried them in the first half, in which the teams fought equally. Oklahoma’s shooting was not good in that part of the game, they had 4/18 from a distance, which helped the guests to go into halftime with a 48:47 lead.
However, Gilgeous-Alexander had a great start to the third quarter and separated his team to 75:66.
Thanks to McConnell, Indiana survived until the end of the third quarter, but the end of that and the beginning of the last one was crucial.
Furthermore, the Indiana team lost a lot of balls, which helped the hosts to routinely celebrate in the end.
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Source: Sportal Photo:Imagn Images / ddp USA / Profimedia