The Oklahoma City Thunder, led by its Canadian star Shay Gilgeous-Alexander, won its first NBA title (on Sunday in the decisive seventh game of 91-103BA), after defeating its home Indiana Pacers, whose star Tyrese Halliburton was injured in the final round.
An assist, while 12 points and 29.Gilgius-Alexander, the best player this season in the league, led his team to the decisive victory by scoring.Pacers lost playmaker Halliburton early in the match after suffering a new injury.
From the Los Angeles Clippers: "It doesn't look real, this is the result of 2019 years," said Gilgeous-Alexander (long hours of work, emotions, days of doubt). This group has worked hard to achieve this and deserves it," he said.
Points including 20.Gaylen Williams, the second star in the young squad of young coach Marc Degnolt, contributed to the victory after scoring a point.18 in the second half, and a player added
For the loser, Canadian substitute Benedict Mathurin (24 points) was the best scorer, and the other substitute TJ McConnell added 16 points, similar to Cameroonian Pascal Siakam, who failed to win the title, similar to his previous coronation with the Toronto Raptors.A decisive third quarter - and this is Oklahoma's first title since the team's franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. Before that, former franchise owner Seattle SuperSonics won the title in 1979.After moving to Oklahoma City, he reached the final in 2012, when he lost to the Miami Heat and its star LeBron James 1 - 4.Indiana forced a seventh game, after a huge victory at home on Thursday in the sixth game 108-91, when Haliburton tried to overcome an injury to his right calf and led his team to victory.But getting past Oklahoma in his own backyard as he did in Game 1 of the final-round series got harder with Halliburton injured after just seven minutes and coming out crying.
Indiana bit his wounds and bravely led 48-47 at the halftime break, but Oklahoma played all their cards in the third quarter (34-20) as they built a 13-point lead, with the Pacers' long shots declining.The host did not give up his lead, which reached 22 points in the last quarter, which was decided by the shouts of his fans «, KC, or KC».Oklahoma topped the regular round standings with 68 wins and 14 losses, which allowed it to have the advantage of playing more home games in the final series.The two teams played the 27th game in the history of the NBA, and the first since 2016, when the Cleveland Cavaliers and its star LeBron James defeated his opponent, the Golden State Warriors, and his distributor, Stephen Curry.
Oklahoma extended the home teams' advantage for Game 7, raising their tally to 16 wins in 20 games.In front of about 18,000 spectators at Baycom Center Stadium wearing blue shirts, League Commissioner Adam Silver announced on the podium that Gilgeous-Alexander would be awarded the Best Player Award in the final round, which is the first time in 25 years that a player has won this award and the Best Player Award in the regular round«.Indiana suffered a painful blow in the first quarter, after its star Halliburton was injured and left the field.Haliburton had suffered a calf injury in his right leg, and the decision to play him in the sixth game was pending until the final minutes.The score was tied 16-16 seven minutes into the match, when Haliburton slipped while trying to pass Gilgeous-Alexander.He lay on his stomach and began hitting the field with his hand, expressing his intense pain, before he came out on one leg crying, without returning to continue the match.
Haliburton, 25, had hit three three-pointers from four attempts before his injury.«How frustrating," teammate Myles Turner said as the second quarter began to »NBC«. The injury came in the most important game of the year».Oklahoma skipped the playoffs on its way to the title, Memphis Grizzlies 4-0 in the first round, then Denver Nuggets and Serbian giant Nikola Jokic 4-3 in the Western Conference semi-finals, before eliminating the Minnesota Timberwolves 4-1 in the Western Conference final.
