The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals, winning the best-of-seven series.
It was the franchise’s first championship since 1979, when it was known as the Seattle Supersonics. The team relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The Thunder was the best team in the NBA for the duration of the regular season, compiling a record of 68-14, just five wins shy of the best regular season record in the league’s history. However, it took all seven games for Oklahoma City to defeat the Pacers, a team with just 50 wins during the regular season and the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference.
The Thunder were led by star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led all scorers with 29 points in the deciding game. He was named the most valuable player for the 2025 NBA Finals. The three-time NBA All-Star was also named the league MVP for the 2024-2025 regular season. It was the first championship and MVP award of his career.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said after the victory. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours, and we deserve this.”
Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault praised his team’s grit in the win.
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“You have to really grind it out,” Daigneault said. “It’s an endurance race. You have to be able to win in the mud. You have to be able to win ugly, have to be able to gut it out. That’s what we did. The team did an unbelievable job of that.”
Despite the win and the Thunder’s dominating season, the series, especially the seventh game, might be most remembered for the Pacers losing their best player, Tyrese Haliburton, to an Achilles tendon injury in the first quarter. He played just seven minutes in the final game and scored nine points. Haliburton averaged 18.6 points per game during the regular season.
