Thunder take Game 7, cap historic season with first title - ESPN

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma City Thunder took home the 2025 NBA championship — the first in the franchise's 17 years here — with a 103-91 victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, capping a historically dominant year and remarkable turnaround.

The Thunder went from winning 22 and 24 games, respectively, in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons to claiming the top spot in the Western Conference playoffs each of the past two seasons. They followed up a 56-win campaign last season with 68 wins in 2024-25 — one of the seven best single-season marks in NBA history. They set the record for the largest point differential of all time in the regular season, smashing a mark that had stood for more than half a century.

Oklahoma City ultimately won 84 games between the regular season and the playoffs, tying the 1996-97 Chicago Bulls for third most in any season. Only Golden State (88 in 2016-17) and the Bulls (87 in 2015-16) won more.

Despite the Thunder's accomplishment, Game 7 might be most remembered for an unfortunate reason as Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton suffered what his father confirmed was a right Achilles injury while trying to drive to the basket with 4:55 left in the first quarter. He would be ruled out for the rest of the game a short time later because of a lower right leg injury — bringing what had been, to that point, a breathtaking postseason to a heartbreaking conclusion.

The Pacers hung tough immediately following Haliburton's injury and took a 48-47 lead into halftime. However, that's when Oklahoma City — behind a brilliant stretch of play from the league's Most Valuable Player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — had one of its dominating third quarters, outscoring Indiana 34-20 across the 12