
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander wins 2025 NBA Finals MVP award
As the final cherry on top, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander completed one of the greatest individual seasons ever with the 2025 NBA Finals MVP award. The Oklahoma City Thunder captured their first championship in a 103-91 Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers.
Gilgeous-Alexander won in a clean sweep. He received all 11 media votes for the prestigious trophy. It shouldn't be a shocker since his 29 points and 12 assists led the Thunder to the title-clinching victory.
In seven games, Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 30.3 points on 44.3% shooting, 5.6 assists and 4.6 rebounds. He was the best player on the court throughout the championship round.
It was quite the season for Gilgeous-Alexander. He won the MVP award, was the face of the NBA's best team and was one of the best playoff performers. Considering his runway, this could be the beginning of something special for the 26-year-old and OKC.
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24 minutes ago
The Thunder are NBA champions, and they might be just getting started
OKLAHOMA CITY -- The promise came three years ago from Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti. It might have been overlooked for a couple of reasons. One, the Thunder were awful at the time. Two, he was speaking Latin. 'Labor omnia vincit,' Presti said after the 2021-22 season, quoting a motto of Oklahoma. Depending on how Presti was translating it, it could have been 'hard work conquers all' or 'slow work conquers all.' Either way, it applies to the Thunder. They did hard work. They did slow work. They conquered all. The Thunder — three years removed from winning 24 games — won 84 games this season and are NBA champions after beating the Indiana Pacers in a seven-game NBA Finals slugfest. For the rest of the NBA, this should be a scary development. They have the MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He and all of Oklahoma City's key players are under contract for next season, there's a 2024 lottery pick in Nikola Topic who didn't even play this season because of a torn ACL and the Thunder currently have two picks in the top 24 in this year's draft as well. They are young; their starters, right now, are 27, 26, 26, 24 and 23. They are bold. And they might — should — be contending for a while. 'We definitely still have room to grow,' said Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP, the NBA Finals MVP, the league's scoring champion and now, an NBA champion as well. 'That's the fun part of this. So many of us can still get better. There's not very many of us on the team that are in our prime or even close to it. We have a lot to grow, individually and as a group. I'm excited for the future of this team. This is a great start, for sure.' And the timing of them hitting this sort of stride is pretty good, too. Plenty of teams have questions going into next season. Oklahoma City isn't one of them. Jayson Tatum in Boston, Damian Lillard in Milwaukee and now Tyrese Haliburton in Indiana all have Achilles injuries and figure to miss most if not all of next season. The Los Angeles Lakers' LeBron James will be going into his 23rd season. Golden State's Stephen Curry is turning 38 next season. Kevin Durant, now of Houston (in a trade that's going to be official in the coming weeks), is going into his 18th season. Philadelphia's hopes hinge on Joel Embiid coming back healthy. New York will be dealing with a coaching change. Oklahoma City seems to have everything right in place. 'They have a lot of great players on this team,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all seem to enjoy playing with and off one another, none of them caring who gets credit. Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein fit seamlessly into the roles the Thunder asked them to play. Luguentz Dort is a defensive machine and has come to realize that most people don't have the ability to appreciate how good he is at that end. It's not just the players who don't care about puffing out their own chests. Same goes for the leadership. 'You're not guaranteed anything in the league,' Caruso said. 'I think that's the biggest thing that happens year to year that people forget about. Any moment your team can change with a trade, with an injury, with something that's out of your control. To be able to get to the pinnacle of this sport and win it is nothing short of extraordinary. To think that you can just walk in and do it every single year is a little bit naïve. Rest assured, we'll show up Day 1 next year ready to get better and ready to chase this again.' Presti, the architect of it all, rarely speaks publicly. Same goes for Clay Bennett, the owner. And coach Mark Daigneault is the calm in the eye of any storm, the perfect driver of the Thunder bus. 'There's no guarantee you end it the way that we did,' Daigneault said. 'I just wanted it so bad for them. I was just so thrilled that we were able to get that done and they get to experience this because they deserve it. The way they approach it, the professionalism, competitiveness, team-first nature, like I said, I wanted it so bad for them.' The journey isn't over for the Thunder. It's just starting. Presti has a war chest filled with draft picks and the team has some financial flexibility to add a piece if it so chooses. And now there's a title to defend. Labor omnia vincit. There's more work to do. 'We have a lot of hard work in front of us,' Presti said that day in 2022. 'We have to grind in and do it. That's what the state is about. That's what the history of the community is about. That's what the basketball team here is about.'


New York Times
35 minutes ago
- New York Times
How the Thunder defeated the Pacers to win the 2025 NBA Finals: Game 7 reaction, highlights and analysis
Oklahoma City wins its first championship since the team relocated from Seattle Getty Images The Oklahoma City Thunder have won the 2025 NBA title, beating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 in Game 7. It's the first championship for the team since it relocated from Seattle in 2008, having won one title as the SuperSonics in 1979. Pacers superstar Tyrese Haliburton left the game during the first quarter after suffering what ESPN reported was an Achilles injury. He was carried off the floor and was very emotional. Indiana, which has never won an NBA championship, led the game by one point at halftime but was outscored 56-43 in the second half. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was named Finals MVP after leading all players with 29 points and 12 assists in Game 7. The Thunder shot just 40.2 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from 3, but they forced 23 Pacers turnovers which resulted in 32 points at the other end. GO FURTHER Thunder win first NBA title since relocating to OKC, hold off Pacers in Game 7 Connections: Sports Edition Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms On some of these half court possessions, it seems like Oklahoma City just has no plan. Why is Cason Wallace trying to take Pascal Siakam off the dribble with 20 on the shot clock? Q2 9:55 - Thunder 29, Pacers 28 This is a nice stretch from Isaiah Hartenstein. He finds Alex Caruso cutting for a one-handed dunk and a few possessions later, he is the recipient of a nice bounce pass from Jalen Williams that gets him a layup. It is also worth noting that Tyrese Haliburton will not return to tonight's game due to a lower leg injury. Isaiah Hartenstein misses a dunk on the first trip of the second quarter, then missed two free throws on the second one. Thunder offense has low-key gone off the rails since the Tyrese Haliburton injury. Getty Images Bennedict Mathurin might need to really step up tonight for the Pacers to win. Indiana is down a playmaker and someone who can draw fouls. TJ McConnell might not work in Game 7, if the first quarter is any indication. Someone has to give the Pacers some pop, and Mathurin has that potential, even if he has been uneven this series. This is a different equation for TJ McConnell, and one that is not his strength. He will have to actually run the Indiana Pacers tonight, not just be a change of pace guy off the bench. Andrew Nembhard will see a lot of responsibility at the point guard spot as well, but there will be much more on McConnell's shoulders. I'm not in the building. I was hype for this Game 7. Anyone who has played basketball and seen a devastating injury like the one Tyrese Haliburton suffered knows how that can affect everyone. Obviously, the Pacers have to figure it out. But that can affect the Thunder as well. They're competing, but you feel that emotionally. And the energy in the building as well. It seemed like Haliburton's injury put a halt to the flow of the game. For Indiana to have any chance after Tyrese Haliburton's seemingly devastating injury, the Pacers will need a monster night from Pascal Siakam. He's capable, and he scored seven points in the first quarter. But how does Indiana get him enough open looks without the threat of Haliburton's shooting and playmaking? The Thunder had their worst turnover performance of the season in Game 6. Aside from a shot clock violation, they did not have any first-quarter turnovers in Game 7. Getty Images Life is not fair. This has been a tremendous series, one with high-level basketball essentially every night. Tyrese Haliburton was toughing out a painful injury, and he was balling. If the world were a meritocracy, he would have made it through this game with only the occasional wince and no more. That guy in that situation playing that well should not have suffered through that moment. Alas, life is not fair. I feel a tinge of emptiness watching this game now. I don't know how the Pacers are playing with this much intensity, given everything. Obviously their mentality is beyond questioning, but it's just another reminder about the resolve of this team. Not a crisp response, but they are battling. Getty Images End Q1 - Thunder 25, Pacers 22 Even without Tyrese Haliburton, you have to expect Indiana to fight for 48 minutes. That was on display over the last few minutes. Pascal Siakam has been aggressive, scoring seven points on 3-of-6 shooting, and Haliburton had nine points before his injury. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with eight points, followed by five points from Chet Holmgren. Meanwhile, back on the basketball court, Sean Wright was winding up to call an offensive foul on Chet Holmgren before official James Capers on the other side called a block on T.J. McConnell. Oklahoma City leaves an uneven first quarter with a 25-22 lead. Getty Images It's really tough to continue thinking about this game with Tyrese Haliburton's injury, but that is what everybody on these two teams must do. After one quarter, the Thunder have a 25-22 lead. It's worth noting, though, that they've only scored six points in the final five minutes of the quarter since Haliburton went down. The Pacers are possibly the team best built to survive this type of thing. But this is going to be an incredibly tough test in the final three quarters. The evaluation, Jared: don't play with calf injuries... If the worst about Tyrese Haliburton's injury is to come to pass, three of the last four teams in the NBA Finals will be without their best playmaker for most or all of next season: Dallas (Kyrie Irving), Boston (Jayson Tatum) and Indiana (Haliburton). Getty Images If this Tyrese Haliburton injury is what we fear, it would be the THIRD torn Achilles tendon of the season for Indiana, after losing James Wiseman and Isaiah Jackson to the same injury in the opening weeks of the season. Dear NBA teams... STOP ALLOWING GUYS TO PLAY ON STRAINED CALVES!!!! Please!!!! There is a responsibility to save players from themselves. NBA Finals or not, this is not worth it. Getty Images This could be the third star to injure his Achilles in this postseason run, if that is indeed what just happened to Tyrese Haliburton. This is a devastating trend for the NBA that is going to need a substantial evaluation at the league level to understand why this keeps happening. This really sucks. These are the injuries you just hate to see. We always want stars to play through injuries and give their all to the team, but this ends up happening far too often. As Law mentioned, Kevin Durant did it in the NBA Finals six years ago. In Milwaukee this postseason, I watched Damian Lillard try to play through an injury and he ended up tearing his Achilles. It's absolutely brutal to see.


USA Today
38 minutes ago
- USA Today
Here are the 7 Ravens in the pressure cooker this season
A team this talented has pressure mounting, and we're identifying seven players with the most pressure. The Ravens retooled their roster, and after an active off-season, Baltimore is amid a Super Bowl window and feels confident after signing Derrick Henry to a contract extension. Baltimore added depth to a much-improved defense via the draft and Jaire Alexander and will debut a new kicker for the first time in over a decade. Baltimore has 25 players on offense, 25 on defense, and three specialists to round out a juggernaut of a roster on both sides of the football. A team this talented has pressure mounting, and we're identifying seven players with the most pressure. QB Lamar Jackson Lamar Jackson nearly won his third MVP award last season, and offensive coordinator Todd Monken believes the best is yet to come for his All-Pro quarterback. Last season, the 28-year-old Jackson set career highs in touchdown passes (41), passing yards (4,172), and quarterback rating (119.6) while throwing just four interceptions. Still, he's yet to reach a Super Bowl, and the pressure continues to mount. OL Andrew Vorhees Ronnie Stanley has All-Pro potential, Tyler Linderbaum is a Pro Bowler, Roger Rosengarten could earn a Pro Bowl nod in 2025, and Daniel Faalele was a Pro Bowl alternate in 2024. Vorhees was the initial starter at left guard in 2024 before suffering an injury and getting benched in favor of Patrick Mekari for Weeks 4 and 5, before the move was made permanent. The former USC star should get the nod heading into training camp, and he needs to perform. OLB David Ojabo Things can only go up for Ojabo after he played in 13 games last season. He has four sacks in his first three seasons, and it's now or never for the former Michigan pass rusher. DB Malaki Starks The Ravens got their man, pairing Georgia All-American defensive back Malaki Starks with All-Pro safety Kyle Hamilton. Baltimore was able to get a talented defensive back without having to trade up in the draft or part ways with assets. Washington should return from his Achilles injury at some point and can play safety and nickel. Marlon Humphrey plays outside and in the slot. Nate Wiggins and Chidobe Awuzie are on the outside. Starks played three seasons for the Bulldogs, recording 197 total tackles, 17 pass deflections, and six interceptions in his collegiate career. In the 2024 season, he had 77 total tackles, four for loss, and one interception. He was an All-American in 2023. OC Todd Monken Monken is entering his third season coaching Lamar Jackson and expects the quarterback's growth to continue and reach another level as he enters the prime of his career. The Ravens' OC will be tasked with maintaining the NFL's most explosive rushing attack, while taking advantage of a passing offense that now includes DeAndre Hopkins to the wide receiver trio and two elite tight ends. HC John Harbaugh Harbaugh has won over 62% of his games with a 172-104 win-loss total. He's above .500 during the postseason with a mark of 13-11. He's won a Super Bowl. Still, the NFL is a what have you done for me lately league and LB Trenton Simpson With Malik Harrison and Chris Board departing in free agency, John Harbaugh confirmed that Simpson would be first up in the battle at linebacker. Simpson was productive over Baltimore's first 11 games, logging 65 tackles (34 solo), but he was a liability in the passing game. Simpson was entirely out of the Ravens' inside-linebacker rotation following the Week 14 bye, and he was limited to special teams during Baltimore's two-game postseason run. Simpson finished the 2024 regular season with 73 tackles (40 solo), including 1.5 sacks, four pass defenses, and one fumble recovery across 17 games.