SGA, Thunder look to clinch NBA title in Game 6 against Pacers
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander does up to score against the Indiana Pacers during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Finals basketball series, Monday, June 16, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
INDIANAPOLIS — The NBA season could end on Thursday night.
It's Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with the Oklahoma City Thunder leading the Indiana Pacers 3-2 in the title series. Game 6 is in Indianapolis and Game 7, if necessary, will be Sunday.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder are one win away from becoming NBA champions. And Gilgeous-Alexander is on the cusp of a nearly unprecedented season when it comes to individual honors.
He is the favorite to win NBA Finals MVP. He already has won the NBA MVP award for this season, meaning he could be the first double MVP since LeBron James did it with Miami in 2011-12 and 2012-13.
It could get even better. Gilgeous-Alexander is also the reigning scoring champion, meaning an even more exclusive club may await him. Only three players in NBA history have won MVP, Finals MVP, a scoring title and a championship in the same season: Michael Jordan did it four times, and Shaquille O'Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it once each.
Gilgeous-Alexander could join them if the Thunder win this series.
The Pacers got good news a couple of hours before Game 6 when guard Tyrese Haliburton — who is battling a strained calf that flared up in Game 5 — was cleared to play.
'We got a job to do tonight,' Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. 'We've got to get ready to battle a team that has been the best team in the league all year long. It's a tough game. It's an elimination game. There's a lot going on.'
Thursday is also the 25th anniversary of the end of Indiana's last appearance in the NBA Finals. On June 19, 2000, O'Neal finished off that MVP Finals/MVP-scoring champion/league-champion season when he and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Pacers in Game 6.
If the Pacers avoid that fate Thursday and force a Game 7, it will be Sunday in Oklahoma City.
Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
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