Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scores 29 points as the Thunder beat Pacers in Game 7 to win NBA title

OKLAHOMA CITY - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished off his MVP season with 29 points and 12 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship, pulling away in the second half to beat the Indiana Pacers 103-91 on Sunday night.

Jalen Williams scored 20 and Chet Holmgren had 18 for the Thunder, who were pushed to a Game 7 brink in the NBA Finals — but finished off a season for the ages. Oklahoma City 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.

It’s the second championship for the franchise. The Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979; the team was moved to Oklahoma City in 2008. There’s nothing in the rafters in Oklahoma City to commemorate that title.

Next October, a championship banner is finally coming. A Thunder banner.

It was not easy to secure.

The Pacers led 48-47 at the half even after losing star guard Tyrese Haliburton to what his father said was an Achilles tendon injury about seven minutes into the game. But they were outscored 34-20 in the third quarter as the Thunder built a 13-point lead and began to run away.

Bennedict Mathurin had 24 points and 13 rebounds for Indiana, which still is waiting for its first NBA title. The Pacers — who were 10-15 after 25 games and were bidding to be the first team in NBA history to turn that bad of a start into a championship — had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the series, but they simply didn’t have enough in the end.

Home teams are now 16-4 in NBA Finals Game 7s. And the Thunder became the seventh champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history.

Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic "bubble" in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023, and Boston won last year’s title.

The Thunder are the ninth franchise to win a title in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver 12 seasons leading the league. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight franchises win titles in his 30 seasons as commissioner.

The other side:

Indiana Pacers fans arrived at Gainbridge Fieldhouse ready to celebrate their first NBA title.

Seven minutes into the game came the hush.

As star point guard Tyrese Haliburton fell to the floor in Oklahoma City on Sunday night with what his father, John, later called an Achilles tendon injury, fans gasped as the replay was shown and they saw the anguished look on John Haliburton's face.

The moment may go down as another cruel chapter in the franchise's long, painful history.

"Absolutely not what we wanted to see but you know what he’s going to want. He’s going to want this team to continue to fight," Chris Denari, the Pacers' television play-by-play announcer, said to tempered cheers. "He is the leader of this team. We know what he’s meant since he arrived from Sacramento and he’s going to need all of our thoughts and prayers, but he is going to want this team to fight and win an NBA title."

The Pacers didn't stay down long.

As the Pacers fought through the loss of Haliburton, the near-sellout crowd had raucous reactions to each Pacers 3-pointer, Thunder foul or turnover.

It is Indiana, after all.

But these fans are also plenty familiar with what happened Sunday.

Since the ABA powerhouse joined the NBA in 1976-77, it has endured seemingly every imaginable and unimaginable setback: the 1977 telethon that saved the team, the Malice in the Palace that cost Reggie Miller his last title shot, the near-misses against LeBron James more than a decade ago and last year's Eastern Conference finals sweep as the injured Haliburton watched the last two games from the bench.

There's also the injury legacy. Danny Granger, Paul George and Victor Oladipo all appeared to be ascending when their careers were derailed by injuries, and now the fear is Haliburton could join that list.

How painful has it been to be a Pacers fan? Just ask 27-year-old Anthony Brehob, who came dressed in a No. 55 Roy Hibbert jersey and had big expectations before tip-off.

"Heartbreaking," Brehob said, describing the back-to-back conference finals losses to James and the Heat in 2013 and 2014. "I’m expecting a close game, and I’m really hoping Haliburton pulls it off at the end. If they lose, it’s going to be a long night."

The Pacers' effort brought the crowd back into it. Indiana fought through Haliburton's injury, rekindling thoughts of another comeback story from the state that produced "Hoosiers."

Pregame lines snaked around the arena for more than an hour and with the roaring crowd and familiar soundtracks, it was hard to tell if the first Game 7 in an NBA Finals since 2016 was being played in Indy — or nearly 800 miles away in Oklahoma City.

"This is like triple what it was, and they won it that year," 53-year-old Rick McNeely said after making the journey from Dayton, Ohio, to Indy, comparing this trip to the one he made to Chicago when Michael Jordan won his last title. "I think it's because this is Indiana."