Powered by young star talent and deep rosters, the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers open the NBA finals on Friday, June 6 (Philippine time), each trying to bring their city a first-ever crown.
Oklahoma, fancied by oddsmakers after an NBA-high 68 regular-season wins, will host Game 1 in the best-of-seven championship series.
Both teams are fast-paced squads with young star point guards, 26-year-old NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for the Thunder and Indiana’s 25-year-old Tyrese Haliburton.
The Pacers seek the first NBA crown in their 58-year history while the Thunder, who moved from Seattle in 2008, took the franchise’s only title as the SuperSonics in 1979.
“It’s a new blueprint for the league,” Pacers center Myles Turner said. “The years of the superteams and stacking, it’s not as effective as it once was.
“The new trend now is kind of what we’re doing. OKC does the same thing. Young guys, get out and run, defend and use the power of friendship.”
Oklahoma City’s only prior NBA Finals appearance was in 2012, when Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook lost to LeBron James-led Miami.
Indiana’s only prior trip to the NBA finals came in 2000, a loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Pacers also won three 1970s titles in the American Basketball Association, which sent four teams into the NBA in 1976.
Gilgeous-Alexander would become the first league scoring champion to win an NBA title in the same season since 2000, when Shaquille O’Neal led the Lakers past the Pacers.
“SGA” averaged 32.7 points, 6.4 assists, five rebounds, 1.7 steals, and a blocked shot a game in leading the Thunder to the NBA’s best regular-season record at 68-14.
With forwards Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander has formed a formidable trio. The Thunder swept Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, outlasted Nikola Jokic-powered Denver in seven games, then dispatched Minnesota in five.
The Pacers went 50-32 behind 20.2 points and 6.9 rebounds a game from Pascal Siakam and 18.6 points, 9.2 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.4 steals a game by Haliburton, who helped the USA win Paris Olympic gold last year.
“What makes him very good is that he’s very confident,” Williams said of Haliburton. “It makes him a very dangerous individual.”
Indiana eliminated Milwaukee and Cleveland in five games each and took out New York in six.
Oklahoma beat Indiana twice in the regular season with Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 39 points, eight assists and seven rebounds, while Haliburton struggled, averaging 11 points, three rebounds and 5.5 assists.
The Thunder dominated defensively, leading the playoffs with 18 turnovers forced and 10.8 steals a game plus a 42.6 percent opponent shooting percentage from the floor.
The Pacers, however, average 117.4 points a game in the playoffs and own the top shooting percentage overall at 49.7 percent and from three-point range at 40.1 percent. (Agence France-Presse)