June 5: Oklahoma City 110 - 111 Indiana
June 8: Oklahoma City 123 - 107 Indiana
June 11: Indiana 116 - 107 Oklahoma City
June 13: Indiana 104 - 111 Oklahoma City
June 16: Oklahoma City 120 - 109 Indiana
June 19: Indiana 108 - 91 Oklahoma City
I'm not convinced that either of these teams will go down as one of the all-time greats -- although OKC is both very young and very good -- but this series has been very good, and tonight marks a fitting end to the sports year. LSU wrapped up its eighth College World Series title today, so the NBA is the only title left for the 2024-25 season.
This is only the fifth time in the 21st century that the NBA finals have gone to Game Seven. Here are the other results (home team listed first):
06/23/05: San Antonio 81 - 74 Detroit
06/17/10: Los Angeles 83 - 79 Boston
06/20/13: Miami 95 - 88 San Antonio
06/19/16: Golden St. 89 - 93 Cleveland
So we should expect a low-scoring, physical game. Vegas expects OKC to win by 6 1/2 points in a game with 214 1/2 points scored, which would work out to something like a 111-104 win for the Thunder. That seems high to me in terms of the total score, but we'll see what happens.
It's always poignant to come to the end of a sports year. Last year was a leap year, so we had the Olympics to look forward to. But this year, we will have two months of (mostly) quiet for sports fans, until Texas goes to Ohio State on August 30 to begin the new year. So I'm hoping for a great game tonight.
Here are the starters:
INDIANA PACERS:
Pascal Siakam, 6' 8", 245 lbs., Power Forward (New Mexico St.)
Aaron Nesmith, 6' 6", 215 lbs., Small Forward (Vanderbilt)
Myles Turner, 6' 11", 250 lbs., Center (Texas)
Andrew Nembhard, 6' 4", 191 lbs., Point Guard (Gonzaga)
Tyrese Haliburton, 6' 5", 185 lbs., Point Guard (Iowa St.)
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER:
Chet Holmgren, 7' 1", 208 lbs., Power Forward (Gonzaga)
Jalen Williams, 6' 5", 211 lbs., Forward (Santa Clara)
Isaiah Hartenstein, 7' 0", 250 lbs., Center (Played in Europe)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 6' 6", 195 lbs., Point Guard (Kentucky)
Luguentz Dort, 6' 4", 220 lbs., Guard (Arizona St.)
Neither the Thunder nor the Pacers has ever won the NBA title.
ReplyDeleteOKC isn't messing around. They roll about Kristin Chenoweth (of Broken Arrow, Okla.) to do the Anthem.
ReplyDeleteAfter the NBA announced that Indy couldn't wear its alternative uniforms for the Conference Finals, the Pacers have played every game in their standard gold uniforms. They are wearing that uniform again tonight. The Thunder are wearing their standard blue uniform, which to me looks like a road uniform, even though OKC is at home.
ReplyDeleteWith 6:58 left in the 1st, Indy leads 14-10. Tyrese Haliburton already has nine points.
ReplyDeleteWith 4:55 left in the first, and game tied at 16, Haliburton collapses in pain. It appears that his calf, which has been troubling him for the past week -- may have gone out on him. He literally beats the floor in frustration. That is hard to watch.
ReplyDelete"Art But Make It Sports" reminds us that he does not do memes of injuries, which seems like a good policy to me.
ReplyDeleteScottie Pippen tweets: "NBA Finals . . . Game 7? Never heard of it."
ReplyDeleteHaliburton is helped from the floor. He is limping and in severe pain.
ReplyDelete