The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the hunt for their first-ever NBA Championship, a quest that’s been ongoing since the franchise relocated from Seattle in 1979. Although they reached the pinnacle while in Seattle, they’ve yet to secure a title since their move to OKC. In an impressive Game 7 performance during the Western Conference semi-finals, Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35 points, helping lead his team to a decisive victory over the Denver Nuggets.
The 125-93 win allowed the Thunder to advance to the Western Conference Finals, where they will face the Minnesota Timberwolves starting Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the New York Knicks are set to go up against the Indiana Pacers in the other conference finals. It’s been quite a while for the Knicks, as they haven’t claimed an NBA Championship since 1973, while the Pacers were the latest champions in the ABA.
This year marks an interesting point in the league, as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will present the Larry O’Brien Trophy next month, representing a historic seventh different champion in seven years.
Notably, there haven’t been any back-to-back champions in the NBA since the Golden State Warriors claimed titles in 2017 and 2018. The list of champions since then includes the Raptors in 2019, the Lakers in 2020, the Bucks in 2021, and both the Nuggets and Celtics in 2023. This creates the longest streak of diverse champions in NBA history—a remarkable shift, really, when you compare it to leagues like Major League Baseball or the NHL that have had similar diversity but not quite at this length.
Despite the Nuggets facing challenges, including a reported Grade 2 hamstring strain affecting one of their players, they managed to put up a fight on Sunday, although they fell short, with one player scoring eight points in 25 minutes of play.
As we enter the final stages of the playoffs, only four teams remain, while the majority of the league has already completed their seasons. It’s an exciting time, and it’ll be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
