NBA final: Oklahoma has his party ready and today he could be champion

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander attacks the hoop, before the look of Tyrese Haliburton.

Photo: AFP Agency

Today it can be a good day in Oklahoma. Hope in this city is breathed as heat in the asphalt. The streets have become halls towards an illusion. All televisions, tonight, will be tune in on the same channel, with all eyes put in Indianapolis. If tonight the Thunder beat the Pacers, they will be NBA champions. The city will not sleep. He doesn't want to.

There are those who grew up with the stories of Gary Payton and Shawn Kemp in Seattle, who still remember that 1996 final against the Bulls of Michael Jordan. Others keep in memory the 1978-79 season, when the Supersonics were crowned champions after beating the Washington Bullet 4-1.

Then, the team changed headquarters. There are those who fell in love with Durant's vertigo, Westbrook's rage and Harden's incipient beard, when they touched the glory in 2012. No one in Oklahoma has celebrated a ring. The franchise was born there in 2008, but its history began in 1967, like Supersonics. And although the 1979 title continues to count, it does not feel like its own. What Seattle lost, Oklahoma adopted him with faith, patiently. This Thursday may be the day that love finds reward.

Everything goes through Shai Gilgeous-Alexanderthe silent leader who became a star. Shai, the MVP of the current tempoorada, won the respect of the NBA. Throughout the season it has been the lighthouse of the team: elegant, efficient, relentless. It is the emotional compass of a young group that is not intimidated by the stage. If there is a responsible for Oklahoma to be one step away from the title, it is him.

In the fifth game, in which OKC set up 3-2 in the series against the Indiana Pacers, it was figure. However, the hero was Jalen Williamswith a monumental action of 40 points, their best record in these playoffs.

When Indiana cut an 18 -point advantage and put only two in the last quarter, it was Williams who nailed a decisive triple and then stole a ball that ended in a dump that turned off any attempt to comeback. Beside him, the rookie Cason Wallace added another key play and the defense closed like an old door that nobody manages to push.

Indiana, for the heroic

Los Pacers are not deliveredeven if the scenario is adverse. Rick Carlisle's team has demonstrated an admirable courage during all playoffs. However, again, they are against the strings. The defeat 120-109 in the fifth game left them 3-2 below in the series and now they must win yes or yes to force a seventh game that would be played on Sunday, in Oklahoma City. The task is titanic, and even more considering that its star, Tyrese HaliburtonIt is not in physical conditions to compete.

In the fifth game, Haliburton was a shadow. He barely played 21 minutes, left without points in the first half and ended with only four. He was uncomfortable, forcing gestures, limbing. A contracture in the right twin forced him to go through the locker room at the beginning of the meeting. Although medical reports indicate that he should not play tonight, Haliburton himself launched a phrase that is already a starter: “I have worked all my life for this. If I can walk, I can play”. We will see if that will is enough to change Indiana's fate.

For now, the offensive weight of the Pacers falls to Pascal Misswho scored 28 points in the fifth game, and in T.J. McConnellthat from the bank gave energy with 18 points and several moments lit. Even so, it was not enough to counteract the energy of the Thunder, a team that seems to have learned from their mistakes. Williams summarized him after the game: “In the first game it happened to us that we didn't know how to close. Now we understood how you win.”

Oklahoma k seller

That phrase condenses the path traveled by this team. Since Shai became the new face of the franchiseafter the departure of Westbrook in 2019, Oklahoma opted for slow, almost silent reconstruction. There were no media figures or large contracts. Boys arrived. Chet Holmgren arrived. Jalen Williams arrived. The work arrived. And little by little, without making noise, the team became fearsome. Today they are a victory to conquer their first title since Seattle left. And nobody sees it as a miracle, we are talking about the best team of the year.

The title, in Oklahoma, It's not just a drink. It is a way to close wounds. Of rewarding the years of defeats. Of transforming faith into joy. Tonight, in Indianapolis, a golden page can be written. And if it does not happen, if the Pacers lengthen the series in the seventh game, the Chesapeake Arena will be a volcano on Sunday. However, nobody wants to wait more.

Today it can be a good day in Oklahoma. Let it be or not, it depends on what happens in Indiana. But if something has demonstrated this team is that you are ready to embrace its moment. And that Shai, with the calm of who knows what is worth, is willing to lead them until the end.

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