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Posts tagged as “SGA”

Chet Holmgren leads OKC in a win over Lakers (108 – 90)

AP on ESPN;

Chet Holmgren had 24 points and 12 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder routed the Los Angeles Lakers 108-90 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal series.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell each added 18 points for the Thunder. The defending champions improved to 5-0 in the playoffs, despite missing 2025 All-Star Jalen Williams with an injured left hamstring for the third straight game. The Thunder shot 49.4% from the field and made 13 of 30 3-pointers.

Oklahoma City will host Game 2 on Thursday.

It was a close game, with OKC holding only a 10-point lead entering the second half. The Lakers even cut the deficit to just four points (64–68) midway through the third quarter, but that’s when the Thunder stepped on the gas. They built a 12-point cushion heading into the fourth and were never threatened again.

Game highlights;

OKC Sweeps Phoenix Suns (131 – 122)

DAVID BRANDT – AP Sports Writer and as posted on NBA.com;

The Thunder closed the series with an overwhelming offensive performance – making 17 of 34 (50%) 3-pointers – and their big men played particularly well. The 7-foot-1 Holmgren shot 9 of 16 from the field and grabbed 12 rebounds, while the 7-foot Isaiah Hartenstein added 18 points and 12 rebounds, including seven on the offensive end.

OKC will face the winner of Lakers – Rockets match for their opponent in 2nd round of the NBA Playoffs.

Oklahoma City Thunder are the 2025 NBA Champions

The Oklahoma City Thunder defeated an undermanned Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy. Pacers are without their star Tyrese Haliburton who suffered a torn right Achilles tendon in the opening quarter of Game 7.

Even though the Pacers kept the game close in the first three quarters, it was apparent that the absence of Haliburton affected the team. In the final period of the game the Pacers were unable to score for four and a half minutes, by the time they made their first basket, OKC was already enjoying a 20-point lead with 7:29 remaining in the game.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lead the team with 29 points, 5 rebounds and 12 assists, he’s also took home the Bill Russell trophy for winning the Finals MVP. Aside from winning both the Regular Season and Finals MVP awards, Shai is also this year’s Scoring Champion with 32.7 ppg. Before this season, the feat of winning the Regular Season MVP, Finals MVP, and scoring title in one season had only been achieved by four players in NBA history: Jordan (four times), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1971, and Shaquille O’Neal in 2000.

Shai got a lot of help from Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren who scored 20 points and 18 points, respectively. Five OKC players scored double digits points the includes Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace who scored 10 points, apiece.

ICYMI: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the 2024-25 NBA Most Valuable Player

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander basically bagged the MVP award when OKC defeated the Nuggets in the semis of the Western Conference Playoff.

From NBA.Com;

A seven-year veteran, Gilgeous-Alexander won the NBA scoring title for the first time. He became the first player to lead the league in games with at least 20 points (75), 30 points (49), 40 points (13) and 50 points (four) in a season since James Harden in 2018-19.

Gilgeous-Alexander’s only regular-season game with fewer than 20 points was an 18-point performance against the San Antonio Spurs on Oct. 30, 2024. He scored at least 20 points in each of his final 72 games, the longest streak at any point in a single season since 1963-64 (when Wilt Chamberlain recorded an 80-game streak and Oscar Robertson had a 76-game streak).

The 6-foot-6 Gilgeous-Alexander shot 51.9% from the field, a career-high 37.5% from three-point range and 89.8% from the free throw line (sixth in the NBA). He made an NBA-leading 601 free throws and a personal-best 163 three-pointers, 68 more threes than his previous career high of 95, set last season.

Gilgeous-Alexander joined Michael Jordan as the only players in NBA history to average at least 32.0 points and 6.0 assists per game and shoot 50.0% or better from the field in a season. Jordan accomplished the feat twice, in the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons.

OKC are currently 2-1 against the Minnesota Timberwolves and are the favorites to come out of the West and to win the Larry O’Brien this year. You can view the complete voting results here.