Indiana Fever phenom Caitlin Clark is taking her “logo threes” energy to the broadcast booth. NBC announced that Clark will join the Basketball Night in America team as a special contributor for two (2) NBA games; February 1st and March 29th, at the Madison Square Garden, New York City.
February 1 Game: Los Angeles Lakers vs. New York Knicks
March 29 Game: New York Knicks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder
Clark will provide pregame analysis alongside host Maria Taylor and a legendary trio: Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, and Tracy McGrady.
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.
SGA IS AWARDED THE BILL RUSSELL TROPHY AS THE NBA FINALS MVP 🏆
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.
#KiaMVP Scoring Champ WCF MVP NBA Finals MVP Champion
The Indiana Pacers routed the OKC Thunder to force a Game 7 in the 2025 NBA Finals. The Pacers had a slow start, being down 2–10, but then went on a 26–15 run to close the 1st quarter with a 28–25 lead. In the second quarter, the Pacers tightened their defense by limiting the Thunder to just 17 points while scoring 36. The quarter was punctuated by a Haliburton steal and a no-look pass to Siakam, who posterized Jalen Williams with a jam.
It was a total team effort for the Pacers, with six players scoring in double figures. Tyrese Haliburton, who was playing with a strained calf aggravated in Game 5, had 14 points and 5 assists. Obi Toppin scored a team-high 20 points, with 4-of-7 from the 3-point line off the bench. Despite having the tough assignment of guarding league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he was able to score 17 points and 4 assists. Pascal Siakam added 16 points and 13 rebounds.
The second half was no different from the first. The Pacers again limited OKC to just 18 points in the 3rd period while building a 30-point lead entering the 4th quarter. By the start of the 4th, OKC Head Coach Mark Daigneault took out most of his starting lineup. Even though they managed to score 31 points in the final period and limited the Pacers to just 18 points, the lead was too much for OKC to overcome.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led OKC with a modest 21 points, followed by Jalen Williams with 16 points, after scoring 40 points in Game 5.
Game Highlights
This will be the first Game 7 in the NBA Finals since 2016, and it will be in Oklahoma City this Sunday. History will be on OKC’s side, as home teams are 15-4 in Finals Game 7s, but the last team to win a Game 7 was the visiting team.
The Pacers are two games away from hoisting the Larry O’Brien in Indiana. They defeated the OKC Thunder with big contributions from the bench players, particularly Bennedict Mathurin and T.J. McConnell.
Mathurin led the Pacers with 27 points, followed by Tyrese Haliburton, who was one rebound away from a triple-double with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 11 assists. Pascal Siakam added 21 points and 6 rebounds. But it was McConnell’s presence on the defensive end that made the difference; he scored 10 points and added 5 steals, an NBA Finals record.
It was a very close game, where the biggest lead by either team was just 9 points. But in the 4th quarter, the Indiana Pacers tightened their defense and limited Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to just 3 field goal attempts and OKC as a team to just 18 points against the 32 points by the Pacers.
"HE'S DONE IT AGAIN!"
Andrew Nembhard gets the bucket and T.J. McConnell snatches the inbound and turns it into two more 🔄 pic.twitter.com/4YsYOtRn0V
Except for Cason Wallace, every OKC starter had double-digit points, led by Jalen Williams with 26 points and 6 rebounds, while the league MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, scored 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 assists. Chet Holmgren added 20 points and 10 rebounds. But that same OKC team was limited by the Pacers’ defense to just 7 points in the last 5 minutes of the game.
Game 4 will still be at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indiana, where OKC will try to even the series and prevent the Pacers from going up 3-1 in the NBA Finals.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will advance to the 2025 NBA Finals waiting for the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and Pacers. The OKC took control of the game early and ended it in the first half where the Thunder build a 33-point lead at the half. The last time OKC went to the NBA Finals was in the 2011–12 season, with a young Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Recently crowned league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander lead OKC with 34 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in just 34 mins of playtime. Chet Holmgren added 22 points, 7 rebounds with 3 blocks. Jalen Williams and Luguentz Dort added 19 points and 12 points, respectively. OKC need 4 more win to take home the Larry O’Brien trophy. The last time OKC went to the NBA Finals was in the 2011–12 season, with a young Kevin Durant, James Harden and Russell Westbrook.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the recipient of the Michael Jordan Trophy as the 2024-25 Kia NBA Most Valuable Player. pic.twitter.com/kubWerv2OG
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.
After a slow start, Steph Curry and the Warriors just secured another win to keep them out of the Play-in tournament.
Both team played little to no defence in the first half, OKC was able to score 79 points in the first two qtr, while the GSW scored 69 points. Warriors Coach Steve Keer have nothing but praises for OKC during the Postgame Interview.
In the second half, Golden State;’s defense improved by limiting the Thunder to just 27 points in the 3rd and 19 in the 4th qtr, while maintaining offense. Even thought the Warriors are without Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, who scored a team high of 34 points, with six 3-pointers, had a lot of help most notably from Jordan Poole, scoring 30 points, on a 42% field goal and making five 3-pointers, then there’s Moses Moody, who contributed 13 points from the bench, Draymond Green chipped-in 17 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and a pair of blocks and steals.
The win moves the Warrior in the 5th place, two place above the 7th place and out of the play-in tournament, and just 1 game ahead of the LA Clippers and Lakers, who are currently in the 6th and 7th place, respectively.
After scoring 21 points in the first half, OKC Superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander finished the game with 32 points, making only 11 points for the rest of the game. Rookie Jalen Williams added 19 points but the Thunder still lost their third game in a row and fourth out of five.
OKC will visit Utah for their last two games of the season, as they try to salvage their season to be in the play-in tournament.
Golden State Warriors will be at Sacramento on Friday night, which can be a preview in the 1st round of the playoffs between the 6th and 3rd seed of the Western Conference.
Steph Curry (34 PTS) & Jordan Poole (30 PTS) Combine For 64 Points
