Eliav Gabay
I’d like to personally thank the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder for delivering a terrific NBA Finals.
The league’s parity was on full display this postseason and the new age of the NBA is in good hands.
This championship matchup had it all – unexpected heroes, elite coaching, electric fanbases, and overall gritty play from both squads.
Woven into the fabric of this championship series was great Arizonan representation on basketball’s biggest stage.
The first one that jumps off the page is Perry’s own Jalen Williams, who helped lead OKC to its first ever title with series averages of about 24 points, five rebounds, four assists, and one steal on 43% shooting (including a 40 burger in the Thunder’s Game 5 win).
“Jalen Williams is a once-in-a-lifetime player,” Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “This is just as much my MVP as it is his.”
Arizona State’s Luguentz Dort followed up his All-Defensive First Team campaign by being as reliable as ever for the Thunder.
The Dorture Chamber was the head of the snake of one of the best defenses the league has seen and without him, OKC simply does not accomplish what they have in the past few seasons, let alone win a championship.
Throughout the series, Arizona’s TJ McConnell earned himself a spot in Pacers lore with his big-time performances off the pine:
When Tyrese Haliburton went down with an Achilles injury in the first quarter of Game 7, outside of Pascal Siakam, it was Wildcats that stepped up.
McConnell rose to the occasion again, scoring the Pacers’ last 12 points in Q3 to keep hopes alive.
In the final period, Bennedict Mathurin showed again that seemingly no amount of pressure gets to him, scoring 24 points and grabbing 13 boards in the losing effort. Mathurin poured in 27 points in Indiana’s Game 3 victory too.
All that with the University of Arizona’s own Richard Jefferson on the broadcast as the sound track of this fantastic NBA Finals.
