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Oklahoma City (AP) – Mark Daigneault, coach of Oklahoma City Thunder, knows exactly why the NBA Finals come down to a match 7.
“It’s a competition of wills,” he said.
And so far, no side has lost its will.
Back and forth they went, The Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Indiana led the series, when Oklahoma City tied it up, when Indiana withheld the lead, then Oklahoma City tied it up again, then it was the thunder that moved one victory away and when the Pacers knocked the match for a third time.
This happens on Sunday, with Tipoff at 20:07 hours East for the NBA title. After six games – some of a few blowing out, the teams ranging from the series – there is clearly a mutual admiration between the clubs.
“These are two teams where the whole is better than the sum of the parts,” Daigneault said. “These are two teams that are very competitive. Two teams playing together. Two teams that rely on the same things for their success that come down against each other. ‘
This is the 20th game 7 in NBA Finals history. Home teams led 15-4 in the previous 19. Indiana is looking for his first NBA title; Oklahoma City would say the same, although the franchise won the title of 1979 when the team played in Seattle.
And the winner becomes the seventh different champion in the past seven seasons, a series of parity like no one else in NBA history. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, the Thunder -guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won “Bubble” in the pandemic in 2020. Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver won in 2023.
Late Sunday night, NBA commissioner Adam Silver will hand over the Larry O’Brien trophy to the Thunder of Pacers -one of which will become the ninth franchise to win a title in Silver’s 12 seasons ahead. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight different franchises win as commissioner championships in his thirty seasons.
“You never know how it’s going,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “I would lie if I say that it was exactly as I expected, because every play -off series, every game is a different thing. Each game takes on a different personality, has different qualities. Different guys act. Different situations happen, etc. The truth is that nothing else is for this. We are now only until one game and one opportunity. We are really looking forward to it. ‘
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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba
