Game 7: After a back-and-forth NBA Finals, it’s time for the Thunder and Pacers to decide the title

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Oklahoma City Thunder coach Mark Daigneault knows exactly why the NBA Finals are coming down to a Game 7.

“It’s a contest of wills,” he said.

And to this point, neither side has lost its will.

Back and forth they have gone, the Thunder and the Indiana Pacers. Indiana led the series, then Oklahoma City tied it, then Indiana retook the lead, then Oklahoma City tied it again, then it was the Thunder who moved one win away and then the Pacers knotted the matchup for a third time.

After all that, Game 7.

It happens Sunday, with tipoff at 8:07 p.m. Eastern, for the NBA title. After six games – some close, some blowouts, the teams alternating who is in control of the series – there clearly is a mutual admiration between the clubs.

“It’s two teams where the whole is better than the sum of the parts,” Daigneault said. “It’s two teams that are highly competitive. Two teams that play together. Two teams that kind of rely on the same stuff for their success that are squaring off against each other.”

It is the 20th Game 7 in NBA Finals history. Home teams went 15-4 in the previous 19. Indiana is seeking its first NBA title; Oklahoma City would say the same, although the franchise won the 1979 title when the team played in Seattle.

And the winner will become the seventh different champion in the last seven seasons, a run of parity like none other in NBA history. Pacers forward Pascal Siakam was part of the Toronto team that won in 2019, Thunder guard Alex Caruso was part of the Los Angeles Lakers team that won in the pandemic “bubble” in 2020, Milwaukee won in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Pacers forward Thomas Bryant and Denver prevailed in 2023 and Boston won last year’s title.

Late Sunday night, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will hand the Larry O’Brien Trophy to either the Thunder or Pacers – one of whom will become the ninth franchise to win a title in Silver’s 12 seasons leading the league. His predecessor, David Stern, saw eight different franchises win championships in his 30 seasons as commissioner.

“You never know how it’s going to go,” Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said. “I’d be lying if I said this has gone exactly as I expected because each playoff series, each game is a different thing. Each game takes on a different personality, has different characteristics. Different guys step up. Different situations happen, etc. The truth is that nothing else previous to this matters at all now. We’re just down to one game and one opportunity. We’re really looking forward to it.”