Throughout the NBA season, the Oklahoma City Thunder seemed head and shoulders above every other team, especially in the Western Conference. They finished with a 68-14 record and put together a defense that is now being described as a historically great one.
After struggling to get past the Denver Nuggets in the second round of the playoffs, they dismantled the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the Western Conference finals. Game 5 on Wednesday was a rout, and Oklahoma City prevailed by a final score of 124-94 to advance to the NBA Finals.
Some people, including Los Angeles Lakers great Magic Johnson, were wondering if the young Thunder were truly ready to put themselves into position to contend for the world championship. After Game 5, Johnson took to X (formerly Twitter) to apologize for doubting Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and crew.
The Thunder are certainly one of the youngest teams in recent memory to reach the championship series. Gilgeous-Alexander, who was named the league MVP just days ago, is just 26 years of age, and almost every member of their rotation is in his 20s.
The only member of their team who plays significant minutes and isn’t in his 20s is Alex Caruso, the former Lakers guard who has been named to one of the NBA’s All-Defensive teams twice. He has come up big thus far in the playoffs on both ends of the floor, which has only exacerbated the pain Lakers fans have felt ever since the team let him leave in free agency in 2021.
Oklahoma City will face the winner of the Indiana Pacers–New York Knicks Eastern Conference final series for the world title beginning next Thursday.
