By Nunnie Robinson, The Westside Gazette Sports Editor | May I opine, readers of my sports column? Do you recall a couple of weeks ago I predicted that the NBA finals would go at least 6 games, possibly 7 between the OKC Thunder and the Indianapolis Pacers, despite the prevailing belief by pundits and experts that the Thunder would dominate the Pacers in no more than 5 games. After witnessing the Pacers defeat Cleveland and New York, my gut said no way. That’s why you play the game. You know the rest: the Pacers win the first game away on a last second shot by Tyreese Haliburton, shocking the NBA world. The Pacers, after earning a split on the road, had the opportunity to take a 3-1 lead at home, but allowed the Thunder to tie series 2-2, while seeding home court advantage back to OKC. You know the rest. OKC won game 5 at home, the Pacers won game 6 at home, leading to the best 2 words in sports. – GAME SEVEN – won by the Thunder after Haliburton went down in the first quarter with an Achilles injury, leading to the Thunder’s first NBA championship. No one knows what would have happened if Haliburton hadn’t suffered that horrific injury; however, reality placed finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the elite company of greats Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neil and Kareem Abdul Jabbar as the only players to win the scoring title, the regular season MVP and the finals MVP in the same year. Haliburton’s injury will cause him to miss most or all of next season. I applaud his willingness to place the team ahead of his personal concerns.
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