Thirteen years later and the Thunder have made it again to the NBA Finals, after a dominating 124-94 victory over the Timberwolves in Game 5 of the Western Conference Final series, which ended 4-1 in their favor. In doing so, OKC just became the youngest roster to ever achieve this feat.
Oklahoma City‘s accomplishment means that the last time the league witnessed such a successful young squad was nearly 50 years ago, when the 1976–77 Portland Trail Blazers reached the final stages of the basketball competition.
The Thunder’s squad has an average age of only 25.56 years, which is only slightly more compared to Portland’s 25.03 during their championship campaign. Now the team awaits the winner of the Eastern Conference Finals, which the Pacers lead 3-1 over the Knicks.
“The focus through the distraction of a closeout game to go to the Finals is what was most impressive,” said OKC coach Mark Daigneault after last night’s win. “I mean, they were laser focused today, and that allowed our best to come to the surface.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who put up 34 points and eight assists throughout Game 5, praised their teamwork.”It almost seemed like we did everything we were supposed to do,” the league MVP expressed post match. “We made it tough on the guys we were supposed to make it tough on.”
He then added: “Well, I thought it was tough for everybody [on the Timberwolves]. We were clicking on all cylinders as far as what their tendencies are, what our game plan is, how we want to impact the game, how we want to impact the ball. Then from there, we were able to just run and have fun and be ourselves.”
While SGA dropped in 32 points in the first half only, matching Minnesota‘s total, teammate Chet Holmgren contributed with 22 points and co-star Jalen Williams with 19. The rest of the Thunder’s supporting cast, combined for 30 points in the half.
