Oklahoma City Thunder advance to NBA Finals

Just three years after finishing with one of the worst records in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are now best in the West.

Just three years after they finished with one of the worst records in the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are now best in the West.

The Thunder beat the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday, 124-94, to win their conference finals in five games and advance to the team’s first NBA Finals since 2012.

Oklahoma City will face Indiana or New York; the Pacers hold a 3-1 series lead. No matter its Finals opponent, Oklahoma City will host Games 1 and 2 by virtue of its top playoff seed, on June 5 and June 8. It would also host Games 5 and 7, if necessary, on June 16 and June 22.

Oklahoma City led by as many as 39 points to turn an otherwise tense deciding game Wednesday into a blowout, led by 34 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who last week was named the NBA's Most Valuable Player.

Gilgeous-Alexander shoots against Timberwolves guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker on Monday.Matt Krohn / APEven by the standards of the NBA, where franchises’ fortunes and windows to win championships can change quickly, Oklahoma City’s rebuild that has returned it in the Finals has taken place with stunning speed. In 2021, it won 22 games during a Covid-shortened season, the fourth-worst record in the NBA and the franchise’s fewest victories since it moved from Seattle to Oklahoma in 2008. The next year it won 24 games — 40 fewer than Phoenix on its way to the West’s No. 1 playoff seed.