Historic Finals: Small markets write big NBA story
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After nineteen years, the basketball world witnessed a unique moment - an NBA Finals without a single large market. The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers, two teams that have never won a title in their current cities, will clash in a David versus Goliath battle. Paradoxically, however, the Thunder with their 68 regular season wins play the role of Goliath this time. The Thunder with sixty-eight wins recorded the third-best regular season in NBA history, making them massive favorites with -700 odds for overall victory. The Pacers, conversely, held a 9-14 record in January and their presence in the Finals borders on miraculous. The eighteen-win difference between teams is the largest since 1981. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder to a dominant season averaging 32.7 points per game, earning him regular season MVP. If the Thunder win the title, he would break Jordan's 1993 record as the player with the highest scoring average for a champion. Thunder's playoff domin...