Oklahoma City is about to win their first championship, and there are no signs of them slowing down anytime soon. They made quick work of the Minnesota Timberwolves, cleaning them up in five games. That was unexpected, but also not at the same time. Anthony Edwards and co. looked like they had the type of players who matched up well against the Thunder. That was not the case.
There was a clear upgrade in class when Minny sat across from OKC, and we all witnessed it. The fact that the T-Wolves got a game off this squad and did it in the fashion they did, blowing them out by 40+ points, is more headscratching than ever now. These last couple of games really highlighted the difference between the two squads, and it wasn't even close.
San Antonio is gearing up to begin their playoff residence. They'll once again be mainstays in the postseason once they get there next year. But their climb back to the top is going to have to go through Oklahoma, and it'll be like that for a while.
The Thunder are still young and getting better
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I know they still have another series to play, and I'll be locked in and rooting for the Indiana Pacers every step of the way. While the Pacers still need to dispatch the Knicks, it's only a matter of time. There's no way that team comes back from being down 3-1 to make it to their first NBA Finals for the first time since the Spurs whipped them for the first organizational title in 1999. They're not built like that.
It's a foregone conclusion how the Eastern Conference Finals will resolve. But the same can be said for the championship series. OKC looks to be inevitable right now, and while that line was popularized by a villain in Thanos who eventually lost, it wasn't until after he won in the biggest way we've seen on a movie screen. For those who've forgotten, he wiped out half the universe.
That's what the Thunder are doing right now. They've run through half of the NBA universe, ripping through the Western Conference like it was nothing. The only team to give them trouble was the Denver Nuggets, but they have Nikola Jokic, who has already solidified himself as a top-20 player ever to play this sport. The Pacers don't have that.
It will take a player like Victor Wembanyama and an organization as put-together as the San Antonio Spurs to knock them off that perch. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is only 26 years old, just won MVP of the league, snatched MVP of the Western Conference Finals, and will undoubtedly win MVP of the NBA Finals.
There hasn't been a player to win MVP in both the regular season and the NBA Finals since LeBron James in the fateful 2013 Finals. He's a special player with a game that will age well. The next best players on the team are under 25 years old, and one of them (Jalen Williams) is already an all-star.
It's not going to get easier to deal with them with Sam Presti at the helm, so the Spurs better be ready to [battle it out with them](https://airalamo.com/spurs-face-daunting-western-gauntlet-climb-back-glory) for the foreseeable future.