Sports Poets Society

Kyle Terada/IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect  L'edificio federale Alfred P. Murrah distrutto nell'attentato del 1995  Shai Gilgeous Alexander, n. 2 dei Thunder.  Sua madre ha corso i 400 ai Giochi di Barcellona '92  I giocatori di Oklahoma con la maglietta che dedica la vittoria alla città. I Thunder battono Indiana in gara 7 e vincono il titolo nel ricordo delle 168 vittime dell'attentato che 30 anni fa colpì al cuore l'America EMANUELA AUDISIO La Repubblica - Martedì 24 giugno 2025 Pagina 41 Non ci sono stelle (star) nel cielo di Oklahoma, ma tuoni ( thunder ). Per la prima volta la squadra di basket della città, Oklahoma City Thunder (OCT), vince il titolo NBA, battendo in gara 7 gli Indiana Pacers (103-91) che devono quasi subito (dopo 7' in campo, ndr) fare a meno del loro asso Tyrese Haliburton. Avete capito bene: power to the people . Nessun big, nessun gigante dei canestri, niente LeBron James o Steph Curry e neanche Jayson Tatum. Ma solo lampi di felici...

GRACE SMITH/INDYSTAR -  Fans react to Indiana Pacers guard  Tyrese Haliburton going down with an injury on June 22. Pacers could taste title. Now, we’re all sick to our stomachs  25 Jun 2025 - The Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK Gregg Doyel Columnist   OKLAHOMA CITY – The locker isn’t empty, but almost. A small bag of chips on the cabinet, unopened. A few hangers on the overhead bar, empty. A rolling piece of black luggage nearby, zipped up and ready to go. If it belongs to Tyrese Haliburton — and this was his spot in the visitors’ locker room Sunday at Paycom Center, site of Game 7 of the 2025 NBA Finals — someone else will need to grab it. Haliburton left the locker room with his hands full. You know. The crutches. Haliburton and the Indiana Pacers are the talk of the NBA today, not the Oklahoma City Thunder, and that’s not the way these things normally go. Normally we celebrate our winners. The team that didn’t win — I’m not calling anyone in this series ...

TERRANCE WILLIAMS/ASSOCIATED PRESS - Dylan Harper, a guard out of Rutgers,  is a  strong candidate to go to San Antonio at No. 2 in the NBA draft — if the Spurs keep the selection. Ben Golliver mocks the lottery selections, including the Wizards’ pick at No. 6. How the lottery picks unfold after No. 1 is anyone’s guess 25 Jun 2025 The Washington Post BY BEN GOLLIVER NEW YORK — Let’s count the ways this year’s NBA draft will be defined by unexpected twists and turns. One: Cooper Flagg , the consensus favorite to be the No. 1 pick, is only draft-eligible because he opted to graduate high school in three seasons. The 18-year-old do-everything forward, who led Duke to the Final Four this spring as a freshman, is on track to become the youngest top pick since Lebron James in 2003. Two: The Dallas Mavericks earned the right to select Flagg even though they were slotted 11th in the draft lottery order and had just a 1.8 percent chance to receive the top pick. Instead of spending the ...

ILLUSTRATION BY ARTUR GALOCHA/ THE WASHINGTON POST; ASSOCIATED PRESS AND GETTY IMAGES PHOTOS - Clockwise from top left, Stephen Curry, Obi Toppin, Buddy Hield, Mo Bamba and Marcus Smart have been available with the sixth selection of the NBA draft. How hard is it to find a star at No. 6? The recent track record is sobering. 25 Jun 2025 - The Washington Post BY VARUN SHANKAR AND ARTUR GALOCHA What should the Washington Wizards expect from their first pick — No. 6 overall — in this year’s NBA draft? It is difficult to project, given the unpredictable development curves of 19-, 20- and 21-yearolds. But looking backward can offer a better idea of the range of outcomes for the player Washington selects. The Washington Post examined the career outcomes for players selected from No. 6 through 10 (the tier of prospects the Wizards will choose from Wednesday night) from 2006 to 2020. (The past four drafts were omitted to avoid analyzing players whose roles in the NBA remain unclear.) The resu...

24 Jun 2025 Jenni Carlson Columnist The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK Tucked in the far back corner of the temporary stage covered in blue and orange confetti, Mark Daigneault positioned himself as far as possible from the action, the interviews, the cameras and the celebration. Leaning on the railing, he looked like he could’ve been observing a November shootaround. It was an NBA Finals coronation instead. Make no mistake, the Thunder coach was excited, thrilled, enthused — “I’m just so happy for the guys,” he said — and why wouldn’t he have all the feels after a 103-91 triumph over the Pacers? But Daigneault’s disappearing act to the back of the stage was telling. Even with the second-youngest team to ever win an NBA title, a bunch so young that several of its core players were old enough to drink the celebration champaign Sunday night but wouldn’t have been old enough to rent a car Monday morning, Daigneault never treated them like youngsters. He enabled them. He held them accountable...

CHRISTINE TANNOUS/INDYSTAR  -  Pacers forward Aaron Nesmith (23) fouls  Thunder  guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) during Game 7 of the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City. 24 Jun 2025 Dustin Dopirak, Pacers Insider The Indianapolis Star USA TODAY NETWORK OKLAHOMA CITY – Tyrese Haliburton was standing just a few feet back from the spot where he stumbled and fell on a drive in Game 5 of the NBA Finals when he began the drive that would end his season. With just more than 5 minutes to go in the first quarter of Game 7, the Pacers All-Star point guard caught a pass from teammate Obi Toppin a few feet above the 3-point arc and tried to push off of his right foot to drive and immediately crumpled to the floor again. In Game 5 -- though clearly hobbled with what was later diagnosed as a right calf strain -- he got up. This time, he didn’t. Haliburton still had enough presence of mind to try to pass the basketball instead of simply taking a travel, but once he let it go and the Thu...

Fans cheer in the fourth quarter during Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center on June 22. Some of the Thunder’s most loyal fans have waited 17 long years for the organization’s first championship. NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN of the Thunder’s most loyal fans have waited 17 long years for the organization’s first championship. NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN of the Thunder’s most loyal fans have waited 17 long years for the organization’s first championship. NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN Fans cheer in the fourth quarter during Game 7 of the NBA Finals at Paycom Center on June 22. Some of the Thunder’s most loyal fans have Scott Wright 24 Jun 2025 - The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK In between moments of reaching across aisles to hug his neighbors in the baseline seats of Paycom Center, Thundor raised his hands high — his OKC Thunder megaphone in his right hand and only his index finger extended on the left. With the Larry O'Brien Trophy painted on his belly, he and 18,202 of his close...

NATHAN J. FISH/THE OKLAHOMAN Oklahoma City guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, right,  only had  one  turnover  in Game 7, which marked his lowest total of the series. Justin Martinez 24 Jun 2025 - The Oklahoman USA TODAY NETWORK After 17 seasons of Thunder basketball, it finally rained inside Paycom Center. Blue-and-orange confetti fell from the rafters as the final buzzer sounded Sunday. It solidified the OKC Thunder’s 103-91 win over the Indiana Pacers in Game 7 of the NBA Finals. Indiana fans took shelter by heading toward the exits, leaving nothing but a sea of blue in the stands. Meanwhile, OKC’s players shielded themselves by throwing on T-shirts with large text across the front. NBA champions. For the first time since the franchise’s inception in 2008, OKC has won the NBA championship. And after recording 29 points and 12 assists in the closeout game, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the Finals MVP. That marked the completion of the hat trick for the Canadian-born super...