The Thunder’s pursuit of its first-ever NBA championship since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City remains alive. 

While the franchise did reach the mountaintop when the team called Seattle home in 1979, the team has yet to win a title since settling in OKC. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 35 points as OKC steamrolled the Denver Nuggets in Sunday’s Game 7 of the Western Conference Semifinals.

The 125-93 victory punched the Thunder’s ticket to the Western Conference Finals. OKC will meet the Minnesota Timberwolves in the conference finals, which begins on Tuesday.

TIMOTHÉE CHALAMET CELEBRATES WITH FANS IN NYC STREETS AFTER KNICKS ADVANCE TO EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS

Elswehere, the New York Knicks will face off against the Indiana Pacers in the NBA’s other conference finals. The Knicks haven’t won an NBA championship since 1973. The Pacers won their most recent title that year — in the ABA.

When Commissioner Adam Silver hands one of those teams the Larry O’Brien Trophy next month, it’ll mark a league first — seven championship franchises in a seven-year span.

May 18, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA;Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) shoots against the Denver Nuggets in the second half during game seven of the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center. (Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images)

There hasn’t been a back-to-back NBA champion since the Golden State Warriors won in 2017 and 2018. From there, the list of champions goes like this: Toronto in 2019, the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, Milwaukee in 2021, Golden State in 2022, Denver in 2023 and Boston last season.

It’s the longest such run of different champions in NBA history; Major League Baseball, the NHL and the NFL have all had longer ones, and not too long ago, either.

May 18, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Thunder guard Luguentz Dort (5) gestures after scoring against the Denver Nuggets in the second quarter during game seven of the second round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Paycom Center. (Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images)

Despite dealing with what ESPN reported as a “Grade 2 hamstring strain,” Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon played on Sunday. He finished the loss with 8 points during his 25 minutes on the court.

While the season is over for 26 of the NBA’s 30 clubs, the fun is just starting for the last four teams standing.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Andrew Friedman gave a longer answer Sunday morning when asked about the Dodgers’ recent — and, by the feel of it, familiar — pitching woes so far this year, the club’s president of baseball operations bemoaning another wave of injuries that has left the pitching staff shorthanded.

But the gist of his answer was in the two words he uttered at the start of it.

“Not fun,” he said.

In the Dodgers’ 6-4 loss to the Angels later in the day, it became even less so.

As things currently stand, Tony Gonsolin is effectively the No. 2 pitcher in the Dodgers’ rotation, thrust into such a prominent role with Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell and Roki Sasaki injured. But in a four-run, four-inning start, Gonsolin was derailed by his own physical issue, battling a bloody hand in a three-run first inning that put the Dodgers behind the eight ball.

The Dodgers rallied, erasing what grew to a 4-0 deficit on Shohei Ohtani’s RBI single in the fifth and Will Smith’s tying three-run home run in the seventh. But then a banged-up bullpen gave the Angels the lead right back, with Travis d’Arnaud going deep in the eighth against Anthony Banda — himself forced into a high-leverage role lately, despite a disappointing start to the year, because of injuries to Blake Treinen, Evan Phillips and Kirby Yates (who became the latest pitcher to hit the injured list on Sunday with a hamstring strain he suffered the night before).

Friedman argued the Dodgers’ injury problems this year don’t compare to the dire straits they navigated en route to last year’s World Series title. Unlike then, the team hasn’t suffered any season-ending losses. In the big picture, they remain confident they’ll have enough depth to mount a title defense.

And yet, the team hasn’t discovered the secret to better health. Their rotation problems are giving the bullpen an unsustainably grueling workload. And figuring out how to better protect the club’s expensive stable of arms is “by far the No. 1 thing that keeps me up at night,” Friedman said.

“I mean, everything from my brain is about what we can do, like, how we can solve this,” Friedman added, the self-described “deep dive” the organization took into pitching injuries this offseason having yet to yield better results. “It’s like a game of Whack-a-Mole, and things keep popping up. … The definition of enough depth, I think is a fool’s errand. I don’t know what enough depth means. I think more is always better with pitching depth.”

But, with the team now ranking 21st in the majors with a 4.22 team ERA, what they have currently certainly isn’t enough.

Dodgers pitcher Tony Gonsolin can’t field a ball hit by the Angels’ Luis Rengifo in the second inning Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

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After Gonsolin gave up a leadoff home run to Zach Neto on a sunny afternoon at Dodger Stadium, trainers came to the mound to check on the right-hander. As they examined his throwing hand, the television broadcast zoomed in on streaks of blood covering the backside of his pants.

While Gonsolin’s exact problem wasn’t immediately clear, the right-hander’s struggle to command the baseball quickly became obvious. With one out, he walked Yoán Moncada, looking visibly uncomfortable as he sprayed the ball wide of the zone. In a 2-and-0 count to his next batter, Taylor Ward, Gonsolin threw a fastball over the heart of the plate. Ward crushed it for a two-run homer.

Gonsolin settled down from there, giving up just one more run the rest of the way. But his pitch count never got back under control, requiring 97 total throws to complete the fourth.

It was already the 14th time in 47 games this season that a Dodgers starter failed to work into the fifth.

All those short starts have had a cascading effect on the bullpen. And pitchers such as Banda have had to compensate as a result.

Sunday’s outing marked Banda’s 21st appearance this year, becoming the fifth Dodgers reliever to reach that mark. Entering the day, no other team had more than three.

After pitching a clean seventh inning, Banda returned for the eighth and was bitten again by a common problem. In a 3-and-1 count against d’Arnaud, he threw a center-cut sinker that d’Arnaud crushed to left. It was Banda’s fifth home run yielded this year, tying the total he gave up in 48 appearances over all of last year. And this time, the Dodgers couldn’t answer back, getting tripped up by pitching problems again en route to the Angels’ first three-game Freeway Series sweep since 2010.

Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas shouts in frustration after striking out against the Angels in the seventh inning Sunday.

(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)

Indiana Fever star Caitlin Clark began her 2025 WNBA season with a triple-double in her team’s 93-58 rout of the Chicago Sky Saturday. 

During the game, Clark was called for a flagrant foul after a hard foul on her rival, Angel Reese.

The star Sky center was angry with the foul by Clark and went after her in a heated exchange broken up by Sky and Fever players. Clark walked away and never once looked at Reese as Reese continued to walk toward her. 

While it appeared tense on the court, Clark and Reese said the foul wasn’t as bad as it seemed after the game. 

“Let’s not make it something that it’s not,” Clark said after dropping 20 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. “It was just a good play on the basketball. I’m not sure what the ref saw to upgrade it, and that’s up to their discretion. 

“It’s a take foul to put them at the free throw line. I’ve watched a lot of basketball in my life. That’s exactly what it was. I wasn’t trying to do anything malicious. That’s not the type of player I am.”

ANGEL REESE, CAITLIN CLARK HAVE HEATED EXCHANGE AFTER HARD FOUL DURING SKY-FEVER GAME

During the play, Reese got an offensive rebound, and Clark appeared to motion toward the referee that the Sky center pushed off a fellow Fever player. Clark then fouled Reese intentionally, hugging her to prevent an easy layup. 

The ESPN broadcast debated whether Clark pushed Reese slightly with her left arm after committing the foul, which might have led to Reese’s angry reaction. 

Without elaborating, Reese called it a “basketball play” from Clark, a term both players have used in the past. 

Reese struggled shooting in her season debut, scoring 12 points on 5 of 14 from the field, while grabbing a game-high 17 rebounds. 

It was a brief moment, but considering the history between Clark and Reese, it’s another chapter in a rivalry that goes back to their college days. The Fever and Sky are now rivals because of the history between Clark and Reese.

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) passes around Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese (5) Saturday, May 17, 2025, at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The Indiana Fever defeated the Chicago Sky, 93-58. (Imagn)

Last season, the Fever took three of their four matchups, which included several hard fouls that led to national debate. 

Stephanie White, who got her first win as head coach of the Fever, also commented on Clark’s foul. 

“Nobody’s going to get anything easy against us,” White said. “We’re going to be a tough defensive team. I thought it was a clear play on the ball as well.”

“The foul on Clark met the criteria for flagrant foul 1, for wind up, impact and follow-through for the extension of the left hand to Reese’s back, which is deemed not a legitimate basketball play, and therefore deemed unnecessary contact,” crew chief Roy Gulbeyan said of Clark. 

“After the foul, there is a physical taunt technical on Boston and a verbal technical on Reese, which offset.”

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese (5) reacts to a flagrant foul by Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark (22) Saturday, May 17, 2025, during a game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.  (IMAGN)

The sold-out crowd at Gainbridge Fieldhouse cheered as Reese missed the first of her two free throws before Chicago retained the ball after the technical foul. 

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