Regardless of Opponent, OKC Track Record Demonstrates Strength Versus Eastern Conference

The Oklahoma City Thunder has advanced to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2011-12, marking the second time in franchise history since relocating from Seattle to Oklahoma City.

It's been an exceptional, historic season for this young group, and it hasn't stopped in the postseason. This OKC squad is the youngest team to ever make the NBA Finals with an average age of just over 25 years.

Going through the Memphis Grizzlies, led by Ja Morant for just three games, before heading through a gauntlet of Nikola Jokic's Denver Nuggets in the second round followed by a third-round series against Anthony Edwards and his Minnesota Timberwolves—Oklahoma City has now been battle tested, grown and matured in real time through all of these teams and has landed itself in one of the biggest stages of sports.

It'd been one of the team's biggest critiques—lack of experience, knowledge and the grit to get through an entire Western Conference. This team did it, and now all that's left in its way is either the Jalen Brunson-led New York Knicks or the Tyrese Haliburton-led Indiana Pacers.

The Pacers, going back to Indiana, currently lead the series three games to two, as the Knicks look to crawl back from a 3-1 deficit behind Brunson and a red-hot Karl-Anthony Towns. Haliburton, limited to just eight points on Thursday night in the loss, relied on Benedict Mathurn (23 points) and Pascal Siakam (15 points) to shoulder the load, but fell 111-94 inside Madison Square Garden.

Whoever comes out of the next two games victorious will advance to the NBA Finals to take on a dangerous Oklahoma City Thunder team, neither of which could touch in the regular season.

The Thunder routed the Knicks in their two-games series this season, winning by 10 in their first matchup and 25 in their second, as Oklahoma City's offensive firepower and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's consistency proved to be too much in combination with their consistent defense.

Against Indiana, it was much of the same. A six-point win back in December fed into a 21-point win in March among their two-games series, with Gilgeous-Alexander posting 45-point and 33-point performances while hindering Haliburton to an 18-point and four-point performance on the Pacers' side.

The Thunder come into this NBA Finals with time to rest, and have a chip on its shoulder as the team looks to dominate the East again in this postseason.