Stiles Points: Enjoy Game 7, A Rare NBA Treat Worth Celebrating

Sunday will be special in Oklahoma City. For the first time in the City's history, they will host a winner-take-all Game 7 of the NBA Finals. This is a rare feat, this being just the 20th Game 7 in Finals history and first since 2016.

Many say it is the best two words in sports. 48 minutes on Sunday will determine the 2025 NBA champion and see a franchise hoist the Larry O'Brien trophy for the first time in team history. The Thunder, heavy favorites coming into this series after a historic 68-win season, are looking to be another feather in the cap of a Pacers storybook run, representing one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.

The Thunder's first goal is to actually show up to the game. During Thursday's Game 6, the Bricktown Ballers played as though they just stepped off of Willie Nelson's tour bus. However, things are different at home, where the Thunder are 10-2 this postseason. Oklahoma City has yet to drop consecutive games this playoffs and needs to keep that streak alive to capture a championship.

Naturally, nerves seep in when discussing, thinking about and watching a high-stakes game such as this one. However, the challenge for Thunder and Pacers fans is to appreciate what this season has been. Twenty-eight other teams would trade places with these two in a heartbeat to play one game for a chance at glory.

Someone has to lose on Sunday; it's the cold reality of sports. There will be plenty of time to worry, dread, disappear and be defeated if the Thunder actually lose. Win or lose, this summer will be spent thinking of ways Oklahoma City can improve –– of which there are many.

Do not start trembling with a chance at a triumph still obtainable. Enjoy the emotions of a Game 7, embrace living out a day you will never forget and throw caution to the wind. The worst thing that can happen is the Thunder drop this one basketball game, to which those negative feelings will hit you like a ton of bricks all summer long. Why invite that feeling earlier than necessary, or when they might not need to arrive at all?

If this OKC Thunder team, that rattled off 68 wins, possesses a historically great defense, has the best player in the series, is incredible at home and spent over 100 games being the heavy title favorites, isn't worth betting on to win a single basketball game, then who is?

The time for fear, nervousness, and worry isn't Sunday night. Game 7 is a time for belief, hope, optimism, and excitement.

There is a real chance neither fanbase gets to experience a Game 7 in the NBA Finals again –– in fact, the odds suggest it –– so live it up. Appreciate it. You are in the good old days. In 20 years from now, you will yearn for Sunday, June 22, 2025. You will give anything to experience this game again, regardless of the outcome.

Little ol' Oklahoma City, these two fly over states are at the center of the basketball universe and have a date with history. Only one side gets to leave happy, why not the Thunder?

Song of the Day: Now or Never by Elvis