Indiana Pacers failed to become NBA champion. The team from Indianapolis lost the decisive seventh game in the NBA Finals 103-91 to Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday (local time), who won the title for the first time in 46 years.
It is also only the second time ever that Oklahoma City Thunder can call themselves the best in the United States, although the basketball team was still called Seattle SuperSonics the first time. After moving to Oklahoma City in 2008, the name was changed.
Indiana Pacers remains at three titles. The team from Indianapolis became champion in 1970, 1972 and 1973, after which the NBA Finals were only reached in 2000 and this year. In 2000, Rik Smits said goodbye to the Pacers with a loss in the NBA Finals against LA Lakers.
The now 58-year-old Brabander, who played for the Pacers from 1988 to 2000, is regarded as the best Dutch basketball player ever.
The seventh and decisive confrontation between Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers was played at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City.