After two straight All-NBA First Team selections, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s encore was one for the books. On his way to a third All-NBA First Team selection, he collected his first MVP Award and has a small market team like the Thunder four games away from hanging its first banner.

The NBA Finals are almost here. That means one team — either the OKC Thunder or the Indiana Pacers — is just four wins away from the NBA championship.

It will be a raucous atmosphere on Thursday: Game 1 of the NBA Finals is coming to Oklahoma City, and the top-seeded Thunder — big favorites over the Indiana Pacers in this series — freely say that the fans have factored into the team’s success.