It's simple for me: the winner of this game will win the NBA championship.

Oklahoma City and Denver have been the NBA's two best teams this playoffs and have the best series in the playoffs. While the series has a thunder of +32, please remove the game 2 blowout from the mix and is a block +11. Denver showed more offensive weapons, and coach David Adelman could trust the night, but the thunder was deeper and the defense was better.

Here are five things to watch in Game 7 between these teams on Sunday (3:30 EST).

MVP face to face

Nikola Jokic vs. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Basketball is nothing better than this. Taste it.

Two leading MVP candidates - the league has delayed actual hardware until the end of the series - live up to the billing of this series: Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 28 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists and added 1.3 steals in the game; Jokic averaged 29.8 points, 14.7 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 2 steals per game.

This is probably the two best basketball players right now (worst of all, they are both top three) who live up to billing. Enjoy the last game between these two.

Aaron Gordon's Hamstrings

With minutes left in Game 7, Aaron Gordon seemed to be adjusting his hamstrings, he walked around, rubbed it, and then pulled himself out of the game in less than a minute.

Gordon's hamstrings are tight and unlikely to play in Game 7.

That was a huge blow. Gordon averaged 14.5 points and 9.2 assists per game in this series, hitting 45.2% from 3, hitting the game in the first game of the series.

If, as expected, he can't play, it's a huge setback for the already thin Nuggets. The pressure falls on Peyton Watson, who has to own the monster game for Denver.

Which Jalen Williams appeared?

Oklahoma City fell in Dallas a year ago in the second round, partly because Jalen Williams wasn't ready to step up to be the second option the team needed.

This year... is too big. Williams scored 32 points in Game 3 with 21 shots (OKC's loss), but in the last three games, Williams hit 2 in 13, 14 and 16, a total of 23.3%. That wasn't good enough in Game 7.

Williams is an All-Star, and the Thunder will offer the largest contract extension of up to five years this summer, but this is where the money really makes. He needs to step up being that guy. If he and Chet Holmgren are not demanding for running mate Gilgous-Alexander, that means Sam Presti has some tough decisions.

Which MVP gets help?

This is the true story of the series.

As mentioned above, Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander live up to billing. The question of game to game is which team’s character participants are strengthened and provide enough help to their stars. With everyone in Game 7 nervous, this became a bigger problem. Christian Braun had a big game because he'd been there before and handled the moment? Is this a good game for Williams and Holmgren? Is this another Julian Strawther game?

The safest bet on the board is that no matter which team’s role player wins.

What about the lightning defense?

In the regular season, Oklahoma City has a defensive rating of 107.6, which is the best in the league (using the number referenced by basketball). In the first round against Memphis, the Thunder had a defensive rating of 99.6, allowing less than one point per game.

In this series, this is the Thunder’s defensive ratings in each of the last four games: 99.8, 92.1, 107.3, 116.5. Jokic's advanced mind tends to figure out the team in seven games. Is that happening here? Has Jokic solved the problem as good and athletic as the Thunder this season? He was doing the right pass and he found the OKC adjustment counter. Or, do Thunder – probably a few minutes behind this series’ excellent Alex Caruso – and there’s still a stop-off game.

If the Thunder's defense realizes its potential, the Thunder will play in Game 7 and improve.