Storm arrives late, stops Heat in Game 1 105-94
The superstars from South Beach everyone loves to hate. The mostly-unknown bluecollar guys from the middle of the country. The bad guys versus the good guys, each led by a player looking for his first championship, with supporting casts who have won rings. It makes for a perfect title matchup. But first, a little history.
In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, devastating millions of dollars' worth of propertiy, killing thousands, and ripping apart of identity of hundreds of towns. One of those towns, known for it's wild side and party attitude, was New Orleans, Lousiana. Some of the places affected by the storm included the Superdome and the New Orleans Arena, home to the NFL's Saints and the NBA's Hornets, leaving both of them displaced. The Saints found a last-minute home in San Antonio, and the Hornets, one in....Oklahoma City? While a huge surprise to everyone in sports, especially the commissioner of the NBA, David Stern, the refugees were welcomed gladly by those in their adopted foster state, so much so that they extended their stay another additional year before going back home.
Also, at this time, the Seattle SuperSonics were locked in a frustrating, demoralizing legal wrangle with the city of Seattle to fund a new arena, as KeyArena was falling apart rapidly. Enter a man, a very rich man, named Clay Bennett. He purchased the team in June 2006 from the founder of Starbucks Coffee for $350 million, and set out immediate goals for his team: One, to find a way to pay for a new arena in a Seattle suburb. If that couldn't be accomplished, to move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City. Well, long story short, there was nearly a deal several times, but disputes over how to pay for the construction costs killed that plan, and so in July 2008, the Sonics packed up and left for the plains of Oklahoma, much to the laughter of derisive critics, at seeing the Lakers, Bulls and Knicks playing in Oklahoma? Would they even be able to find OKC on a map? Would there be spontaneous musical numbers during timeouts?
They didn't care. Especially not a few certain guys who joined the organizatioin recently. The Big Question in the 2007 NBA Draft was: Who would Portland take, Ohio State's Greg Oden, or Texas' Kevin Durant? Both were products of the NCAA's new ruile that players must play at least one year of college ball, and prognosticators speculated that both could be superstars for well over a decade, putting their teams in contention for championships once the current regime fell. Well, the Trail Blazers did what they thought was the smarter pick at the time, selecting Oden, and so Seattle snapped up Durant. Hindsight is 20/20, they say, and it doesn't take much looking to see who got the better end of that deal. Oden has had a spectacularly unimpressive career, plagued by injuries, he's only played one full season from then to now. Durant, meanwhile, though his team remained awful, won Rookie of the Year honors in his first pro campaign, and has picked up three scoring titles, while becoming the leader many weren't sure if he could be. General manager Sam Presti was one of the men debating who to choose in that draft, and the next year he chose UCLA's Russell Westbrook.
While some of the state took a little while to warm up to the Thunder, apparently annoyed by the name "Oklahoma City Thunder" instead of the more-inclusive "Oklahoma Thunder", the rest of the Sooner State welcomed pro sports with a warm handshake. And did they ever need it. Starting 3-29 and firing head coach P.J. Carlesimo, the 2008-09 Thunder crawled to a 29-53 finish in their first year in their new home after first appointing assistant Scott Brooks to interim head coach, and then making him the head coach.
Yes, that first year was rough. But then progress was made the next year, as they went 52-30, gaining the eighth seed in the playoffs, falling in six hard-fought games to the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, who went on to repeat. Presti selected Arizona State's James Harden and Serge Ibaka from the Congo in the 2010 draft. Brooks was named Coach of the Year for spurring his squad's turnaround, and momentum was picked up for the 2010-11 season. Fan favorite Jeff Green was sent to Boston in midseason for the hulking grouch of defensive prowess Kendrick Perkins, once the big man got himself accustomed to the way things were run in OKC, the young guns took out blazing past the competition, posting 55 wins and getting by Denver in the first round and Memphis in the second round, falling to eventual champion Dallas in five games in the 2010-11 Western Conference finals.
Many fans felt that it was their time now last June, and the Thunder apparently felt that way, too. Acquiring vetern Derek Fisher in midseason to make up for the loss of Eric Maynor, out with an ACL tear, OKC led the West for much of the shortened 66 game season, falling at the last minute to San Antonio for the number one seed and homecourt advantage. Up first in the 2011-2012 playoffs? Dallas. The Thunder swept the Mavericks in four games. Now they would have to face the Lakers, only the most loathed team in sports, particularly after Ron Artest(aka Metta World Peace)'s vicious elbow slam to Harden's head as the regular season wound down. The good guys won in five, setting up an even greater challenge in the San Antonio Spurs, the franchise who'd been playing together forever, full of crafty veterans, and who had served as the Thunder's model on how to build a successful organization. The Spurs, on a phenomonal twenty game(!) win streak, took the first two contests on their home floor. However, there's a reason Chesapeake Energy Arena is nicknamesd "Loud City": Because it is. That's what happens when you get a bunch of passionate, football-crazy fans together to rally around a united cause. It helps, just a little. Not having lost on their home court, Oklahoma City continued that trend, evening the series up at two games apiece, winning a huge Game 5 in Texas, and then rallying from an 18 point deficit to win on the home floor, punching their tickets to the NBA Finals as Western Conference champions. Cue the aforementioned fans being lost in a stunned excitement, unsure of how to react to this news.
The opponents? The Miami Heat, led by LeBron James, Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh, with the rest of the roster including three point ace Mario Chalmers, defensive stoppedrShane Battier, and nobody else anyone can remember. Miami cruised though the first round, beat up Indiana in the second round, and went to the limit before knocking out Boston in the Eastern Conference finals.
Thunder fans were fired up on Tuesday, writing and recording parodies of hit pop songs in Thunderized versions(See "Beard Like Harden" and "Call Him KD"), flying off the walls in beserk excitement and approaching the intensity of Super Bowl Sunday, or Canadians about hockey. Loud City was "earsplitting", according to radio voice Matt Pinto, in pregame, and even on TV, it was crazy.
Once the introductions and hype was over with, the National Anthem sang by American Idol runner-up Jessica Sanchez(she did an okay job of it, better than I expected) and the ball was tipped, it was a typical Oklahoma City start, with some added tweaks. Battier went crazy shooting 3s, Chalmers made a few, too, and with a 10-2 start, Miami led comfortably for most of the first quarter, a bucket by Harden trimmed the gap to 29-22 with twelve minutes played. Turnovers plagued OKC, allowing the Heat to lead at one point by thirteen. However, towards halftime things started clicking, and the Thunder were down by seven at the break, a manageable distance away at 54-47.
We've gotten to understand that while we may fall behind early, sometime in the second half our guys will make a huge leap to hang in there a posession or two down, and then wear the other team down and run away. Last night, that pounce took place right out of halftime, Westbrook scored 14 of his 27 points in the third, leading the way. Miami led 58-57 with 7:48 to go in the quarter, they stayed about four points ahead most of the way there, until Westbrook went on a slashing drive with 16.4 seconds to go in the quarter, made a layup, and got fouled, putting Oklahoma City ahead for the first time all game, 74-73 going into the fourth. The Great Lockdown continued in the fourth quarter, after allowing only 19 points in the third stanza, OKC held Miami to 20 in the fourth. James and Durant took over the game, and Kevin outdueled the King, scoring seventeen of his 38 points to James' seven of 30. The lead gradually stretched with each fastbreak basket and extra pass, sealed with a pair of Nick Collison dunks, and Oklahoma City went up 1-0 in the series after the 105-94 win, despite Serge Ibaka and James Harden being nonfactors for much of the game. Game 2 takes place in Oklahoma City Thursday night at 8 p.m. on ABC, pregame show starts at 7:30.
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