The Roll of Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder, nee Seattle Supersonics, are in the NBA finals for the 4th time in franchise history and a first time as the Thunder, in just their 4th season in Oklahoma City after moving from Seattle following the 2007-2008 season.

Oklahoma City features a three pronged attack of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, (both of whom wear glasses at the post game press conferences), and the bearded James Harden. They beat the San Antonio Spurs in six games after losing the first two games. After winning the first two games, San Antonio had won 20 straight games including 10 in the playoffs but the Thunder became just the third NBA team to lose the first two games of a best of 7 NBA semi-final and then win the next four.

Oddly, the Thunder may face a team attempting to become the 4th team to pull “the lose 2, win 4” feat in the NBA semi-finals in the Finals. That is because after losing the first two games at Miami, the Boston Celtics won the next three.

The Thunder will have the home court advantage in the finals whether their opponent is the Boston Celtics or Miami Heat. While the state of Oklahoma won many college football “mythical” titles with Oklahoma University, this is their first chance at a major professional league title and it is in just the 4th year of any such major sport’s league involvement in Oklahoma.