14 years ago LeBron won his first championship.
this okc team is why i always assume until proven otherwise any finals is your last finals
I distinctly remember thinking they were going dominate for a decade.
KD, harden, Westbrook…a team that ultimately had 3 different mvps, multiple time blocks leader and 2012 runner up for dpoy, multiple vets like fisher, nazr, perk, and sefolosha
And they had a recipe to keep everyone had they waited for the 2014 TV deal that was more than a 20% cap space increase.
I mean when healthy, kd and russ always made it to the wcf. They were dominant at times, but just as unfortunate.
They had 2 mvps along with a dpoy candidate and the best offensive rebounding frontcourt all in their prime. They were definitely gonna win one sooner or later.
Agreed. They were very successful. But, I feel like letting harden go ended their run to win a chip. We see the player he turned into now, but even then, I felt like he was a game changer and could have had starter minutes coming off the bench.
Imagine a prime harden with a prime KD, before the drama and burner accounts? The assist rate would have been ridiculous especially as Westbrook turned into a rebounder (I know people felt like he was fed rebounds, but it was also the okc game plan to have him grab the rebounds and kick start the offense using his speed and athleticism).
Wouldn’t some other team be able to just offer even more then
They also had great depth
Thabo, Ibaka, heck even Perkins and Fisher
I wouldn’t be surprised if they won a championship
Those three would never win a championship. Too much hero ball for three guys that buckled when the moment came.
Harden no-show the finals and is a playoff downer. There’s no way those three egos would’ve ever won a championship.
OK Perkins
People can make shit up and think that the team movement, the title to cope. But we know all three of them can’t win the title. KD needed a super team to join.
Common sense. Harden is a loser. Russ ain’t the guy. Durant has never been 1A
Harden pretty much identical career playoff eFG compared to Shay
You can’t even spell his first name right and cherry picking a singular stat and acting like it holds weight, it doesn’t
Okay, got any stats that hold more weight than eFG?
Yeah, Shai’s the only player to score 15 points In the final 5 minutes of a finals game ever
Hope that helps!
Yeah he hit a couple nice shots. It was game 4 though, officiating was garbage down the stretch of that game. Over half of those 15 were from FTAs lol
Doesn’t that make it more damning that even with that game the career playoff efficiency averages of him and Harden are identical? Especially considering all the terrible games Harden has had.
Look at you moving the goalposts.
It’s damning because you’re obsessing over one stat as if that demeans SGA just cause he has a ring and your former player Luka hasn’t and won’t.
Enjoy Father’s Day. Muting you.
“Harden is a playoff downer” is what you said. Just showing that if that is true for him, it’s also true for Shay
Never would have thought I would see a thunder fan dogging their past players, especially 3 mvps. That roster definitely had a chance if it wasn’t blown up.
Yes, of course ego and sacrifice needs to occur for them to win. But that’s where coaching comes in. I think if they stuck together, they could have figured it out
People kept referencing this team as why the Spurs might not make it back
The key difference is contract timeline. At this point OKC already had KD and Westbrook on their second contracts, and Harden was due for his (hence why they traded him as they didn’t want to pay him)
Wemby has 1 more year on his rookie contract, Castle 2, and Harper 3. Yes this era of apron restrictions is punishing but San Antonio has at least 2 more years before they even have to think about that.
The Spurs trio also complements each other much better and there’s a clear hierarchy between the 3. OKC was a better collection of individual talents, but the Spurs is the better trio for building a team around.
That’s not true lol, Russ/Harden/KD complemented each other just fine they just ran into LeBron & DWade in their primes.
Yep, zero shame in a bunch of 22-23 year olds losing to prime Lebron who also had Wade and Bosh still playing at all NBA levels. KD and Westbrook specifically were incredible in that finals.
Harper isn’t staying in San Antonio, mark my words. Guy is a legitimate star with discipline of a vet, he’ll either force his way out or they’ll need to make a decision between him and Fox.
He is going to end up getting to be in the driver seat much sooner than the rest of the Spurs (Wemby aside).
IMO San Antonio should bite the bullet and pay the assets it takes to dump Fox. Maybe you wait 1 year so it doesn’t cost as much, but I agree they have to prioritize Harper sooner rather than later
Yep, They were a really fun team to watch, even as a lifelong lakers fan, I enjoyed seeing them dog it out with OKC and Minnesota.
They’re now in the classic “victim of your success” stage, where they’ll be forced to make decisions sooner rather than later.
zero chance he leaves
Very few cores go back after losing their first Finals together.
Except the Nets who lost both times
Kind of incredible that the Kobe-Pau group went back-to-back after losing in 08.
I think the big distinction is that experienced cores can return, while young cores don’t. Even the Big 3 Heat lost their first Finals before making it back and winning.
The Jays did
yeah lebron always had to fight for that first one
I was listening to the Simmons pod yesterday and they were talking about the Spurs, about how their loss was great for them for learning for the future and that OKC was my first thought. Like, what if that’s the only shot Wemby gets at the finals? Nothing is guaranteed and that OKC team should be the reminder of that.
Wemby will pull a LeBron or KD if he doesn’t have a chip by 28 or so. Theres no way he stays in San Antonio forever if they don’t have a championship by then.
The parallels are there with the Spurs, but the Spurs are even younger than that Thunder core, and all the Spurs are still on their rookie contract.
Russ and KD were already on their second contract, and Harden was due to get paid too. The Thunder had to choose between Harden and Ibaka.
Yup just like that big 3 Brooklyn team too…oh wait
14 years? Cue Matt Damon in Saving Private Ryan GIF
Look at the losing team sticking around to congratulate the winners in what I’ve been told is something called “sportsmanship.”
Obviously a veteran team like that would handle losing much better. It’s not fair to compare a team whose best players are 22, 21 and 20 to a team whose best players were 23, 22 and 22. It’s just not!
More like what a bunch of pussies, just like you for being so obsessed with some high fives.
Happens usually during blowout situations, when the losing team has more time to accept the situation and calm down.
Dawg no our team were sore losers and chokers
I wouldn’t piss on the Knicks players if they were on fire, let alone give them hand shakes or high fives. Fuck em. I’m glad the Spurs didn’t congratulate them for shit. We don’t all need to be 2nd graders here.
Rs
Looks like you’re having trouble finishing your thought. Give too much energy to handshakes?
edit: I didn’t, but now I do.
Do you not know what that means
All these fuckers still playing and at a reasonably high level is fascinating to me
Feels like it was yesterday, damn how the time flies
2012 is an exact repeat of history to this year; I recall it all vividly and it’s why I was shocked so many NBA writers were penning in the Spurs to win.
That year, the OKC-Spurs series was dubbed the “actual finals.” Both teams were extremely good. But as we know, that Spurs team was a dynasty. Still, OKC won with its young and talented core.
Obviously, the Knicks didn’t have a LeBron. But OKC made crucial mistakes all series long, as a young team will do.
This is exactly why people shouldn’t be saying “oh the Spurs are young so they’ll definitely be back.”
Durant’s OKC team didn’t. I know it’s not an exact parallel but it does show how there’s no guarantees.
Anyone with sense knows there are no guarantees lol. I feel like at this point more people are making the point that there are no guarantees.
OKC basically had a bottom tier outcome after this series. One of the worst trades in NBA history, Westbrook injured in 2013, lose to elite Spurs w/ Ibaka hurt, KD injured in 2015, lose to 73-9 Warriors in 7. This era is a lot weaker so I think the Spurs will have more shots at it.
I wouldn’t say this era is weaker than that early 2010’s era.
That’s all true but it doesn’t mean that something else won’t happen, like injuries. Or maybe it’s a Pacers v Bulls in the 90’s kind of thing and they stay just a little bit behind their main competition for the remainder of their window.
Who the fuck was dubbing the wcf as the real finals? Thats bullshit unless they never assumed bosh was coming back. Heat basically made the finals with no bosh. He wasnt fully healthy on his return but his return changed the heay completely
Literally ESPN lol I remember the coverage vividly
That is terrible coverage meant to incite n ragebait the viewers lol. Lebron just won mvp. Heat were winning without their 3rd star and were all playoff experienced vets with a great shooters. If bosh didnt play yea id agree but he came back once heat went sown 3 to 2 vs celtics
The main reason people didn’t have faith in the Heat was because the previous year Lebron had laid an all time egg in the finals against the Mavericks. Couldn’t blame his team anymore, he was the reason they lost. A lot of sports people thought even if LeBron made it back to the finals that he’d fail again
Damn that OKC was stacked if only they kept them together
Presti has a 15 year plan that nobody could see.
Even he couldn’t see the plan
presti is so smart that he let james harden walk
To this day, one of the most disgustingly reffed series I have seen. I don’t think many people actually remember the lack of obvious calls (particularly against LeBron) in this series.
Love how Lebron went straight to the OKC players to salute them
Timmy did the same thing to LeBron a few years earlier so that’s probably still fresh in his mind
KD, Perk, Harden
Unreal
“it’s about damn time”
Missed my first day of college to watch this lol.
Life goes fast man. Feels like it was recent we saw him win vs okc. Enjoy your time all. We get old fast
Easiest road ever
these guys all used to show each other sportsmanship after the game meanwhile now the other team just runs away and hides after talking a bunch of shit lol
Remarkable. We’ve seen LeBron lose his hair, get it back and lose it again.
This series performance from him wasn’t historic like his ‘16 finals series, but it really was an elite stretch of games from him, to cap off an all time post season run.
That OKC team proves you can’t always know the future and think you are going to be in the Finals for years to come like a lot are trying to predict with this current Spurs team
Half championship /s
NBA trying hard to keep LeBron on top of all of our minds this last week.
And he’s still in the league lol.
What’s with the lebron glaze this past week
Going to say that the reason the NBA is the way it is is because of Gen Z.
Lemickey
Sportsmanship
Crazy
Knicks fan here but this OKC roster is my favorite of all time.. loved watching them that season, and thought for sure OKC and the Heat would be facing off in many more finals to come.
Side note but the red vs blue jerseys went hard!