Not Just Any Victory

The Thunder's 88-85 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday night was more than just the franchise's first victory. It marked an important step in developing synergy between the team and its new fans.

I think it's fair to say that many season ticket holders are either bigger fans of OKC than NBA basketball or bigger fans of the "Hornets Circus" than basketball. That's fine, especially in the case of wanting to support OKC.

That said, the crowd, along with the team, learned just how much they are going to mean to each other this season. As the second half began and Minnesota went on a 10-0 run, it was the effort of the players who got the crowd going. Then it was the players,now feeding off the crowd, who held the TWolves to 12 4th quarter points and a huge first victory.

I think the crowd began to realize that, more than just blindly throwing themselves behind whatever cast of characters we got from the move, this is a team of hard working players who dislike losing as much as anyone else.

Everyone got into it. Kevin Durant had some ferocious dunks, Jeff Green got it going, Desmond Mason hit a big time shot to end the 3rd quarter. Nick Collison kept doing the little things that has him on the fast track to becoming a fan favorite. Russell Westbrook continue to gets better and better. Chris Wilcox and Joe Smith played solidly and even Earl Watson played in control.

The important thing for the players to know is that as long as they can keep it close the crowd will always be there to help push them over the top.

What was really cool to see was the players getting more and more involved as the fans got louder and louder. Then to see Joe Smith, the oldest player on the team, start waving his arms asking for more crowd noise. They all had smiles on their faces that you could even see from Section 309. The entire team stood along with the fans. And, collectively, everyone realized how much fun winning is.