The Thunder's Biggest Fans Caught in the Act

I perused the Thunder Madness website today. It's a Thunder fan site created by The Oklahoman. One of the features allows people to upload their photos. The newest photos are shown on the front page. Hugh Scott of The Oklahoman snapped and posted some photos of the Thunder Girls (and bless him for it). In so doing he captured a shot of the some of the Thunder's biggest fans, my parents.

As you can see, the contest has my dad working up a lather and someone nearby has thrust a beer in front of him in their unseen excitement. Mom on the other hand is taking advantage of the game break to sift through some email, check the 401K or perhaps checking in with her bookie. More likely she's texting one of my sisters to see if the puppy has made any doodies in the house.

You can also see that their seats are about five rows from the court, whereas mine are five rows from the roof. It's cool though. I don't really need to be that close. What would be fun about that?

A Glimpse of What Oklahoma City Should Strive For

Tonight the Thunder take on the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City. The Jazz are the archetype of what NBA basketball in Oklahoma City should look like. OKC is off to a good start what with choosing a singular nickname.

But more than a nickname the Jazz are the only professional game in town like OKC. They have been solid for going on three decades and the reason is continuity. We may never see a coach in any major league last as long as Jerry Sloan. He goes for his 1,000th career win against the Thunder tonight.

The Jazz also have the best crowd in the NBA. Whilst OKC would like to say they do they don't. OKC has to prove it for many years before such a claim can be made. The Jazz sellout every game, the fans are loud and they stick around the whole game.

What should give Oklahoma City hope is that other than beautiful scenery what advantages does Salt Lake City really offer that OKC cannot in terms of retaining talent year over year? Salt Lake City is probably the only NBA city with less black people than OKC. By virtue of the Mormon population the nightlife can't be better than OKC. You have to buy a membership to get into a bar. Seriously, if Utah can attract players why can't OKC?

From a basketball standpoint I don't like the chances for the Thunder. The Jazz are off to a 4-0 start without their best player, Deron Williams. The Jazz were 37-4 at home last season. Maybe the Thunder get off to another good start and steal one. I don't really see it.

And since I have nothing else to add, please enjoy this expose' on the Thunder Girls forthcoming calendar by the Oklahoman's Angi Bruss:

So what of the Basketball?

Indeed, lost amidst all the hoopla which included Commissioner Stern, Mayor Mick and, lest we forget, a pregame concert from C+C Music Factory (Yes they are still alive and, surprisingly, available) and the National Anthem and halftime performance from OKC's very own Graham Colton there was a basketball game.

It wasn't pretty but there was one. Rather than give a recap the likes of which you can read at such notable places as here, here and here I'll just break it down Halloween list style with what I liked and what I disliked. We'll start with what I liked because I'm trying to stay positive as much as possible.

Treats (besides the Thunder Girls):

• Nick Collison's hustle. He grabbed some offensive boards, chased down loose balls and pretty well scrapped and clawed any time he was on the floor. More than anyone else he did the little things to help the team that don't show up on the stat sheet.



• The energy of Chris Wilcox, Desmond Mason, Russell Westbrook and Collison. Interestingly, all but Collison came off the bench. Wilcox led the team in points and boards with 15 and 7 respectively. Mason had some really nice plays and knocked down some shots. Westbrook continues to improve and will get more minutes sooner than later (please, hopefully).



• The 4th quarter comeback which was sparked by a humongous Mason dunk (not the "Wave" as some blockhead caller on KREF intimated).

Tricks (deep breath):

• The shooting or lack thereof. The first quarter was particularly atrocious. It's possible that it was just nerves. Wilcox seems to think this might have been partially to blame. One three-pointer the whole game. What?



• The rebounding or lack thereof. On one possession the Bucks had three offensive boards before getting an easy layup. It hurts, it stings and is unacceptable on virtually all levels of basketball.



• Kevin Durant's 0-point 3-personal foul first half. I can definitely see some of the nerves coming into play here and I seriously doubt we ever see this again. But you have to admit, it stunk like a stale fart.



• Getting lit up by Andrew Bogut. "Lit up" and "Andrew Bogut" go together like turds and punchbowls.



• The lack of a floor general. More than anything I believe this will be the most difficult to remedy. Who is going to set other guys up for this team? I hope Earl Watson. Because as much as I like Westbrook he's a shoot first point guard at this point. KD also desperately needs someone to set him up as well.

It would be foolish to think that one game will define this season. But the Thunder have plenty to work on obviously. After watching the Rockets depants the Mavericks in Dallas last night it will be interesting to see if there are any improvements come Saturday night in Houston.

Welcome to the NBA

Great great night for Oklahoma and Oklahoma City. Everything was over the top and beyond the loftiest of expectations. I snapped some photos and recorded the player introductions and will post those shortly.

There has been all this negative talk (I would link but it would probably crash the Internet) about how this city and market can't or won't support a team three years from now or how losing will dull the enjoyment and, hence, undercut fan support. One of the things that struck me last night was that this is really our 3rd season. We aren't NBA rookies. When the Hornets came to town we were awestruck by the effort that goes into the fan experience. This time around we expect it.

Not only were the fans not let down but I think it surpassed in some ways. I love the addition of a live band for instance. Or having a group of drummers (although it'd be cool if they replaced the piped in "defense" drum). The Thunder Girls are hotter and better than the Honeybees. My wife couldn't even make fun of them and that's one of the joys of going to the games for her. The lighting seems to be darker during the action, more like the Lakers at Staples. I personally like that. The intro was awesome and vastly exceeded anything the Hornets did.

There are some differences to be sure though and they are striking and have more to do with the basketball.

It is now obvious to even the most casual of OKC Hornets fans that Chris Paul is something special. He is going to be a first ballot Hall of Famer. When the Hornets were relocated and Paul was a rookie you could sense that he was special. He has court vision that absolutely flabbergasted me at the time. I would be sitting in the club level and he would see things at court level that weren't even there until his passes created it. I once saw him make a bounce pass from the left elbow of the 3-point line diagonally to the right elbow of the 3 point line at the opposite end of the court, through a defender and hit his target (can't remember who it was- probably Mason) in stride for a dunk. That's probably not in his career top 10 highlights. We got spoiled rotten without realizing it.

The Thunder will be lucky to ever have a point guard half as talented as CP3. That's no disrespect to Russell Westbrook who is easily one of the best players on the team today. But he's not really a point guard. Not in the CP3 sense. And this team will struggle for it. This team has no one who can create shots for other people. Kevin Durant would go lights out if somebody set him to abuse his man. You can just tell. Honestly, Westbrook could do the same thing. But I digress.

The other notable difference is the personalities of the two teams. CP3 not only is one of the top players in the game but his personality lights up the whole arena. You just want to like him, you can't help it. Those Hornets had PJ Brown also who is one of the most likable people in the NBA. In their second year they got Marc Jackson who owns horses and dreamt of being a cowboy.

The Thunder players and the OKC fans haven't quite connected on a personal level yet. The players, to their credit, are saying all the right things and they are getting active in the community. They do seem accessible and they all come across as really good guys. They are just soft spoken and it takes time.

The good news is we have the time now. They are here for good no matter what anyone says and this team is not on loan the way the Hornets were.