OKLAHOMA CITY — At the beginning of the video the Oklahoma City Thunder plays before its starting lineups are announced, there’s a message on the scoreboard.
RESILIENCY. IT DEFINES OUR TEAM.
That was especially true during the Thunder’s comeback from an 18-point deficit Wednesday night to beat the San Antonio Spurs and clinch a spot in the NBA Finals.
It was only three seasons ago that Oklahoma City’s new team was 3-29 and just hoping to avoid the worst record in NBA history.
“You can look at it as a negative, but I think as a group and as an organization, we’ve seen some light, and we’ve seen that one day we’d be at this moment, and one day we’d have an opportunity to win a championship,” said Russell Westbrook, who may best personify the transformation by turning himself from a rookie struggling with turnovers into an all-star.
In the franchise’s first shot at the title since 1996 as the Seattle SuperSonics (the team’s only NBA title came in 1979), the Thunder will host Game 1 of the Finals on Tuesday night, against the Boston Celtics or Miami. The Heat forced a Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals Thursday night.
“I’m not as excited as I thought I’d be,” said Nick Collison, the only holdover who played in Seattle except for Kevin Durant. “I think we all know we have more work to do. I don’t think any of us dreamt about making it to the Finals. I think we all dreamt about winning it.”
