Last night, the Oklahoma City Thunder completed their gentleman’s sweep of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Thunder had a dominant performance, as they stamped their ticket to the NBA Finals. This is their first Finals appearance since they were led there by a young core of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka in 2012.
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Back then, the Thunder were the underdogs, facing off against a LeBron James-led Heat squad that had suffered a heartbreak the previous year. However, this time they are the championship favorite, spearheaded by MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA is a miraculous development story. From sticklike late lottery pick to centerpiece of a trade for an MVP candidate to now being an MVP himself, it’s safe to say that the Thunder are over the moon with his growth. His drive to improve, even through 15-win seasons where he spent most of his time in street clothes on the bench, has so clearly guided him to who he is today.
But as sweet as the victory laps may feel, the job is not over yet. Shai knows this too. During his post-game interview on Scott Van Pelt’s show, Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged how far the Thunder still have to go.
“It’s a lot of hard work to make it this late into the season, a lot of ups and downs,” he started, “It’s important to be grateful, it’s important to enjoy this moment, you never know how many times it’s gonna happen, but it’s also very important to know that we have more work to do and I think this group is the perfect group to handle that mentally.”
That second sentence sounds oddly similar to the words of a different guard drafted 13th overall. Despite being up 2-0 in the 2009 Finals, Kobe Bryant refused to smile. When pestered for a reason, he offered words that have since become iconic: “What’s there to be happy about? Job’s not finished.”
Bryant won five championships in his career, three in the early 2000s with Shaquille O’Neal and then another two later that decade with Pau Gasol. SGA is at a much lower number, chasing his first title.
However, the Thunder are built for future success with no notable free agents in this offseason. Shai is obviously excited, and for good reason.
“We don’t ever play the score. We play possessions,” said Shai. “We play to our standard every possession, and we try to win every possession. When you do that, you go on big runs and you’re up 20, you’re up 30, you never know what you’re up… That’s why we’re a pretty good team.”
A pretty good team may be understating these Thunder, who posted a higher net-rating than the 73-9 Golden State Warriors or the 72-10 Chicago Bulls this year. SGA and co. will now wait at home to see whether the Knicks can pull off a miraculous 3-1 comeback, or whether they’d host the Pacers for Games 1 and 2 of the NBA Finals.
