As Riverwalk and downtown San Antonio fell silent, "O-K-C! O-K-C!" could be heard ringing through the streets of Bricktown late Thursday night as Loud City celebrated a 4-2 series win over the Spurs. Coming into the series (and especially after the first game), no one outside of our state gave the Thunder a realistic chance against the 67-15 buzz from San Antonio.
Yet, 12 days later the Spurs are leaving the playoffs empty handed and we are moving on to face the Splash Brothers. This Thunder team defied the odds and beat the best (regular season) San Antonio team in the history of the Spurs' franchise. And that's saying something.
There were many headlines and backstories that came together to make this series one of the most intriguing match ups in the league's history. Many things can be taken away from this series, and here are five noteworthy takeaways from OKC's defeat of San Antonio
Maybe that time we traded James Harden wasn't the worst mistake in the history of basketball.
(Adams played the game below with a severe migraine by the way).
The fans from Oklahoma City are the best in the NBA. Over 500 fans camped out to welcome the team coming home at the airport after a big win in San Antonio. It was also noted that win or lose the fans were going to be there to welcome the players back anyway.
(We are the only fans that welcome their team back after every away playoff game).
A major takeaway is that Russell Westbrook is... Well he's... OK I've run out of superlatives for Westbrook so just watch the video. But he is good. Really good.
This series had so many different things going into it. From the pressure of Durant's expiring contract, to Ginobili and Duncan's possible retirement, there were many stories coming in that set the stage in this series. In light of that, we were also reminded of a couple things we already knew but that have dropped from the front pages.
Like that Kevin Durant is still that guy who won MVP.
And his mom is still the real MVP.
Or that Pop will always tell it like it is.
Since that last video is pure gold, here is his post-game interview, which is equally as hilarious.
The most obvious takeaway is that this Thunder team is for real. Everybody who doubted that they could compete with the best has now been silenced. This win sets us up for an instant classic in the Conference Finals against Golden State.
