As most of the sports universe prepares themselves for Superbowl 50, the rest of us NBA junkies will be getting ourselves mentally ready for a massive tilt between two of the NBA’s most dangerous teams. On Saturday night, the Oklahoma City Thunder will travel to Oracle Arena to play quite possibly their most important game of the season against the Golden State Warriors. A mini All-Star game of it’s own, this matchup boasts some of the best players in the game today on both sides and pits the reining champions against a forgotten perennial contender.
For the Thunder, this is the game they’ve had circled since the schedules came out in the offseason. The return of Kevin Durant, beast-mode Russ, and a healthy, full Thunder roster ready to unseat the Warriors who have managed to have the luck of health on their side.
Then Stephen Curry decided to say this.
Stephen Curry on the Warriors playing Oklahoma City Thunder the day before the Super Bowl: "It'll be a good 48 hours - a win and a win."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) January 28, 2016
Is this a case of confidence level being on 100 or is this Curry trying to rile up the Thunder? Either way, based on how Thunder players have reacted in recent days, the trip to the Bay is strictly business. To put it simply, this could be one of those games where Oklahoma City vents all that built-up frustration after flying under the radar for most of the season.
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First, it was the 7-6 start to the year which had resurrected the infamous #KD2DC hashtag followed up by #KD2LA and concluding with the latest mega-hashtag, #KD2GS. Worried was an understatement. After it seemed like every season and playoff campaign was marred by some sort of injury, we deserved to see the complete team we and Sam Presti envisioned for years.
Fast forward 51 games into the season and the Thunder are on an absolute tear. Led by an in-form Durant and impossibly improved Russell Westbrook, the Thunder have won 12 of the last 13 and sit just four games back from the Spurs for second in the Western Conference.
But even so, the Thunder still don’t garner the praise they deserve and instead receive the same criticism they’ve gotten for years. From “the offense is too predictable!” to “the defense isn’t what it used to be!”, Billy Donovan and the Thunder just can’t seem to satisfy anyone.
"via ESPN’s Royce Young:“Look, we’re not the San Antonio Spurs,” Durant said. “We’re not going to make 30 passes in a possession. We’re not that. Of course, people want us to be that. That’s great basketball, don’t get me wrong. But we’re not that. We’ve got guys that can score. We’ve got two guys on this team that can get a bucket. There’s going to be times we gotta iso, there’s going to be times we gotta be aggressive to look for our shot to make a play."
Saturday brings another story line into the fold which makes this more than just game 52.
The Warriors stood by for years and watched as the Thunder grow into a perennial contender and one of the leagues prolific teams. With Curry putting his lengthy injury history behind him once and for all, they took advantage of few injury ravaged seasons for the Thunder to claim their spot among’s the league’s elite. I can only imagine that doesn’t sit well with OKC.
Most of us have seen the Warriors’ good fortune as well.
"via RealGM’s Jonathan Tjarks:If there’s anything the Warriors should be grateful for last season, it’s what happened to the Oklahoma City Thunder. There was a lot of craziness surrounding the Thunder and they ended up firing their coach and missing the playoffs, but any team with Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant has to be taken seriously. Of all the potential challengers to Golden State, Oklahoma City is easily the team I most want them to face in the postseason."
After a tough journey, the upcoming game gives OKC an opportunity to send a very urgent bulletin to the rest of the league – the Thunder are back.