OKC Thunder In the News: Oklahoma City dominates TV ratings and Roundtable recap

OKC Thunder In the News examines Oklahoma City performing strongly in TV ratings, Steven Adams continuing his magnificence and TI’s roundtable from yesterday.

It’s finally here Thunder Nation; the OKC Thunder will commence their 2019 playoff journey versus their division rival the Portland Trailblazers this afternoon. Prior to even tipping off, the Thunder have jumped into ample storylines.

Foremost, the city of Oklahoma City performed quite well in ESPN/ABC ratings this past season. T.I. recently ran a roundtable; which covered a myriad of topics, and Steven Adams continued to display his quirky and good-natured personality.

With that, let’s jump into the news:

Oklahoma is becoming a basketball state

For many years the state of Oklahoma sat without a professional sports franchise to call their own, but thanks to the MAPS projects a sports arena was constructed downtown in hopes of attracting an NBA or NHL franchise. Our state was divided by what college team you supported OU or OSU. For the past 11 years, the Thunder has united a once divided sports landscape. According to analytics provided by Alex Kennedy of Hoops Hype, it appears Oklahoma’s basketball fandom may be expanding past the hometown OKC Thunder:

Not only did Oklahoma City crack the top-five, but they also finished second overall. That is no small feat for the leagues third-smallest market. Give yourself a pat on the back OKC, because such an accomplishment is big league. Shoutout to Norfolk, they do not even possess an NBA team, yet they are the highest rated local market.

Roundtable Round-up

Thunderous Intentions recently featured a two-part roundtable. The 10.3 question spread covered various topics including favorite moments, the status of OKC Thunder head coach Billy Donovan, the Andre Roberson debate, playoff predictions, and much more.

Below is a snippet where T.I. scribe Sinjin Snopczynski highlighted his favorite moments of the season:

"Favorite part of the season was three particular games. First was the most recent win against the Houston Rockets. I yelled so loud after Paul George’s game-winning three that I surely woke the neighbors. The second was the double-overtime mega war against Utah in the first game after the all-star break, what a game from both teams. So sweet to win against the Jazz after last seasons playoffs. And lastly was Russ and PG’s dueling triple-doubles against the Blazers in OKC. What a performance from both of those guys."

Sinjin’s answer is pure perfection; being in attendance, I was tempted to choose the last game as well but didn’t want to display recency bias. Reflecting now, I would have chosen the last game because it was fun, pivotal, and memorable.

Westbrook and PG’s triple-doubles were both equally spectacular and historic. Their double TDs will forever serve as a remarkable feat. Part one can be viewed here, and part two seen here.

Steven Adams continues to be the best and expresses interest in playing for New Zealand

OKC’s Kiwi center has not represented his homeland of New Zealand in international play during his entire NBA tenure. But, that could change soon as the 7-footer recently revealed he would enjoy beating top-rival Australia:

"“Yeah, absolutely yeah, absolutely I would [love to play for New Zealand],” explained Adams.“One of the biggest goals is to beat Australia, to be honest with you, mate, because we always lose!”"

Adams originally made the comments to ESPN and they were reiterated on News Hub

Also in typical Kiwi fashion, while meeting with the media prior to departing for Portland Adams was started by AP reporter Cliff Brunt:

Adams offering to get a media member some water is a kind gesture few NBA players would go out of their way to do, Adams on the other hand, displayed his common courtesy, that is one of the many reason’s SA is universally loved.

That’s it for today’s edition of In the News. Enjoy the Thunder’s first playoff match, let’s hope Geroge plays this afternoon, and the Thunder can head into Game 2 leading 1-0. If PG does indeed miss the opener, and the Thunder still emerge victoriously, Portland’s mental disadvantage will continue to mount.

Check back after the contest as T.I. will provide full coverage with player grades and key takeaways.