Fansided

For Oklahoma City Thunder fans, the pain is real

By Jeremy Lambert

SACRAMENTO, CA - NOVEMBER 7: Andre Roberson #21, Carmelo Anthony #7, Russell Westbrook #0 and Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder face the Sacramento Kings on November 7, 2017 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - NOVEMBER 7: Andre Roberson #21, Carmelo Anthony #7, Russell Westbrook #0 and Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder face the Sacramento Kings on November 7, 2017 at Golden 1 Center in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Expectations in sports are a dangerous thing. It’s easy to be a fan of a bad team with no expectations. They either exceed your low expectations or they fail. But you’re expecting them to fail, so you’re less disappointed when it happens. Most of your disappointment likely comes in the offseason. Either they don’t draft the guy you were hoping for or they fail to sign the free agent who could raise expectations. The offseason lasts two months. After that, games are played and you’re expecting nothing. Wins are fun. Losses are part of the process.

Every NBA team plays an 82-game schedule. It’s a long season that gets boring and mundane by January. Around that time, you know who teams are. Things may change in February with the trade deadline, but good teams don’t make big trades. The best teams are the ones that do nothing in February, outside of maybe adding a buyout player.

82 games is a lot basketball. Especially if you watch every game and hang on every play. The moment after a buzzer-beating loss, you’re not thinking, “there’s another game tomorrow.” You’re dejected. You’re analyzing what went wrong in the 47 minutes and 59 seconds prior to the game-winner. You’re thinking about everything else going wrong in your life and wondering, “why couldn’t they just give me a night of happiness?” It sounds extreme. But that type of fandom exists.

Sports are a drug. They allow you to escape what’s happening in the moment and pay attention to only them. When they are great, they give you an amazing high. When they are bad, they drag you to a deep depression.

Hi. My name is Jeremy Lambert. And I’m a fan of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Basketball seemed fun this year. Young talent emerged and new stars learned how to play together. Last years regular season was bogged down by everyone dreading the inevitable Warriors parade. This years regular season was a breath of fresh air.

Unless you were a Thunder fan.

Game 3 of 82. That’s when the season collapsed. Andrew Wiggins banked in a halfcourt shot at the buzzer, giving the Timberwolves a 115-113 victory. At the time, it didn’t seem all that important. It was Game 3. But it set the tone for the rest of the season.

Crunch time struggles early in the season, Russell Westbrook’s inconsistency, finding an identity and losing it when Andre Roberson ruptured his patella, Paul George disappearing after the All-Star break, blown leads, Carmelo Anthony.

Every high was followed by a kick to the gut.

Trying to figure out what went wrong for Oklahoma City this season could be put into a book. But it wasn’t just this season. It’s been the entire existence of this franchise.

Thunder fans could have at least two hats that say “NBA Champions” on them. That’s how close they’ve been since 2012. Kevin Durant, Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, George, Anthony. The franchise has been around for 10 seasons and you can build an all-time Thunder team better than many history rich franchises. 

It’s amounted to eight playoff seasons, four Conference Finals and one Finals appearance. In a league where RINGZ are valued more than money, those numbers do more to highlight their failures than their consistency.

Next: The Thunder's flameout was an apt end to a disappointing season

This season beat you over the head with failure. Because it wasn’t a poor coaching decision like Scott Brooks keeping Kendrick Perkins on the court. It wasn’t a single trade like the Harden trade. It wasn’t a crippling injury like Patrick Beverley crashing into Westbrook. It wasn’t a star missing every shot in the biggest game of the season like Durant in Game 6. It was all of those things.

It was nine years of every moment that has defined the Thunder franchise, rolled up into 10 months.

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Sorry, I just depressed myself with that above paragraph and wanted to convey the pause I took between writing.

You know what, I don’t want to relive it anymore.

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