The China Power of NBA

The Oklahoma City Thunder is not a rookie in the NBA. He is the predecessor of the Seattle Supersonics, so if we want to talk about the history of the Thunder, we must first talk about the history of the Supersonics.

The Supersonic is located in Seattle. Unlike Detroit, most of the people living in this city are white-collar workers, or quite successful and high-ranking corporate executives. Therefore, Seattle is a fast-paced city but not lacking in romance. The headquarters of Starbucks is It is located here, and at the same time, it is also the headquarters of Boeing, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, so it is not surprising that the NBA team owned by Seattle is named the Supersonics.

In the 1967-1968 season, the Seattle Supersonics and the San Diego Rockets entered the NBA at the same time. These two NBA newcomers can be described as difficult brothers. Seattle entered the NBA's third game and won the first victory in team history. , the opponent is the Rockets. In the first season of the NBA, the Sonics sat down to the position of the vice squad leader of the league with a score of 23 wins and 59 losses. The squad leader of the league is the Rockets with a record of 15 wins and 67 losses. After the season's tuition fees, the Sonics finally got the first real star in team history in a deal, who will be selected as the top 22.4 players in the league in the future-Lanny Wilkens, in Wilkens With an average of 8.2 points and 1969 assists per game, the Sonics won 1970 victories in the second year. In the 47-35 season, Wilkens accepted the two roles of player and coach at the same time. After three seasons, Wilkens The Sonics led by Erkens won 50 wins and 1969 losses in the regular season, with a winning percentage of more than 70%. This is the first time in team history.He continued to make a difference on the court as a player, leading the league in assists in both the 1971-72 and [-]-[-] seasons.

After the Sonics spent several seasons in mediocrity, the Sonics gradually reached their peak. In the 1977-78 season, Lenny Wilkens, who had retired, became the head coach of the Sonics again. The Sonics scored 47 wins and 35 losses. into the playoffs.In the first round of the playoffs, they eliminated the Lakers 2-1 (at that time, the first round adopted a 3-match 2-win system), and then defeated the Trail Blazers and Nuggets one after another, and met the Washington Bullets in the finals. After 7 games, the Sonics lost 99-105 in the final battle and missed the championship. In the 1978-79 season, the Sonics won more than 50 wins in the regular season for the first time, played the first 50+ win season in team history[3], and entered the playoffs with 52 wins and 30 losses .After defeating the Lakers and Suns in the playoffs, the Sonics met the Bullets again in the Finals.After losing the first game, the Sonics won four games in a row and won the first NBA championship in team history.

In the ten years after 1980, the team was ups and downs, with good and bad records. Sometimes they could reach the finals, but sometimes they couldn’t even make the playoffs. But at the end of the 80s, the Supersonics The structure of the second peak was gradually completed. Gary Payton replaced Nate McMillan as the team's starting point guard, and Sean Kemp gradually grew into a big killer inside. In the 1993-1994 season, under the leadership of George Karl, the team achieved the league's best record of 63 wins and 19 losses, but unfortunately became the first team in history to be black eight (No.1 in the playoffs was eliminated by No.8 , known as the black eight) team. In the 1995-1996 season, Carl once again led the team to an excellent record of 64 wins and 18 losses. Payton and Kemp were selected as All-Stars at the same time. , Facing Jordan's Bulls, the Sonics did their best to limit Jordan to the lowest efficiency in Jordan's six trips to the finals, but in the end they were defeated. This season Payton became He became the first point guard in NBA history to win the NBA's best defensive player. No one thought that the glorious years of the Sonics lasted only one year.The next season, the Sonics lost to the Lakers in the second round of the playoffs. In the next season, they didn't even make the playoffs. The speed of decline was staggering.

In the off-season of 1998-1999, the Sonics picked up a big treasure. The third place in the second round selected Rashard Lewis (the No. 10 player in history who received a contract of 2.2 million yuan). Lewis has experienced nine seasons in the Sonics , from a marginal man who averaged 22 points per game in his debut season, he has grown into a star who can score [-] points per game.

In the 2002-2003 season, Ray Allen joined the Supersonics. Now fans always think that Ray Allen is a pitcher. In fact, before he went to the Celtics, Ray Allen was also a very good ball-handling attacker. The player has excellent physical fitness and can perform all kinds of gorgeous dunks. His calf is called "stallion leg" and has amazing explosive power. The Boss dunk in 2014 is proof. At the same time, Ray Allen's defensive ability It is also very good. When he was in the Celtics, even though Allen was 34 years old, he still had him to defend the opponent's first offensive point. In the five seasons of the Sonics, Ray Allen did not have a single season Averaged less than 23 points per game.

Lewis and Ray Allen, the supersonics formed the twin stars that made the league famous, but the substars did not bring glory to the supersonics. The farthest time they went was only the second round of the playoffs, 2005- After the 2006 season, the Sonics were sold and bought by an Oklahoma City consortium, Clay Bennett. From 2006 to 2008, Bennett worked hard to relocate the Sonics to his native Russia. Krahoma City, but was strongly resisted by the people of Seattle, and the team fell into a rebuilding period. Lewis was signed by the Magic for 6 years and 1.18 million US dollars, and Ray Allen was traded to the Celtics. Wally Szczerbiak, Delonte West and the No. 2007 pick in 5, the Sonics finally selected Jeff Green at this pick, but this is definitely not the Sonics draft this year The biggest gain in the conference was that they selected Kevin Durant with the No. [-] pick in their hands.

In 2008, negotiations between Bennett and Seattle broke down. The team was relocated to Oklahoma City as Bennett wished. Hue in case you want to rebuild your team later.The first season at Oklahoma City's new arena, the Ford Center, was a disappointing one. Although Durant won the Rookie of the Year trophy, the team lost 82 of 59 games.

In the 2008 NBA Draft, the Thunder took the super-abnormal Russell Westbrook with the fourth overall pick in the draft, and selected insider Jillsey Ibaka with the 24th overall pick in the first round. , After the end of the season, the Thunder did not perform as expected. The results of 23 wins and 59 losses were hardly satisfactory. Although the Thunder's record was not good, it was a blessing in disguise. The draft used this pick to sign James Harden.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Thunder had an excellent record of 49 wins and 33 losses and entered the playoffs. The head coach Scott Brooks won the honor of the best head coach, and Durant overwhelmed LeBron James. With an average of 30.1 points, he won the scoring title.
In the first round of the playoffs, the young and impactful Thunder faced the experienced Lakers, and a fight was inevitable.

In the first game of this round of the series, Durant, Green and Harden all played poorly. Durant only made 24 of 7 shots, including 8 of 1 three-pointers and scored 24 points. With 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 4 turnovers, Green scored 12 points and 4 rebounds on 10 of 3 shots, while Harden missed three three-pointers in 16 minutes in his first playoff game. No points scored, only 4 fouls, 1 turnover, 4 shots, and all others were zero eggs. Westbrook beat the old Fisher, and scored 16 points on 10 shots and 23 goals. Sent out 8 assists and made only one turnover, while Kobe Bryant, the star of the Lakers, missed his shot under the entanglement of the defensive giant Safolosha. He only hit 19 goals in 6 shots and scored 21 points, 2 turnovers and 5 Foul, the Lakers played the most outstanding inside twin towers Paul Gasol scored 14 points, 7 rebounds, 19 assists and 13 blocks on 3 of 3 shots. Andrew Bynum made 10 of 6 shots and won With 13 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, driven by Gasol and Bynum, the Lakers won 87-79.

The second game of the two teams was even more difficult. The Lakers won 95-92 and the Thunder only won by 3 points. Kobe dominated the court and scored 28 points on 12 of 39 shots. Withstood the inside of the Lakers and scored 14 points and 8 rebounds on 25 of 12 shots. The Thunder's Durant's performance improved. He hit 26 goals in 12 shots and scored 32 points and 8 rebounds. Sbrook scored 19 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists. Green continued to be overwhelmed by Gasol. The audience was like a sleepwalker. He scored 11 points and 2 rebounds on 12 of 4 shots. It is worth mentioning that the three masters ha Deng's data is 10 minutes of playing, 2 shots, all missed, and swallowed a duck egg. Except for 1 rebound and 1 assist, other data are 0.