I'm teammates with Kobe

Chapter 120

In fact, the Thunder has not been building a team in Oklahoma City for a long time. Its predecessor was the Seattle SuperSonics. It was established in 1966 and joined the American Basketball Professional League. It belongs to the Northwest Division of the NBA Western Conference.

Seattle is home to the headquarters of Boeing, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer. When the team was established in 1967, Boeing was developing and manufacturing a supersonic airliner, and the basketball team created with Boeing's help also chose the name Supersonic.

Besides Boeing, Seattle is also considered the birthplace of grunge, as well as the birthplace of grunge, and Seattleites are also known for their heavy coffee consumption.Starbucks, Seattle Best Coffee, and Tully's Coffee are all established here.

The world-famous movie "Sleepless in Seattle" made this place famous all over the world.

It is said that if you are stopped by the customs when you go to the United States, they will ask you very severely what are you going to do in the United States?If you say you’re here for Sleepless in Seattle, most of them will turn into a smiley face, repeat, “Yeah, Sleepless in Seattle,” and let it go.

It is impossible to verify whether it is true or not, but the Sonics moved away from Seattle in 2008, which still caused a lot of repercussions. Not only the fans, but many players still find it difficult to accept.

During the 2007-08 season, team owner Clay Bennett publicly stated that he would move the team to his hometown of Oklahoma City due to the breakdown of negotiations with the city of Seattle on a new arena.

In 2008, after a brief legal battle, Bennett and the city of Seattle reached an agreement to leave the team's original name and colors to Seattle so that they could one day be used by a new team in the city, while at the same time creating a new team for Oklahoma City. He brought a team of his own, named the Thunder, and hoped that the Thunder would be powerful.

Judging from the pattern and style of the team logo, it is obviously a "minimalist" route, but it feels a lot like the team logo of the Cavaliers or Bobcats.In addition, the creative idea of ​​triangular background with OKC characters also seems too conventional.A shield-like pattern passing through two lightning-like patterns is known as "Thunder". Seeing that this kind of icon is completely unable to give people the kind of swift and swift momentum brought by thunder and lightning, naturally it cannot give people a sense of security at all. Leave any feeling that echoes the team name.

The color of the team logo is the intersection of orange and blue, resulting in a conflict between warm and cold colors. Not only does it not have any shocking "Thunder", but it looks gaudy and flashy, more similar to the team logo of the American Women's Basketball League WNBA, which is too masculine.

Although the team logo is not pleasing, the mascot has won unanimous praise from local citizens and the media: American bison (Rumble the Bison) (The Bison), the largest mammal in North America and the largest bison species in the world , huge in size and extremely fast.Oklahoma has always had a relationship with the H-yak. Here, there is the famous Wichita Mountain Wildlife Sanctuary, the largest H-yak sanctuary in the United States, with about 600 H-yaks living here.It was only in mid-February 2009 that the bull became the mascot of the Thunder team, but it soon became the mascot of the Thunder team that is widely loved by fans with its distinctive rough and wild image.In addition to being on the field, he has also represented the Thunder in many community activities.

When the Thunder was still in Seattle, the record was ups and downs. Although there were stars such as Gary Payton, Ray Allen, and Sharon Lewis, they never gave people the feeling of a strong team.

In 2007, the team's last season in Seattle, Kevin Durant was selected through the draft, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka were selected when they moved in 2008, and they were selected in 2009. James Harden,
自此球队战绩就像他们的运气一样扶摇直上，2009-10赛季，雷霆队在常规赛打出49胜33负接近50胜的优异战绩进入季后赛，较2008-09赛季只有23胜59负的惨淡战绩有了一个质的飞跃，这是雷霆队建队以来第一次进入季后赛。

Under the guidance of Scott Brooks, the best coach of the season, this youth team played a very passionate and highly entertaining game. Except for the center position, almost all positions are the hope of the future of the league.Among them, the leader Kevin Durant averaged 30.1 points per game over LeBron James to win the scoring title in the regular season, and Russell Westbrook quickly grew into the league's hottest young point guard in the possession position. Five candidates, Jeff Green can be inside and outside, and gradually grow into an all-around power forward.The Thunder fought the defending champion Lakers in six games in the playoffs, and finally lost to the Lakers 2-4.

In the 2010-2011 season, the Thunder made a comeback and finished the regular season with 55 wins and 27 losses. In this playoffs, they went further and reached the Western Conference Finals all the way.However, they met the Dallas Mavericks led by Dirk Nowitzki in the Western Conference Finals and lost 1-4 on aggregate.

In the 2011-2012 season, due to the shrinkage of the season and only played 66 games, the Thunder finished the regular season with 47 wins and 19 losses. In the first round of the playoffs, they met the defending Dallas Mavericks again. The Thunder swept the promotion with a total score of 4-0. In the Western Conference semifinals, they met the Los Angeles Lakers and advanced to the Western Conference Finals 4-1.The Western Conference finals met the San Antonio Spurs, first suffered two consecutive losses, and then won four games in a row to reverse and eliminate the Spurs to advance to the finals. This is the second time after the Sonics reached the finals in 1996.However, in the Finals, they met the Miami Heat led by LeBron James, and finally lost the championship again 1-4.

At that time, the entire league believed that the future must belong to the Thunder.

It is not difficult to see from the above that the Thunder team can be said to reach a new level every year. When everyone thought that they would reach the finals with a stronger attitude next year, and even win the final championship, the team dismantled itself. The "Thunder Triple Kill" sent James Harden to the Houston Rockets.

As for the reason why the Thunder and Harden parted ways, there are many versions circulating in the outside world, but the core factor is money. At that time, Harden played the role of the sixth man in the Thunder, and the team has always used Harden as Duran. The team's third or even fourth person after Te and Westbrook came to train, and in the offseason, Harden's agent proposed to the management a four-year 4 million contract extension condition, and hoped that Harden could Entering the starting lineup, there was a huge gap between such an offer and the Thunder's psychological expectations. At that time, the team was only willing to pay 6200 million.

Harden once admitted that he didn't want to leave the Thunder, and finally even compromised and said that he was willing to return to the bench, as long as he met 4 million in 6200 years, but because of the 800 million gap, the two sides have been deadlocked and finally sent him away.

It is estimated that after many years, the Thunder will regret the 800 million, right?If Harden becomes a superstar and the signature star of the league, the contract must start at hundreds of millions...

Although Harden was sent away, a group of young talents such as Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka are still there. Not only did the Thunder not regress this season, but they were extremely vigorous. He only lost 2 of his 15 games, and then won 1 games. His current record is 14 wins and 14 losses, ranking first in the league.

This season, Durant is 24 years old, Westbrook is 23 years old, and Ibaka is 23 years old... The oldest player in the starting lineup is actually 28-year-old Sefoloza.

They are so young and so talented.

When the young man is furious, he must have great power.

At 12:7 p.m. on December 7th, the game started as scheduled. The Thunder team at home was waiting for work, and faced the old rival Lakers who were the last stop after 00 consecutive away games.

To be on the safe side, Master Zen deliberately tested the toughness of this Lakers team. After all, he did not activate the magic beast, which caused the latter to look unhappy, but he did not dare to show it in front of the coach, so he could only quietly hold back the anger behind his back. energy.

Lakers starters: Chu Xiao, Kobe Bryant, Artest, Gasol and Jordan Hill.

Thunder starters: Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka and Perkins.

It wasn't until the players from both sides were introduced that Chu Xiao finally saw the real appearance of Westbrook and Durant.

Westbrook is worthy of the nickname "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". This guy has flat and wide lips and a flat nose. If he wears glasses and a floral shirt, he really looks like the classic comic book character Ninja Turtles.Also because of his explosive physical fitness, the media often ridiculed him, thinking that he is the brother of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, otherwise his physical fitness would not be so outstanding.

And Durant looks too thin. His physical fitness must be strong and vigorous in the general population, but in the NBA where the muscles are exploding, he seems a bit too delicate.

Chu Xiao feels that the reason why he looks very thin is also related to his height and elongated body. He has always claimed that he is Durant, who is 2.01 meters, standing next to Ibaka, who is 2.08 meters. They are the same height .This guy obviously has the height of a power forward, but he serves as a small forward. No wonder he is misplaced when he hits anyone. He can run and jump, but he can dribble like a guard, and he has a historical level of shooting touch.As long as he wants, he can attack the basket at will about one meter away from the three-point line, but the interference caused by the opponent to him is better than nothing.How many perimeter defenders can run outside the three-point line to block the jump shot of a big man who is close to 2.10 meters tall?

Such a person is indeed born to be a scoring champion.

Before the jump ball, when the two sides greeted each other, Westbrook looked up at Chu Xiao, who was 5 cm taller than him, and said, "Boy, I will score on top of your head later."

Chu Xiao is no longer the rookie who was trembling when he first entered the league. Since he competed with Deron Williams, he has grown a lot and has a stable mentality. Westbrook, while respecting his opponent, just smiled and said, "I will wait and see."

Compared to Westbrook who showed his sharpness, Durant was more reserved. He patted Chu Xiao's shoulder condescendingly, with a flat expression. He only showed a shy side when facing Kobe, like a fan meeting an idol. He talked a little more, "Finally, I can compete and study with you again!"

Bryant hugged the tall, thin young man who had won the scoring title for three consecutive seasons, and said with some relief, "Kevin, I have nothing more to teach you. You are good enough now and have beaten us more than once. unstoppable."

"No, no, no." Durant sped up his speech, "You know, I have been imitating your movements, how are your movements on the court, how to communicate with the media, how to train before the game, I have seen all of them What, etc., I have been researching as much as I can, of course I will never tell you these, haha, I almost copied everything you did."

"Is this still called telling me?" Kobe rolled his eyes.

"Haha, I didn't tell you, you don't know about it." Durant walked away with a smile, his expression returning to normal again.

The conversation between these two people happened to fall into Chu Xiao's ears. His first reaction was, "This damn brain circuit makes people dizzy when you talk." The second reaction was to finally know that Kobe and Durant's relationship is unusual. It is estimated that they have a lot of communication and mutual appreciation in private, but outsiders don't know that's all.

(End of this chapter)