Oklahoma City Thunder 2009 Playoffs
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be embarking on their first season this next year as the team tries to reverse their fortunes. In Seattle the glory day had past. The seasons when Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, Spencer Haywood, and Coach Lenny Wilkens were giving Sonics fans playoff tickets have passed. The franchises lone championship came in 1979 taking the NBA Finals 4 games to 1 over the Washington Bullets, the team that defeated the Sonics in the finals the season before.
Tom Chambers, Xavier McDaniel, and Dale Ellis came close to bring the Sonics back to the championship series in 1987, but the Los Angeles Lakers defeated them in the conference finals in five games. The ‘90s started a whole new run at the championship. The Sonics now provided playoff tickets with a team led by Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton. By 1995 the foundation had been extended with Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, Hersey Hawkins, and Nate McMillan. The deep lineup met the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals. The Sonics put up a fight and took the series to six games before losing to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman.
Oklahoma City Thunder Background
The Seattle Sonics are now the Oklahoma City Thunder after a conflict between the owner of the team and the city of Seattle. The recent years have seen the team clean house and begin over again. Rookies Kevin Durant and Jeff Green came out of the 2007 draft as the future of the franchise. Durant is a tall, scoring machine with the quickness of a guard and the height of a power forward. He will be the focus of the 2008-09 season. His ascension to stardom will move forward after a rookie season marked by the normal struggles. This season for the Thunder to bring playoff tickets to Oklahoma City he must make a huge jump from future star to superstar.
His supporting cast includes Jeff Green. Green is a fellow rookie and could be the Scottie Pippen to Durant’s Jordan. With Russell Westbrook brought in this season with the draft the young nucleus is set. Until Westbrook can make the jump to an NBA point guard Earl Watson will lead the team. The play of Nick Collison and Chris Wilcox is that of two players who once were lauded for their potential, but have since looked for a way to fit into the team. Wilcox is an athletic player still who will be able to clean up the boards and Collison is a center that is trying to play consistently after being sidelined by injuries. These players will need to flourish in the role of rebounding and defense. Thunder playoff tickets do not seem possible this year, but this does not mean that Durant will not be amazing over the regular season schedule at the Ford Center.