Certain Seattle fans still smart from the Supersonic franchise´s drastic decision to hightail it to Oklahoma City in 2008. But now, behind the sharpshooting of the OKC Thunderman, alias Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma returns home for Gm. 5 tied 2-2, on the verge of a Dallas and Doncic collapse. The Okies also boast a seven-foot-tall shot-blocking tower named Chet Holmgren. The only thing lacking after this sensational series is for their top gun, SGA (his hyphenated name doesn´t really roll off the tongue), to ride into the sunset flanked by ´Mad Max´ Mel Gibson and Tina Turner, beyond the Thunderdome.
Is OKC Thunderman the Deserved MVP?
Plenty of pundits argue that Gilgeous-Alexander was the deserved MVP in the ´23-´24 NBA season, rather than his championship-winning rival from Denver, Nikola ´The Joker´ Jokic. The OKC Thunderman led his Serbian sidekick in a number of key categories. The gun-slinging Maverick from Slovenia, Luka Doncic, finished a distant third in the Most Valuable vote.
Of course, Jokic is due plenty of credit as he continues to steamroll all in sight a year after winning his first title in the Mile High City. The jovial big man has performed a ton before reaching his 30th birthday. His pace of production puts him well on track to exceed 29,000 points, haul in 14,000 rebounds, and dish out 9,000 assists in his career (even if he only manages to hit the NBA hardcourt for nine more seasons).
Meanwhile, for the second year running, SGA averaged more than 30 pops a night, while improving in assists, rebounds, steals, threes, and turnovers per game. The slender OKC hitman not only collected ample MVP votes, but he also ended up a finalist for the Clutch Player of the Year, the Defensive Player of the Year, and topped it off by being an All-Star.
But in the end, the excessive talent on Shai´s OKC team might have been his undoing. Together with the giant strides made by this OKC Thunderman, his teammates also protected the corral admirably from all kinds of onrushing rustlers. Despite his thinness, Holmgren stayed healthy while rejecting every type of opponent. Jalen Williams turned into a trusty second scoring option, while Josh Giddey shot the rock more efficiently. according to Tyler Small for Forbes.
You Gotta Have Genes!
Shai´s mother in particular appears to have something to say about why he´s quickly become the OKC Thunderman, although still only 24 years old. His mom was a bona fide speedster from way back. Sprinting for Antigua and Barbuda in the 1992 Olympics held in Barcelona, Charmaine Gilgeous crossed the 400-meter dash line just behind Jamaica´s Sandie Richards, Jearl-Miles Clark of the U.S., and Sandra Douglas of the U.K. Those that nipped Gilgeous, who also sprinted for Alabama in college, were all confirmed Olympic medal winners.
Of the many delicious morsels of advice his mother fed the OKC Thunderman over the years, one that stuck with him was about the fine line between confidence and cockiness. In an interview with Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman, Shai stated:
Growing up, with anything we did, she never let us get cocky. She always told us and showed us to have confidence in ourselves, but never take it overboard. Keep it as confidence.
Shai decided to transfer from his native Toronto to Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee, to face better competition in his final two years of high school. Even though the future OKC Thunderman bunked with his coach, Charmaine´s motherly touch could still be felt from 850 miles away, far north of the border. Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman also intervied SGA’s high school coach, Zach Ferrell, who affirmed:
She was very much involved. She loves her son so deeply. She kept him very humbled and focused in a very loving way. She obviously had a high, high level of success in her sport, so she knew what it took.
Shootout Coming Soon at The OK Corral
Speaking of oozing confidence and hoop shootouts, the Thunder have always bragged of some of the quickest and most successful sharpshooters in their relatively short NBA history. It´s hard to imagine that ´The Slim Reaper´ Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, and Paul George once shared the same court—with one ball among them no less.
The 2011-12 version of OKC has been called the best Thunder team ever. They won the West and finally fell to the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. Durant, Harden, and Westbrook were all in their early 20s, and the sky really was the limit at the time, in the words of Jedd Pagaduan.
Indeed the current Thunder crop are all in their early 20s as well. They have a shrewd young coach called Mark Daigneault. The difference may just be that this time around, their confidence seems to be in check as they go about shooting down the West in ´24 behind a surefire Shai, OKC Thunderman.
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Wily hoops writer Will Beebe was on hand to see the Seattle Supersonics (now the OKC Thunder) hoop it in the mid-1980s. His recent book, Soccer Giants of Brazil: One American´s Take on Samba Soccer Culture, is now on Amazon. www.soccergaintsofbrazil.com | Connect with Will on X: @WABeebe11.
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