Thunder Speak on Boos
Joe Smith
“We didn’t give them too much to cheer about after the first half. It kind of surprised us a little bit, but at the same time it’s something that we deserved a little bit because, like I said, after the first half we didn’t give them too much to cheer about. They made their run and we made a run in the second half. But for the most part in the second half I think we kind of deserved it a little bit.
Damien Wilkins
“I’ve been hearing it. When you’re sitting you’re hearing it all. So I’ve been hearing it. It’s really not a whole lot you can do. You can’t go apologize to all 19,000 people. The only thing you can do is really just give a better effort. It’s embarrassing really. It’s embarrassing for us. It’s embarrassing for I know my family, I can’t speak for everyone else but I’m sure it is. To hear those boos after the excitement that was built up in this season, for us to come out and play like we played recently is just not acceptable. And some how some way we’ve got to turn this thing around.”
P.J. Carlesimo
“I don’t hear a lot during the game to be honest with you. But I know for a good chunk of the first half I heard them. When you normally hear it most is during a timeout to be honest with you. During the game, you’re focused and you don’t hear as much. I do know that there was a couple of timeouts and there were a couple of runs during that first 21 minutes where I definitely heard the crowd. And I heard them during the second half when they were trying to encourage us and get us going. We’ve got to be concerned with ourselves and just taking care of our own business.”
-DM-
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
I’d like to apologize for the few “fans” that booed, although I do think this has been blown completely out of proportion. Most of us were cheering every play, every turnover, every rebound right up until the end of the game. I didn’t even hear any booing…..a little muttering, a few groans, yes, but I heard no boos, so there couldn’t have been a significant number of people in the arena booing. However, I don’t care how badly the game is going, the Thunder are our team, these players live here and they’re part of our city. I am going to support them through the good and bad of this season, and I continue to be grateful that we have the good fortune to have an NBA team in our city, something I never thought I’d see. All most of us ask is that the team tries hard, not that they never make mistakes, and that we see improvement as the season progresses, even if it’s not major.
I don’t believe in booing the home team. However, there were definitely boos around me and I don’t blame the people who did. There’s a difference between getting beat and being embarassed and I’m glad to see that Joe Smith and Damien Wilkins seem to know the difference as well.
All the Thunder have to do is leave it all on the floor on a nightly basis and, win or lose, they’ll never hear another boo.
I don’t think anyone was booing the players. We know they are – for the most part – young and prone to making mistakes.
We were booing Carlisemo for bonehead coaching moves. There was about a minute left in the first half and the Clippers had cut the lead dramatically. He sits Durant for the remainder of the half. It reminded me of the OU-Texas game 4-5 years ago where the Sooners had been whittling away at Texas’ lead and Mack took a knee just before halftime.
Then, he leaves Westbrook on the bench for the first 10 minutes of the 3rd. Yes, I know Russell had more minutes overall than Earl, but the team feeds off of Westbrook’s energy.
The fact of the matter is that this team should be better than it is. Westbrook is the only rookie getting any minutes, so while they’re young, the starting 5 have all had at least a year’s experience with the system.
I echo the apology if there were *really* boos in the arena during the Clippers game. But the only thing I recall is a huge, exasperated groan during a string of backcourt steals and Clippers’ scores in the fourth quarter. We all felt the rally could begin with the next successful offensive series, and it just wouldn’t come. The entire arena kept gravitating to the edge of the seat, only to fall back again. I heard no boos, and I disagree with the paper drafting the headline to indicate there were. It conjures a picture in the national conscious that we were standing and jeering the team. We did NO such thing.
Hang in there team. We’re with you.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO