Here’s a shocker: Seattle fans upset, this time at Nate Robinson
Thunder guards Royal Ivey, left, and Nate Robinson cheer on their teammates from the bench during the NBA playoffs.
When roughly 100 fans greeted the Oklahoma City Thunder at a private hanger at Will Rogers World Airport at 3:30 a.m. after Game 4 on Wednesday/Thursday, reserve guard Nate Robinson rifled off a tweet: “OKC aka Thunder fans are the best on the planet.”
Robinson was born and raised in Seattle, loves Seattle, never passes up a chance to brag about Seattle. He excelled at the University of Washington in Seattle. However, Seattle SuperSonics fans took offense at Robinson’s kindness toward Oklahoma City. And if there’s one thing people in Seattle won’t stand for, it’s someone being kind to OKC.
Sonics fans being offended from what happened three years ago has lost all traction. Actually, it never really had any traction. Seattle had an opportunity to keep the Sonics, but elected public officials tabled any talk of a suitable facility being built with the help of taxpayer money in greater Seattle. This gave the city zero chance of keeping the franchise. If Seattle had a new arena, the Sonics would still be there. Pure and simple.
Seattle folks insist OKC stole the Sonics. Around these parts, we consider that a fumble. Seattle fumbled the Sonics. Oklahoma City recovered. Mixed metaphor intended.
Incorrigible Sonics fans are still pouting, whining, bitching about what transpired, and now their fans are taking swings at Robinson.
Robinson has played in just five games since coming to the Thunder from the Boston Celtics as part of the Kendrick Perkins trade on Feb. 24. Despite this limited exposure, Thunder fans quickly have embraced the 5-foot-9, 180-pound Robinson because of his passionate persona on the bench. Robinson has returned that embrace to fans.
Here’s how messed up this Twitter thing is with Robinson: Before Game 7 against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday, Robinson was asked if Sonics fans had lightened up any about his tweet. The habitually loquacious Robinson didn’t want to talk about it. The man who never shuts up suddenly went silent. Certain Sonics fans no doubt will take perverse pleasure in that.
Seattle Times sports columnist Jerry Brewer’s thoughts on the subject.
Will The Thunder Raise A Northwest Division Championship Banner?
While in Seattle, the SuperSonics raised banners for division, conference and world championships.
The Thunder earned its first Northwest Division title with a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
So how will the franchise commemorate it?
Expect a banner to be raised to the rafters inside the Oklahoma City Arena.
NBA franchises have long honored their divisional-championship-winning teams with such ceremonies. And the Thunder, an organization that has operated in nothing but class in its first three seasons, in all likelihood will plan a similar celebration to honor the team’s achievement. It’s not a question of if. It’s a matter of when.
Historically, banner-raising ceremonies have been carried out in one of four ways: before the game immediately following the clinching win, before the team’s final game of the regular season, before the team’s first game of the playoffs, or before the team’s first game of the following season.
Tonight’s game against Denver is the first chance the Thunder will have to lift a brand new banner. No official announcement of the team’s plans has been made, but don’t bet on a banner being unveiled tonight. It doesn’t fit the ‘Thunder Way.’
This is an organization that has quickly established a structure system, with two of its leading tenets being timing and tastefulness. The Thunder is a team that will never celebrate an accomplishment when there is still business to be handled. We also know the Thunder to be a no-flash, no-frills operation that almost fearfully guards against any sort of distraction. And with four regular season games remaining, a pre-game banner-raising celebration could be just that, something that potentially could take the focus off of finishing the task at hand.
The Thunder, of course, has never and will never (at least under current ownership and management) seek to attract additional attention. When this 2010-11 squad gets its salute, it probably will be in the most low-key slot available. But it’s coming and rightfully so.
Sonics fans make Portland appearance
Some Seattle SuperSonics fans were at the Rose Garden in Portland on Thursday night in hopes of making an appearance on national television (TNT) during the Thunder’s game against the Trail Blazers. Those fans wound up watching their ex-team overcome a 13-point deficit to win 107-106 in overtime.
Also in the stands was a man dressed as Squatch, the former Sonics mascot, who held up a sign reading, “HOMELESS.”
The costume resembled Chewbacca of Star Wars far more than Sasquatch. According to The Associated Press, Matt Heuer of Seattle was the fan dressed as Squatch.
Located roughly 175 miles apart, Seattle and Portland were NBA rivals before the Sonics relocated to Oklahoma City following the 2007-08 season.
Venom still flows from bitter fans in the Northwest while discussing the franchise’s move, and the Thunder’s remarkable rise toward elite NBA status adds to the pain.
Phil Caldwell, a contributor to Bleacher Report, wrote the following: “The Oklahoma City Thunder, which still sounds like a junior high AAA team to most fans in Seattle, has amassed a young exciting nucleus since fleeing Seattle. This happened in spite of uniforms that look surprisingly unimaginative and downright ugly! The team is filled with lottery picked youngsters and a bright future.”
Here is the story, which is part of a series on the NBA’s fiscal health.
It wasn’t a good day for the Blazers. In addition to losing the game, the Blazers lost first-round draft pick Elliot Williams for the season due to a knee injury, lost center Fabricio Oberto to retirement due to a recurring heart problem, and lost guard Rudy Fernandez about an hour before tipoff to a minor back injury. Portland also lost former great Maurice Lucas, the starting power forward on the 1977 world championship team, who on Sunday lost his battle against bladder cancer at age 58.
Thank goodness it’s over. It’s shocking some of the things that happened, but you have to move on.” — Blazers coach Nate McMillan
One last tidbit: Whatever happened to the real Squatch? Like the team he cheered, the man inside the costume also relocated to Oklahoma City and has since become the Thunder’s mascot, Rumble.
Slicing Up The Schedule Part VI: April
Our month-by-month breakdown of the schedule has reached its end. And it looks like it will be a banner year for the Thunder.
Oklahoma City all but clinched its playoff berth with a blistering 12-4 record in March. Now, April is about how high in the standings the Thunder can climb. Things won’t be easy, though. Before waltzing into the postseason party, OKC must close out its longest road trip of the season, survive three back-to-backs, take on Denver twice and travel to L.A. to face the defending champs one final time.
But we expect the Thunder to persevere.
HOME/ROAD: Three at home; five on the road.
BACK-TO-BACKS: Three. The month kicks off with a double dip on the road, at Portland and at the Clippers. That’s followed by a road-home set that starts in Denver on April 5 and returns to OKC for another meeting with the Clippers on April 6. The final pair is another road two step that starts in L.A. against the Lakers on April 10 before swinging through Sacramento on April 11. Because all three games on the second night are against mediocre teams, the best way to judge which set is the most difficult is by examining the first game. Since it’s the Lakers who are squeezed in with Sacramento, the final set must be considered the most difficult.
DEGREE OF DIFFICULTY: Strangely strong. April’s eight games are the fewest in our series. But the competition could be fierce, and three games out of the the season-high four-game road trip are buried in April. We know a trip to Portland, a home and home with Denver and a visit to Staples Center to face the Lakers gives the Thunder four tough tests off the top. The season finale on April 13 against Milwaukee will be played at home but could prove challenging as well if seeding is at stake. In the remaining three, the Thunder must travel to Sacramento on the second night of a back-to-back and has a home and away series with the Clippers. Ordinarily, two games against the Clippers could be penciled in as two easy wins. But L.A. has improved, and this year the Clippers could potentially need these last few days to help clinch a playoff berth. (more…)
Christmas With The Thunder?
The Thunder’s preseason schedule is out, and the regular season schedule shouldn’t be far behind.
The NBA is likely to release the league-wide schedule next week, and all signs point to the Thunder having a Christmas game.The Thunder turned in a league-best 27-game improvement last year en route to a 50-win season and a berth in the playoffs. As the eighth seed, OKC pushed the now two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers to six games in the first round of the playoffs. And Kevin Durant is the league’s newest superstar, having become the youngest player to ever win the scoring title after averaging 30.1 points at just 21 years old. Many now project the Thunder as the second best team in the Western Conference behind the Lakers. Add it all up and it seems inevitable the Thunder will be featured on the NBA’s annual holiday showcase.
It would be the first ever Christmas game for the Thunder. Oklahoma City fans also would experience their first Christmas game dating back to when the NBA first came to town with the temporarily displaced New Orleans Hornets in 2005.
The Thunder franchise last played a Christmas game in 2007, losing 89-79 at Portland in a game that was supposed to feature that year’s No. 1 overall pick, Greg Oden, and No. 2 overall pick, Durant. Oden, however, was sidelined for the season because of microfracture surgery on his right knee.
The league schedules five Christmas games annually, attempting to pair the best possible matchups to attract the most possible viewers across ABC and ESPN. The first game tips off at 11 a.m. The final game gets underway at 9:30 p.m.
Last season’s schedule had Miami at New York on ESPN at 11 a.m., Boston at Orlando on ABC at 1:30 p.m., Cleveland at the Lakers on ABC at 4 p.m., the Clippers at Phoenix on ESPN at 7 p.m. and Denver at Portland on ESPN at 9:30 p.m.
There are only about 14 teams that warrant consideration for a Christmas game: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, the L.A. Lakers, L.A. Clippers, Miami, New York, Orlando, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio and Utah. Four of those teams won’t make the cut. (more…)
Documentary “Sonicsgate” Released
The documentary “Sonicsgate” has been released online. It examines the Sonics’ move from Seattle to Oklahoma City. You can see the two-hour documentary at www.sonicsgate.org or watch the videos posted below. It’s done in two parts.
Sonicsgate HD Part 1 of 2 from sonicsgate on Vimeo.
Sonicsgate HD Part 2 of 2 from sonicsgate on Vimeo.
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Documentary “Sonicsgate” To Premier Online Oct. 12
On the day the Thunder makes its preseason debut at the Ford Center an online documentary chronicling the team’s move from Seattle is scheduled to be released online.
The film, “Sonicsgate,” is an 80-minute documentary scheduled to be released online Oct. 12 and is produced by Seattle-based filmmaker Jason Reid and “a crew of angry Sonics fans,” according to a press release by the organization Save Our Sonics. Reid, the director, hopes to generate momentum for the Sonics issue and eventually help get another NBA team in the city of Seattle.
Judging by the three-minute trailer, the documentary appears to be worthy of a look. It seems the film will be very accusatory in nature, with the blame looking like it will be pointed to everyone from Seattle Mayor Greg Nichols to Thunder chairman Clay Bennett to the Legislature to former owner Howard Schultz. But several key characters were interviewed for the documentary, including Slade Gorton, Paul Lawrence, Brad Keller, Tom Carr, Brian Robinson Chris Van Dyk, Nick Collison, Desmond Mason and Kevin Calabro among others.
Sonicsgate Trailer from sonicsgate on Vimeo.
“We feel it is important to capture the rich history of the SuperSonics in Seattle,” Reid said. “This film exposes the truth behind the SuperSonics’ tragic exodus after 41 years in the Emerald City. There are people who need to be held accountable for how the team was scandalously ripped away from fans.”
For more on the project visit www.sonicsgate.org.
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