Check out Thunder player fashion before Game 5
The Oklahoma City Thunder have arrived at the Paycom Center ahead of Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.
All right, who is ready for game 5 tonight? I’m definitely ready. I need to get one of these t-shirts ASAP. They say House of Thunder, and I can assure you it will be *** house full of thunder tonight. It’s going to be so loud. I’m excited for the environment, you know, we did *** live shot *** minute ago and the one thing I said was that I remember being in the building in 2012. I remember being in the building in 2016 and I thought that game against the Warriors, the infamous game, whatever. I thought that’s the best I’ve ever seen in the building. It was like *** soccer stadium and so like in the time that, oh, like, like for real, it was like *** soccer stadium in *** way that I’ve never seen it before and I’ve never seen it since. And so ever since then. I’ve been ready for that kind of ferocity, where, where you just know like if you win tonight, you are literally making history and you’re going to the NBA finals. And I remember then I walked in the building with *** little bit of jitters, you know, and I’m ready to go, man. It feels better that it’s not Game 7, I will say, or else I’d be *** lot more nervous because that would be do or die. You get some chances here, but it does feel like the pregame jitters are in high swing just because it could be all over. Overnight and then you punch your ticket to the NBA finals with *** very young team who everyone says, you know, they’re not mature enough or they give you the laundry list of why they shouldn’t and now they are *** threat in every way to every team in the NBA and now in the playoffs the last one standing. They’re on the doorstep of the NBA finals. So look, we’re, we’re gonna, we’re gonna hang out with you for, uh, 10 or 15 minutes. Um, we’re actually gonna let you kind of see behind the scenes of what goes on while we’re out here on the floor. And so, um, if you have questions, I don’t know, you can fire them up in the in the chat and we’ll, we’ll try to answer some questions for you along the way, but we’re just kind of showing you behind the scenes here before game 5 and before. Everybody gets into the building and this thing gets serious and you can, you know, it’s *** little bit of *** media circus, but I don’t know what do you think about the the colored shirts? Are you into the multicolored? Do you like the same color? What do we think we’re gonna go with the soccer, it feels like we got sections, you know, and so it’s like, we need the blue section now we need the white section so that could be fun if they really. Gain utilize that. I don’t know. I don’t hate it. Do you like the multicolor? No, I think it can be cool. It works. I usually don’t like it as much for football and maybe it’s just the way that the sections are and the way that it typically goes, you know what I mean? But I think the sections really work. I do think in the building it looks very neat. The thing about being in Oklahoma City is that everybody participates. I mean, not everybody, but pretty much everybody. You must wear the shirt. T-shirt they’ll try to shame you into wearing the t-shirt if you don’t. Yeah, you will definitely have some peer pressure from the jumbotron if you don’t. I’ve seen some people be suckered in to wear that shirt, but you have to do it, and I’m excited to see just how loud it gets. Obviously I wasn’t here in 2016 to what you just described, you know, some of it’s the loud. Obviously it’s loud, you know, you’ve been here for loud, but it’s. It’s different, you know, it’s, we’re on the verge of doing something so unique that it’s just *** different level of I can’t believe this is happening and um. And it didn’t that night, by the way, but we, but at that time, it just looked like it was going. I think it’s going to now. 3 to 1. You can go through all the stats and you go 90% of the time and yada yada, but Hannah, it doesn’t matter if you don’t win and you don’t want to be the ***. You got to go, you know, the door can open, but you got to walk through it. The door is open. We love to be on the right side of the for sure, and that helps *** ton, but you know all the pressure, I would think is on this Minnesota team right behind us. They’re away. They’ve got. Crowd here, which is not easy to play, but you know, OKC has had their fair share of that blowout loss in Game 3. You were there for that and and their crowd, they really fed off of their crowd. So in the same breath it goes both ways, but it’s nice to have the home court advantage tonight. Well, what about that game 3? Tell us *** little bit about it. I thought the environment was good. It’s *** good road basketball environment. They don’t have the participation. I mean, I think it is unique to Oklahoma City. The participation with the t-shirts and the way that the fans do and all that. It’s very unique to hear. So we didn’t have quite the same level of you’re saying is OKC is better when it comes to the fandom. I’m saying that the Thunder. Oklahoma City is one professional sports team, right? And in Minnesota, um, they’ve got all four major sports. They’ve got WNBA, they’ve got, you know, women’s hockey. They’ve got, they’ve got, there are more teams to have to kind of get through and I think it’s very cool in Oklahoma City that. It just feels communal, you know, you walk around town and there’s thunder flags everywhere. This is what everybody’s doing tonight. Everybody’s watching. And for those of us who grew up in Oklahoma City, one, it’s hard to imagine that this would even be here, that it would look like this. It’s still crazy to me to talk about the NBA Finals in terms of being in this city. And to be on the doorstep, I just think, well, I look at this not necessarily through the lens of the basketball game and what they have to do for the basketball game. I try to look at it through *** historical perspective and what they’re doing because Hannah, like, you know who plays in the finals? Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant and Steph Curry. And, and now like this team can be. And so it’s just. I don’t know, it’s special and unique, and they haven’t done it yet and you got to win one more of these 3. It’d be fun if they could do it tonight, but I, I just look at it through that perspective because it’s just. If you’d have told eight year old Brian Keating. That we be talking about the NBA finals and if you win tonight, then you’re going back. I just don’t know what he would have told you. I don’t know that I could have believed it. Well, that’s the thing, it’s not likely or it’s such *** unique situation for you even to be able to cover it twice and to be 2012 be here again. I know it’s 13 years down the line, but I mean it’s pretty impressive what this team has done to rebuild. You think about the bubble, you think about just *** couple of years ago and it seems so. To reach and then here you are with really 3 players and there’s so many guys on this team, but I just think about the big 3. I think about Shay, JW, and Chet and just what they’ve been able to do and talking about Chet off on, you know, another subject he was hurt like he was down and here he is, he broke his hip. Yeah, he broke his hip. unique set of circumstances and for them to come out on this side of it and just go through all of it day in and day out. It has to speak to the culture. It has to speak to Mark Dagna for sure, Sam Presty, and what they’ve been able to do with this team. But as someone who’s been here through it all, what has impressed you the most about this team, maybe compared to 2012 or 2016, you’ve seen it. I think this team is different in their consistency. You don’t win 68 games on accident. You win 68 games because you show up and play hard every game. I think the level of competitiveness this team has is unique to them. You can watch everybody else play in the playoffs and you go, man, Oklahoma City just plays so hard. Obviously you have to have great players. They do. SGA wins the MVP. Jalen Williams is on the verge of being, you know, one of the best 20 players in the league for sure. Chad Holmgren, I think, is gonna end up being one of the, the best 25 players in the league. And so I just think this team is unique and special in their depth in the way that they play, the way that they. Seemingly, and I don’t think it’s an act, enjoy being around one another. I think that’s unique to it. And as we get and if they win tonight or you know on Friday or Sunday, we’re gonna have *** lot of time to look at the through the lens of the way that it was and the rebuild and all those things. Those are stories that we’re going to talk about, but it just, I don’t know, I walk in this building on *** night like tonight where you can clinch to go to the NBA finals and I just. in *** way that I don’t know, it’s just something that doesn’t happen. I’ll say it again. Michael Jordan plays in the NBA finals and here the Oklahoma City the Oklahoma City Thunder are with *** chance to do something unique and special. So I just think it’s very cool. I am reminded there is no guarantee that you win these games. And so when the door is open, Hannah, you better walk through it. But this team is special and they are the favorite to win the favorite to win the NBA it’s hard to say it’s hard to say because it’s hard to say. You don’t want to get the cart in front of the horse and all year long you’re just like, you know, this team keeps reminding everyone, you go back to that 00. I’m sure they’ve said it 3 times if not 18 times today just because that’s their go to, but you know you have to win this last one. You have to win one more to get there, but they’re so close. Like you said, they’re knocking on the doorstep and it seems like you said, they’re the favorite. I mean it’s just crazy to believe that. To think that they’re, I mean, look again, cart before uh we’re not going to do that. But you can, you can dream and you can think about what that would be like. And it is funny, you know, because this team’s been on the verge of like NBA records for so much of the year, right? You know, the 68 wins is the fifth most in NBA history. They’ve got the best, um, plus minus point differential ever, the second best net rating ever. And so as these things were happening and we began to talk about them and I would think I don’t know what to do with that. Am I supposed to compare this team in March to the 96 Bulls? No, we had that. I remember playing his day. We’re sitting at our desk. And you’re like the people in the conversation of this stat went to win it all. Like, what do we do with this? And you don’t want to get the cart in front of the horse, you don’t want to get too excited, but here we are, but here we are, and we’ve been asking for *** long time, you know, how good is this team? And they are showing us they are championship worthy. It doesn’t mean they’ll win it. It doesn’t mean they’ll win tonight, but they are championship worthy, and they know how to respond, you know, when you get blown out the way they did, it’s like they responded great on the road again in game 4, and I don’t know that just speaks *** lot to this team. and what they can do and it’s not anything new. So we got *** couple more minutes so we can do this. Let me ask you *** question here. What do you hope for tonight? I’m not even talking about you could be hoops, you could be what like what? Because you never, you’ve been in the building for like *** football or basketball, have you? Like to go like to the finals or win the title or anything like that? No, I don’t think I have. No, no, I haven’t. No, I’ve never been in the building, so this is *** new experience for me. So what I’m hoping to see is just *** whole lot of fun from the crowd, and I don’t think I’m going to be disappointed in that in any way, shape or form, but I’m really basketball wise hoping to see this team separate themselves in this game. They have separated themselves all year long, but I think *** win tonight would separate themselves and say, hey, we can win this. Game we can win this series in 5 rather and to me that would be the ultimate for this series. Am I still going to be excited if they win it in 6, if they win it 7? Absolutely. But that’s me being hopeful and wishful thinking that they can just get it done in this crowd. I can’t wait to see what they do for them to win it at home, the Western Conference Finals, that’s my hope. Yeah, they did that in 2012, the one time that they clinched to go to the NBA finals. They beat the Spurs here in 2012. Um, Oklahoma City even then was *** different place, and the Thunder were so new at that time. It was crazy, you know, because they got here in 2008 and then they’re in the NBA finals in 2002, 0 my gosh, what is this is not even, we haven’t had any pain of the NBA. We, we haven’t even really had NBA playoff failures and oh my, we’re, we’re playing and you’re there. And so since then there’s been *** lot of heartbreak and there’s been *** lot of really close. And the rest of that Durant and Westbrook era ended short of this erase the past if they win tonight or just make you feel better about the future? Well, it doesn’t erase the past, but I’ll tell you this, I am ready to stop talking about game 6. Like if, if they win tonight, I think that I don’t have to talk about it anymore because they will have achieved that level again and I think this is different because they’re the favorite and it doesn’t mean they’ll do it doesn’t mean they’ll win *** game in the finals. I don’t know what happened, but I do think that that would allow everyone to be able to move past that game. And that heartbreak, um, which led to *** whole bunch of heartbreak later, later on kind of *** domino effect. Um, I think it will allow everyone to move past that. And so, but I’m, I want to see the trophy presentation tonight. I got *** lot of friends who are going to be in this building, so that’s what you want. You want to see it done. Put *** bow on it. Look, I cover this team as fair and as hard as anybody is gonna do, but at the end of the day, I’m just *** kid from Oklahoma City who wants to see this team. Achieve things that I’ve never seen before in my life. I’m no different than everybody else. I’m excited about the game for *** whole bunch of reasons. Yeah well that’s what I’m most excited about too. I didn’t even mention the trophy presentation, but I can’t imagine what that trophy tonight, man. It’s not nothing. I don’t know. It’s not nothing. It’s *** whole lot of something, and I’m excited to see what happens here at the pay center because like I said, I don’t think I’ll ever have had *** moment. Matches this energy, so I can’t wait to add it to my to my resume out here. It’ll be fun. I can’t wait. So that’s probably all the time that we’ve got. We’ve got other things we’ve got to clean up and get everything ready for our shows in the game, obviously in *** couple of hours. But if you’re watching the stream, we’re going to try to do this, uh, depending on how long they play here, kind of moving forward, and certainly if we are talking about an NBA finals, we love to hang out. We’ll figure out maybe *** better way. you guys ask us questions and we we like giving you *** behind the scenes look and what it all looks and feels like when we’re in here working and doing things there and maybe for the next one we’ll be on the side of the thunder. We never really know how that works out but we wanted to show you some behind the scenes and talk to you and just kind of do some low key stuff as we get into the games. That’s all she wrote. We’re gonna have *** good time and see you at 6 on KOCO for our last final hit before the game. Um, it’s, it could be *** monumental night. I’m excited. That’s it for us, I guess. We’ll see you tonight, if you’re watching the stream late, see you at the game and after the game, and then we’ll see you as we move along in the postseason audio.
Check out Thunder player fashion before Game 5
The Oklahoma City Thunder have arrived at the Paycom Center ahead of Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.
Updated: 7:00 PM CDT May 28, 2025
The Oklahoma City Thunder have arrived at the Paycom Center ahead of Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.Check out some of the outfits Thunder players were rocking before the game.More Thunder HeadlinesThunder Playoffs Guide: From tickets to schedule and more, everything you need to know about the Western Conference FinalsThunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander named NBA MVPShai Gilgeous-Alexander named to All-NBA First TeamThunder’s Luguentz Dort and Jalen Williams named to NBA All-Defensive teamsMerchandise available celebrating Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s MVP
The Oklahoma City Thunder have arrived at the Paycom Center ahead of Game 5 against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference finals.
Check out some of the outfits Thunder players were rocking before the game.
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You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Facebook.
You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
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