Thunder Rode

“Denigrated and dismissed by a basketballing commentariat who’ve spent much of this season ruing the modern NBA’s dearth of charisma, Oklahoma City and Indiana played as if stung by the laugh lines, launching from both ends of the court with a kind of mad, symphonic intensity.” The NBA Finals were great. The final game, and the win by the OKC Thunder, was somewhat muted by the devastating injury to Indiana’s Tyrese Haliburton, but still capped a remarkable season by a remarkably young and likable team. Thunder’s thrilling nerd juggernaut ushers in NBA’s nice guy era. “With their love of group interviews, relentless positivity, and unfortunate penchant for barking, this vintage of the Oklahoma City Thunder often seems more like an a cappella troupe than a basketball team, a band of barber shop Harlem Globetrotters ready to pop up on the campus of our collective psyche at any moment and begin a relentless assault of harmonization and good vibes. Head coach Mark Daigneault is fond of describing them as an “uncommon” team – but what may be most uncommon about them is how supremely, relatably dorky they are.” (Now that they’re champions, I’m pretty sure fans of other teams will find a way to hate them!)

+ “Even if Haliburton isn’t on the court next season, the Pacers’ influence should still be seen in ways that stretch from subtle to overt. There are no moral victories in the NBA Finals, but this was a special team. And right now, even as they suffer through the pangs of regret and what could’ve been, the Pacers should take pride in knowing that, in a copycat league, there’s a good chance no team will motivate more stylistic plagiarism over the next few years than these Indiana Pacers will.” The NBA Won’t Forget About the 2024-25 Pacers.