Chapter 104 Durant holding his breath

The Timberwolves suffered a brutal losing streak in January, and the seventh place in the West is still not guaranteed, and the 19-18 record still falls to 10th place in the West.

A wave of six consecutive defeats can be said to have directly buried the Timberwolves' efforts in December, and the journey in December was not easy, which of the Spurs, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, and Nuggets is not a strong team in the Western Conference playoffs? Which of the Los Angeles Lakers or the Boston Celtics is not a strong contender for the championship?

barely survived such a dense and tragic schedule, but in January came a series of defeats, which directly lost the winning advantage that had been accumulated some time ago.

The Western Conference rankings have fallen again and again, and they have fallen to the tenth place in the West, and the situation is precarious, and the Spurs and Thunder have completed the overtake, squeezing into the seventh and eighth positions respectively, completing the division of the last two playoff places.

There is no news about the aging Spurs, who were previously eighth in the West, and a playoff spot in the West is still available.

But the Oklahoma City Thunder is different, this new team of the league moved to Oklahoma City in 08, completely breaking away from the history of its predecessor, the Seattle SuperSonics, and becoming a new team in the league.

This incident caused a wide impact last year, no, the year before last, and American society was very concerned about it.

Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, with a history of 150 or 60 years, which is also a historic city in the United States, a short-lived empire.

When SuperSonics settled in Seattle, the headquarters of Boeing, the world's largest aircraft manufacturer, was also located here, and the team was founded with the help of Boeing, and finally the team management chose the name SuperSound, and it was in the NBA league that the team management chose the name SuperSound.

The Seattle SuperSonics have a long history, and the long history of the team has had its ups and downs, and the 1978 championship is remembered by many long-time SuperSonics fans. The supersonic has given birth to many superstar players, such as "Glove" Gary Payton, "Rain Man" Sean Kemp, "Gentleman's Sword" Ray Allen and so on.

When the new owner of Seattle proposed to rename the Seattle SuperSonics to the Thunder and relocate to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the same time, the entire Seattle city stayed up all night.

The impact of this incident is huge, to be honest, David Stern, who was the president of the league at the time, was opposed to the supersonic relocation, but the team owner Bennett insisted on going his own way, and David Stern had no way to do it, although he was in charge of the entire NBA league, it did not mean that he could use iron power to build this league into a word.

In the final analysis, this league is the sum of the toys of many rich owners, and each team is a valuable toy for many rich owners, and David Stern still has to take into account the feelings of those owners.

But that doesn't mean no one will approve of it, and many of the biggest names in basketball in the U.S. have bombarded it.

"Big Shark" Shaquille O'Neal once said angrily: "When I think of hypersound, I think of Jack Sigma, Sean Camp and Wilkens, and what are you talking about the Oklahoma City Thunder...... Anyway, if my son asks me about it, I'll tell him that there is no such team at all! ”

The words are unceremonious, although the Seattle superSonics has nothing to do with O'Neal, but "Big Shark", as a superstar player of the last century and a half, naturally understands the thoughts of the supersonic old players, and it is incumbent on him to stand up and support them.

Former supersonic superstar and coach Lenny Wilkens was devastated when he heard the news, "I'm going crazy, I'm disappointed, you know, Seattlemen have been supporting this team for over 40 years!" ”

It can be imagined how much pain this incident brought to Seattle fans at the beginning, and it can be said that the Thunder, the new army of the league, is now moving forward with all kinds of pressure and abuse.

Team leaders Durant and Westbrook are the representatives of the league's new Thunder team, and they have no way to stop the pressure from the outside world, so they can only bear it silently, and it is also the idea of the team's new owner, but their young players have to endure this.

When the Thunder successfully landed in eighth place in the West in January 2010, Durant felt a slow goodwill, and the whole world was much cleaner and fresher.

The team is temporarily in the playoff queue, which has undoubtedly made many media and celebrities shut their mouths and stop bombarding the team endlessly.

The rise of the Timberwolves this season has affected many teams, and the Thunder are one of them.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a team that is on the same rebuilding path as the Timberwolves, they drafted young player Kevin Durant from the University of Texas with the No. 1 pick in '07, and then selected the talented UCLA guard Russell Westbrook with the No. 4 pick in '08, and it didn't end there, and last year they drafted Arizona State University's "Mr. Beard" James Harden with the No. 1 pick.

The three consecutive years of swinging are in order to select a few talented players to lead the new Thunder team to rise and embark on a smooth rebuilding path.

When the Thunder moved to a new location, former supersonic superstar "The Glove" Gary Payton sneered: "I've said it a long time ago, I've never played for Oklahoma City, and the people who watch me play are Seattlemen, and they're the ones who made me famous." ”

Payton has retired anyway, and he doesn't eat professional basketball anymore, so he naturally spoke unceremoniously, directly bombarding the management of the Thunder, bluntly saying that his jersey does not belong to the Oklahoma City Thunder and will only stay in the city of Seattle forever.

Naturally, Bennett, the new owner of the Thunder, was very annoyed by these words, and he threw the ashtray several times in a row, and then he could only speak to the media with confidence: "In fact, Payton has not yet reached the height of jersey retirement. Even if he did, he might as well hang up to Seattle. With us, you can't see his retired jersey, and the first retired jersey for our team will be Durant's! ”

This remark caused a great sensation at the time, and the SuperSonics' behavior of swinging badly for three consecutive seasons made Payton sneer, found evidence, and frequently fired in the media, satirizing the stupidity of Thunder owner Bennett.

Isn't it said that Durant will retire his jersey in the future? Why is it still rotten after three seasons in a row? Why not just lead the team to the playoffs?

And the Timberwolves suddenly turned into a dark horse this season, breaking into the playoff queue from the position of the Western Conference, and the Thunder suffered more doubts in comparison.

Compare goods and throw them away, this is true!

Team leader Durant was naturally shot while lying down, the team lineup is so poor, Garnett went to Boston but changed half of the team, what did the SuperSonics leave behind? He can't even be Jordan.

Holding his breath, Durant has been practicing silently, working hard to lead the team to fight, and finally led the team to surpass the Timberwolves and advance to the playoff queue in January, which made him feel a lot more comfortable.