Pivot of Life

Wednesday March 11th was just a typical day in Oklahoma City. I can remember going through the motions that day, although there are a handful of memories that stick out there is one that will be imbedded in my memory for the rest of my life. “TONIGHT’S GAME HAS BEEN POSTPONED.”

I was standing on the North side of Chesapeake Energy arena, behind the basket. I had just got a drink from the concession stand and to my surprise I was somewhat early to this game. I had so much energy that day. The regular season was coming to a close and this was the last game I had planned attending for the year. I was more than excited to watch Chris Paul and Donovan Mitchell have a Northwest Division clash. OKC had just returned from a week long road trip and this matchup always make for good television.

As warm ups continue I noticed a commotion near center court. The referees were huddled up around each other while the intro music by Zombie Nation went on for another minute. The Storm Chasers (The Thunder hype crew) were actively getting the crowd ready, fans were clapping, players going through their pre-game routine. At this point the night felt normal. I could sense the competition from my seat, but over the next five minutes I soon realized that this night was going to be anything but normal.

As I looked back to center court at the Referees, something caught my attention. Donnie Strack, the director for the OKC Medical Staff, made a dash to center court as if he had just been timed at the NFL combine. As they continued the conversation our Hall of Fame Point Guard Chris Paul decided to make his way near the Thunder logo as well. He proceeds to ask “whats wrong with Rudy?” At this point it is uncertain to the fans what all the drama is about, but I soon understood that I was not going to be watching basketball this night, nor any night in the near future.

Meanwhile there are 18,000 boisterous Oklahomans itching to see some type of action. Francisco Bautista Jr. (also know as Frankie J) had been told that he was going to perform at 7:30 which wasn’t anywhere near the original time slot. A post from his Instagram live caught a bit of what was said before the Grammy-nominated artist took the stage. Thunder entertainment coordinator Candace Coonrad turned to Frankie and said,

“Alright, guys we’re going out.”

“Right now?” Frankie replied

“Yeah,” Coonrad responded

“Suga Suga” started playing in the background… I started to have flashbacks of every Middle School dance I had attended during my adolescence. It was extremely odd considering I was trying to enjoy the music while simultaneously wondering what the players and referees were worried about.

Back in Section 119 at “The Peake.” Row Q was starting to become restless. At this point the game had been postponed. Jason Spells & Greg Buckner of The OKC Thunder play-by-play came over the PA system again telling everyone to remain calm as they started to shuffle us out safely. They let us go according to the sections in which we were seated. It had all the feeling of an Elementary School field trip, without any destination. Just controlled chaos in its natural habitat.

What we didn’t know was that The Utah Jazz Big Man, Rudy Gobert was back at the team’s hotel in Downtown OKC where he had just been tested for Influenza, Strep, as well as an upper respiratory infection. All of these test results came back negative. Unfortunately, Rudy tested positive for COVID-19.

A few days prior Rudy was sitting in an interview answering questions and joking with the media. After a few minutes of questioning the last reporter asked,

“Will it be weird not knowing what will happen in the future?”

“Of course, but we will do our best.” replied Rudy

Rudy made a noise as he began to get up and stretch from the podium and as he started to walk away; He almost hesitates before patting down each microphone like a game of “Duck, Duck, Goose” as he dashed out of the door of the conference room. A few days later Rudy Gobert became the first player (known to the public) in professional sports to contract The Coronavirus. This would forever be marked in a moment in time that would prove to be unlike any other in American Sports History.

Chapter 2: The New Normal

As the players went back to the locker room none of them could have possibly predicted the next 6 months. Racial Injustice, Police Brutality, and a Country Divided would be the headlines going into the summer. Unrest was clearly prevalent across the nation.

As the days went on there were cancellations from sports across the world. From March Madness to European Football; Sports were going on a hiatus for the first time EVER. In the following months monotony began to become part of this new normal.

Adam Silver and the NBA didn’t exactly know what they were going to do to resume the season but an idea of forming an NBA bubble started to surface. Not only the NBA but the WNBA, MLS, and NHL would all adopt this idea of a “Sports Bubble.” The idea was pretty self-explanatory. If the players are isolated from all other outside circumstances and tested on a regularly basis they could try to finish the rest of their respected seasons.

It seemed almost instantaneous, as quick as they brought up the idea for “The Bubble” the execution of putting this idea into plan was incredible. By July 7th the players had all made it down to The ESPN/Disney Wide World of Sports Complex. The players would now have to Quarantine for 48 hours and once they were able to register two negative tests they would then be free to move around the Campus.

Campus Life was certainly a vibe as everyone started to get comfortable down in Orlando. Dwight Howard and Javale Mcgee filmed almost everything they were doing when they arrived. The food seemed to be marginal but they would find a way to make due. Matisse Thybulle was able to put together some amazing footage while documenting his experience with doing “Vlogs” for YouTube. Even the most elementary footage seemed interesting!

Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell kept there teammates involved by starting a “Silent Disco” on the balconies of their hotel. Mo Bamba and The Orlando Magic typically played large games of UNO most nights. This also became a Lab for Gamers, Terrance Ross and Meyers Leonard had their entire gaming setup sent to them. Now they had the opportunity to go from casual gamers to streamers with the innovation of Twitch. The Spurs competed in a Ping Pong Tournament with the Grand Prize.. You guessed it! A bottle of Lysol. Golfing, Cornhole, and Fishing became a part of every day life during the players downtime prior to the play-in games.

Chapter 3: The Restart

July 30th was a day marked on many fans calendars as it would be the first competition since stopping the 2019–2020 campaign. 22 teams were invited to compete in this play-in tournament. 8 games were to be played in order to seed each of the remaining teams. The venues for all games were to be inside the Arena, Field House and Visa Athletic Center.

Although not every team ended up playing the same number of total games for the season. For instance The Dallas Mavericks ended up playing a total of 75 total games. The soon to be crowned NBA Champion Los Angeles Lakers only had to play a total of 71 games. The plan was far from perfect but it showed to be the best plan for restarting any type of major sporting event that had been resurrected in the year 2020.

As the playoffs loomed, The 8 seeding games had some wild endings. Devin Booker drilled a game winning jumper over Paul George and Kawhi Leonard to bring the Suns to an astounding 8–0 record during their time in the bubble. Even that record couldn’t keep them in the playoff hunt.

Damian Lillard dropped 61 points in 41 minutes against The Dallas Mavericks on August 11th. His heroic performance was capped off by a shot from the logo that bounced so high off the back rim that it took a few seconds to come all the way down. “Logo Lillard” became a name that was known to even the most casual sports fan.

Portland had the most ground to cover during the restart as they barely made their way into the playoffs. The Blazers had made it to the play-in game where they would knock off The Memphis Grizzlies to get the highly coveted 8th seed where their prize would be The Mighty Los Angeles Lakers.

As the seeding games started to come to a close there were so many storylines to talk about but for the sake of Oklahoma City Thunder, and more importantly OKC Thunder-Twitter, the most exciting storyline without a doubt had to be Russell Westbrook playing against his former team in Rockets Red. On the other side of that coin Chris Paul would get to face his ex-teammate and nemesis, James Harden.

Chapter 4: Familiar Foes

The matchup between OKC and Houston was highly anticipated. Earlier in the year Houston had ushered in the Westbrook era officially when they ousted Clint Capela in a 4 team trade that ultimately sent Capela to The Atlanta Hawks and brought Robert Covington to Houston from Minnesota. This move would prove to be interesting as Houston elected to go with a relatively small lineup with P.J. Tucker playing the Center position. The reason this is relatively noteworthy is due to the fact that the average height of an NBA Center is 6 feet 10 inches. Tucker stands at 6'5″ giving up a noticeable 5 inches to most Centers in the league.

It is important to bring up the moving parts of that trade because that last move was often referred to as the piece that would “unlock” Russ and the small ball fueled Rockets. This later proved to be a flop as Houston had to effectively blow up their coaching/ownership positions at the end of the year.

This series was extremely entertaining; As Houston jumped out to 2–0 lead in the series I began to wonder if this would be quick trip down to Orlando for Billy Donovan and Company. Luckily OKC was able to tie the series up at 2 games each and as Oklahoma City looked to even things up in game 5 there was another unexpected turn in our society.

Outside an apartment complex in Kenosha, Wisconsin a white police officer opened fire on a 29 year old Black man named Jacob Blake. His three children were witnesses to the entire event. He was left partially paralyzed after being shot seven times. The incident was captured by a neighbor and went viral almost instantly.

As outrage spread I couldn’t help but think about all of the other lives that had been affected earlier this year. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, and so many more Black Americans had lost their lives all too soon. This specific event in Kenosha was horrifying and hard to watch, but this moment was much bigger than any basketball game.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ Sterling Brown and George Hill decided they would sit out their playoff game in efforts to bring attention to Police Brutality. This prompted the decision to cancel the remaining games for that night. This led to the players having many questions without any answers.

All the players in The Bubble decided to hold an impromptu meeting where they could figure out their next course of action. Shams Charania from The Athletic was able to get a quote from LeBron about the meeting. LeBron’s message was clear and simple, ‘We must hold our owners more accountable. They are the ones in the position of power.’

As play was on hold for that week, The Rockets and Thunder would resume their playoff clash and the layoff would prove to benefit The Beard & Co. As Houston dismantled Oklahoma City 114–80. The series felt like it had no rhythm. It seemed so strange as the flow of the game could go from a fast paced shootout to a slow and docile defensive grudge match. Home court certainly didn’t matter and the absence of fans really meant it was up to each team to “Bring Their Own Party.” Whether it was players cheering on the sidelines or a little bit of back and forth trash talk it was certainly needed as a source of momentum.

It seemed like each game had gone back and forth. The Thunder edged out Houston in Game 6, giving the league and everyone back home a little more hope.

“ONE MORE WIN” I thought to myself.

“Just One.”

Chapter 5: Dort, The Future

As Game 7 came to fruition I couldn’t really identify with my emotions because it was too much to process at that point. OKC’s season possibly ending, the end of CP3, even the possibility of Steven Adams last game in a Thunder jersey had crossed my mind.

After watching a recap of Game 7 for what felt like the 30th time, many things stuck out to me that I previously hadn’t noticed. This OKC team really had been playing on sheer talent and determination for most of their post-season play. Down the stretch Oklahoma City did not look like a team who had rythm or a team that had every single piece put together because they simply hadn’t been together long enough to develop these benchmarks/team chemistry.

Nonetheless, Luguentz Dort showed up and showed out in his Game 7 debut. He scored 30 points in 35 minutes of play. This was more than Kevin Durant scored back in 2011 and it even eclipsed LeBron James’ total back in 2008 during his Game 7 inception.

What was even more impressive than Lu scoring 30 was the fact that he also had to do all of this while guarding the best player on the other team and arguably the best isolation player the game has seen since the likes of Michael or LeBron.

So it made even more sense that Lu Dort was able to get the ball for the final shot of the game. He had a wonderful look from downtown but there was just one problem. Fellow Arizona State Alumni, James Harden was able to reach his hand up at the last second and extend a finger to throw off the trajectory of Dort’s shot.

Out of all the things I had predicted for 2020 James Harden blocking a last second shot taken by Lu Dort was not at the top of my list. But in a strange way it was a perfect ending to this unpredictable year. OKC may not have been able to get out of the First round but it certainly wasn’t because of a lack of effort. (The millions of first round draft picks certainly helped soften the blow)

If we believe that sports is just the game of life on a smaller scale then we should also choose to believe that while there may not be any moral victories in the game of Basketball there are certainly moral victories in this game called “Life.” Some of you may be scratching your head after reading that last sentence but for my personal sanity I am always choosing to focus on what was gained, as opposed to looking at this proverbial glass as half empty.

Yes, this year will categorically go down as the worst calendar year in our Nation’s History since 1918. Our country had no time to decompress or assess much of anything as the year comes to a head we will certainly look back and wonder about all the good that could have happened, or more importantly, all of the good things that SHOULD have happened. It is still important for me personally to try and find the beauty even if it means I will have to sift through a lot of muck to get there that is quite alright, I will do it.

If we are looking in from an OKC Thunder perspective, the future will certainly be bright. In a months time we will have a new Coach and more than likely an entire overhaul of our current roster. Leaving us with our beloved Canadian backcourt, Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Sam Presti will still be at the helm and one would think there will be some more “Presti Magic” as we forge onto this next chapter of Oklahoma City Basketball. I always have to remind myself of a quote made famous by nobody, “In Presti, We Trust.”

My story began on March 11th and my life has totally changed since then but it wasn’t by design. Most of our lives probably look extraordinarily different if we are looking at this year in totality.

March 11th, 2020 I planned on attending another Thunder basketball game but what I really got was a life lesson that could have exceeded anything I expected. It will prove to be much more valuable than any ticket I could have purchased.

Sometimes the lessons of life disguise themselves in the ugliest of ways. The way I choose to interpret these messages is what has shown to be the difference.

Written by Brandon Dale, contributor to OKC UK, you can find me on twitter @MrOKCtober. Feel free to leave any comments and thoughts on this article and i hope you enjoyed reading my thoughts.

Originally published at http://theokcuk.wordpress.com on November 5, 2020.