HARD TO WATCH
Former Thunder stars Harden, Durant square off in Western Conference finals
The Rockets and the Warriors begin their series Monday night, a Western Conference Finals that the entire NBA has salivated over since, oh, early December.
The entire NBA, minus four area codes: 405, 918, 580, 539. This is a matchup that in Oklahoma has all the appeal of a colonoscopy.
This is a showdown between the two that got away. Kevin Durant and James Harden. Once upon a time, both wore Thunder blue. Now they shine in other locales, and the Thunder sits home, without playoff advancement two years running.
I’ll be watching. Not because I want to. It’s part of my job. You are bound by no such duties.
Get out and do something. Take a walk. Plant a flower. Count the leaves on a tree. If you must rely on the television, watch “The Voice” or “Big Bang Theory.” If you need a sports fix, there’s the Stanley Cup playoffs. Or a baseball game. But be careful about “Dancing With the Stars.” It’s touting an athletes version. For all I know, a Thunder alum is competing there, too.
Watching WarriorsRockets must be like what Oklahomans went through in 1939, when first subjected to “The Grapes of Wrath.” Oklahomans hated Steinbeck’s novel back then, sometimes without so much as reading it.
We thought it depicted Okies as poor and ignorant. Which it did. But the Joads also were noble in their plight. Today, we embrace the Joads. We’re proud of our gritty Okie heritage.
Little early to similarly embrace the Thunder. We’re not quite ready to give in on the Thunder being a team that used to be.
For one, Russell Westbrook is still around, swinging his sword, and the Thunder went out and got Paul George to march
around Jericho. Year 1 didn’t work out, but maybe he’ll return.
And two, the wounds of Harden’s and Durant’s departures remain fresh. Harden left involuntarily, of course, traded to Houston in October 2012 when he rejected a four-year, $55 million contract offer. The maximum available to Harden was $60 million, so OKC lost him over $5 million. I won’t point out that that’s what the Thunder has been paying Kyle Singler a year to sit in street clothes.
Of course, who knows if Harden would have signed even the max? He might have been ready to bolt to star in his own
show, which he certainly did in Houston.
The spoonful of sugar that makes the Harden trade go down is that Steven Adams eventually arrived with the draft pick acquired in the trade, and that the Thunder was great without Harden.
OKC was good enough to win the NBA title in 2013, 2014 and 2016. It didn’t win, of course, proving that rosters don’t win championships, teams do, but even Harden’s departure didn’t keep the Thunder from a parade. An injury here, a missed shot there, a Klay Thompson explosion you know where. All have transpired to keep the Thunder titleless.
Hard to dislike Harden. Easy to dislike his city and his franchise. Houston has swiped multiple oil companies from north of the Red, and the Rockets franchise is on the arrogant side — Rockets upper management was not kind to Westbrook during the MVP debate a year ago. But Harden? No particular reason to remember Harden with anything but fondness.
Durant, of course, is a different story. Durant left Oklahoma City because he had tired of trying to win a championship and was ready for someone to win one for him. The Warriors were happy to accommodate.
The Harden trade didn’t cut off the Thunder at the knees. The Durant decision most certainly did.
Now Golden State and Houston meet for Western Conference supremacy. The world will be watching, except in the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel.