“Us winning the first game was the worst thing to happen to us” — Russell Westbrook breaks down the 2012 Finals collapse - NBA

Right around the late 2000s to the early 2010s, a storm was brewing in the NBA.

Out of the ashes of the old Seattle Supersonics franchise that was relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008 rose a young and hungry Thunder squad that would, in just a few years, put the league on high alert. The cornerstone of that franchise was a young Kevin Durant, drafted by the Sonics in 2007, who made a name for himself as the Thunder’s go-to guy.

The following year, the Sonics would draft the Robin to Durant’s Batman in Russell Westbrook, and the two would form a formidable one-two punch that had fans filled with hope and expectations for the franchise. In 2009, the Thunder would end up drafting the third of their would-be Big 3 in James Harden, who would soon evolve into the league’s best first man off the bench.

During the 2009-10 NBA season, the Thunder would make their postseason debut and while they’d go on to fall to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers, there was a lot of promise surrounding the young team.

The following season, they’d make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals, only to be sent home, again, by the eventual champion Dallas Mavericks.

Still, the progression was there, and in 2012, the Thunder had themselves a generational postseason run. First off, they’d exorcise their demons by sending home the Mavericks in the first round, then the Lakers in the second.

After falling into a two-game hole to the San Antonio Spurs in their return to the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder reeled off four straight wins and advanced to the Finals on the backs of their young core of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden.

Up next for the Thunder was a matchup with the league’s most vilified trio of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh, along with the Miami Heat.

Too Hype

With the Heat losing in the finals a year prior and the Thunder looking like a juggernaut, it seemed the prophecy was about to come true, and a dominant Game 1 win was all the confirmation fans and the media needed.

“That season was unbelievable, man,” Westbrook recalled. We was really connected on so many levels. We all in, we want to win a championship, regardless of the stats, regardless of the numbers, regardless of accolades. We want to win a championship, and we feel like we have enough in this room to do it.”

Game 1 of the 2012 NBA Finals saw the Thunder take down the Heat, 105-94, behind Durant’s 36 points, while Westbrook added 27 points and 11 assists.

“The rise to the Finals was quick. A Miami team that just lost in the Finals last year, and they get to the Finals again, and we got home court advantage. We was young, but it was a sense of arrogance, but confident, but also we know what we got in this room, and we never really cared who the matchup was,” Westbrook added.

The kids from OKC were three wins away from kick-starting what many believed to be a dynasty in the making. Unfortunately, all the chatter from that Game 1 victory went to the Thunder’s heads.

“Us winning the first game was the worst thing to happen to us,” Westbrook admitted. “I remember being at home, and mentally I’m like, I gotta turn this sh-t off because every media person across the world was talking about how this young team can beat LeBron James and the Heat, and Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.”

“That started to seep into our locker room…we gotta fight through it and we got to fight the temptation of not letting this seep in, because they were a hungry team, and they didn’t want to go to the Finals and lose again, especially to some young guys who just got here. We was feeling ourself too much,” he added.

The Thunder would go on to lose the next four games en route to the NBA Championship. It would be James’ and Bosh’s first championship, while Wade earned his second.

“I believe that it made the Heat more aggressive, and also believe it made us relaxed and feel like we had things under control, which we clearly didn’t,” Westbrook added.

The aftermath

Many believed that the Thunder losing to the Heat in the Finals was just simply part of the process, the growing pains of a young team on the rise. After all, they had improved a step each year, and the next outcome was a championship.

With Durant, Westbrook, and Harden leading the way, the future was very bright for OKC.

And then, just before the start of the 2013-14 NBA season, the Thunder traded away then-reigning Sixth Man of the Year winner Harden to the Houston Rockets, breaking up the core that had helped bring them to the Finals just a few months ago.

Durant and Westbrook would continue to be a formidable duo in the West, reaching the Conference Finals twice more, before the next major departure in Durant, who bolted for the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

In 2019, Westbrook would also leave, triggering a rebuild in Oklahoma City.

Armed with a war chest of draft picks and a prized trade acquisition in would-be two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder once again built a contender, and this time around, they were able to go all the way.

In 2025, 13 years after reaching the NBA Finals for the first time, the Thunder, led by SGA, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, and featuring a well-built roster, claimed their second franchise title, but their first as the Thunder.

This year, the Thunder are looking primed for a repeat run to the title, fulfilling what the Durant-Westbrook-Harden core ultimately could not and that was to become a dynasty.

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on May 20, 2026, where it first appeared in the Old School section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

“Us winning the first game was the worst thing to happen to us” — Russell Westbrook breaks down the 2012 Finals collapse

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