{"id":115618,"date":"2025-06-22T02:40:07","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:40:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/115618\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T02:40:07","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T02:40:07","slug":"how-okc-thunder-players-view-own-adversity-compared-to-past-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/115618\/","title":{"rendered":"How OKC Thunder players view own adversity compared to past champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chet Holmgren<\/a> couldn\u2019t believe what he was hearing. The 23-year-old, calculated and fluent in Thundernese, stared through the question and stuttered through his attempts to process it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He sat upright before an NBA Finals<\/a> backdrop some months after he couldn\u2019t move at all. Even so, he\u2019s been served reminders of all the reasons his Oklahoma City squad<\/a>, a win away from the franchise\u2019s first title entering Game 7 Sunday night<\/a>, was told it couldn\u2019t be here.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That it was too young. Too inexperienced. Too bird-chested. Too jovial. Too familial. Too even-keeled. That the adversity it faced was too thin or short-lived; before being crowned, Boston\u2019s postseason agony stretched multiple seasons, and Denver\u2019s path went from bubble to bumbling to popping bubbly. Even LeBron James\u2019 Heat squads, with rings for several fingers, acquired bloody knuckles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAre they making it sound like this was easy or something?\u201d Holmgren questioned.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Pre-order commemorative book on Thunder’s run to NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Mussatto: Thunder has won its ‘must-win’ games. Now comes Game 7, biggest test of all.<\/a><\/p>\n

Not necessarily, Chet. But the prophecy NBA fans and pundits know features a gory rite of passage. Being forced to wait your turn, sat down by a team more deserving, more experienced or both. Asked to better learn the limbs of your growing team over cruel summers. The Celtics<\/a> know those licks better than anyone, competent enough to take them in conference finals and the 2022 NBA Finals.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t failed big enough?\u201d Holmgren said, his smirk growing through his bafflement.<\/p>\n

Holmgren shifted in his seat in disagreement. He can\u2019t argue with the fact that the bulk of this iteration of the Thunder hasn\u2019t repeatedly brushed up against championship hopes only to see them ripped away. He will debate the idea that the Thunder\u2019s journey here isn\u2019t painted by adversity.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He only needs to think back to the grim night where it seemed his second season could be lost just one year after the first was stolen. When his terrifying fall from shot-blocking height cracked his hip. Holmgren was immobile. Itching, burning inside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Around him, a team expected to make a run at a title was without a center of any sort. Seven-footers, and at one point even their break-the-glass, my-joints-shouldn\u2019t-be-doing-this understudy, Alex Caruso. Not to mention center Isaiah Hartenstein, who\u2019d yet to play, was set to introduce an entirely new playstyle to OKC.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jalen Williams finally got around to first-world problems this season. To be the star the Thunder needed, he\u2019d need to reconcile with his whistle. His force.<\/p>\n

More: Why Thunder homecourt advantage vs Pacers may be an understatement in Game 7 of NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander endured the ugliness of adding a pull-up 3 to his arsenal. He watched the goal posts move from \u201ccould he score 50?\u201d to \u201ccould he do this in the playoffs?\u201d OKC\u2019s role players lived under the duress of future expectations, part of this evolving juggernaut.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But even they were hand-selected into this fold. Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins are two-ways turned marks of this team. Dort never heard his name on draft night. Wiggins was a bottom-five pick.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Caruso and Hartenstein chased this dream for years of their professional lives. They grinded out the G League, too, constantly forced to raise the bar until their role player reputations were accepted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole career has been a Game 7,\u201d Hartenstein said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This team is the problem child of adverse individual paths. \u201cNo David,\u201d but capable of playing All-NBA defense. If they won\u2019t hear your theories on the path to contention as a team, they certainly won\u2019t when in the interrogation room alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you (put) it like that, you make it sound like there\u2019s a threshold where you have to suffer and go through enough before you win,\u201d Caruso said. \u201cYou gotta go out there and win it. You\u2019ve gotta go out there and earn it. If you\u2019re good enough, you\u2019re good enough. Whether you\u2019re the youngest team in the league, whether you\u2019re the oldest team in the league. Whether you\u2019ve been there before you haven\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBA Finals roundtable: How can OKC Thunder win Game 7? What is path for Indiana Pacers?<\/a><\/p>\n

Those who\u2019ve lived to pass along the war stories of the 20-something win seasons best illustrate the path here. They\u2019re Dort, SGA and Kenrich Williams, leaders of this group in voice and action.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The habits, the principles, the understanding of winning \u2014 and certainly the understanding of losing \u2014 were all built then. Passed on by teachings, now shared by blood type. Individual fortitude now hardened by this shared mission: being one of the youngest teams to ever pull it off, and do so their own way.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re a young team but we\u2019re a very emotionally mature team,\u201d Caruso said. \u201cVery smart team, intellectual team. We\u2019re able to go through our mistakes without having to go through loss \u2014 at least during the regular season and not too much in the postseason. And that\u2019s a unique skill. That might be more important than experience, the ability to have self-awareness. Maybe teams in the past haven\u2019t had that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Holmgren scoffs at luck. Fortune, in his eyes, isn\u2019t what worked back from the Lisfranc injury or lying in bed for weeks. It isn\u2019t what\u2019s pushed this youthful team through 83 wins and 104 games this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not very superstitious,\u201d Holmgren admitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If he needs to conjure belief in whether the Thunder\u2019s experiences are deserving of winning Sunday\u2019s Game 7, he won\u2019t need to hold a rabbit\u2019s foot. He can hold his hip for good measure.<\/p>\n

Joel Lorenzi\u00a0covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joel? He can be reached at jlorenzi@oklahoman.com or on X\/Twitter at\u00a0@joelxlorenzi. Sign up for the\u00a0Thunder Sports Minute newsletter<\/a>\u00a0to access more NBA coverage. Support Joel’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a\u00a0digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More: NBA Finals Game 7 is a different beast, but Lu Dort has shined in a Game 7 before<\/a><\/p>\n

NBA Finals Game 7: Thunder vs. Pacers<\/p>\n

TIPOFF: 7 p.m. Sunday at Paycom Center in Oklahoma City (ABC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chet Holmgren couldn\u2019t believe what he was hearing. The 23-year-old, calculated and fluent in Thundernese, stared through the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88926,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[260,1289,2126,407,328,7,45,75,408,46,618,366,311,2127,1501,623,948,2125,619,113,126,947,949,832,364,517,516,185,70,85,6,1220,62,67,310,475,179,3966,3965,61,81,114,622,209,66,83,55,2128,312,3681,833],"class_list":{"0":"post-115618","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-aaron","9":"tag-aaron-wiggins","10":"tag-ai","11":"tag-alex","12":"tag-alex-caruso","13":"tag-basketball","14":"tag-boston","15":"tag-boston-celtics","16":"tag-caruso","17":"tag-celtics","18":"tag-chet","19":"tag-chet-holmgren","20":"tag-city","21":"tag-enabled","22":"tag-finals","23":"tag-gilgeous-alexander","24":"tag-hartenstein","25":"tag-highlights","26":"tag-holmgren","27":"tag-indiana","28":"tag-indiana-pacers","29":"tag-isaiah","30":"tag-isaiah-hartenstein","31":"tag-jalen","32":"tag-jalen-williams","33":"tag-james","34":"tag-lebron","35":"tag-lebron-james","36":"tag-national","37":"tag-national-sports","38":"tag-nba","39":"tag-nba-finals","40":"tag-neutral","41":"tag-news","42":"tag-oklahoma","43":"tag-oklahoma-city","44":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","45":"tag-oklahomacity","46":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","47":"tag-overall","48":"tag-overall-neutral","49":"tag-pacers","50":"tag-shai","51":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","52":"tag-sports","53":"tag-sports-news","54":"tag-story","55":"tag-story-highlights-ai-enabled","56":"tag-thunder","57":"tag-wiggins","58":"tag-williams"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}