"I'm Kind of Freaking Out" - Keys to an OKC Victory in the NBA Finals

Along with The CDP doing aces on the Miami Heat keys to victory in the Finals, we've dispatched our main man Thunderstolt to look at the OKC side and determine what the keys to victory are. Keep in mind that this has been edited, as he's barely slept, can't eat and quite frankly, is barely a human being right now. This is him at his most serene, probably the result of some sort of placebo. As the title of the post says, earlier today his first message to me was "I'm kind of freaking out." Peace be with you, brother. Let's get to it!

He saw this coming.  From the moment he told Clay Bennett he would be his GM, Sam Presti saw this as his vision.  His vision has brought them to within four wins of raising a banner. 

Presti has done his job.  Now its time for Scott Brooks and his staff to finish theirs for this 2011-2012 season.  The good news is the Thunder doesn't have to change much from the previous three series to be successful in the Finals.

It seems fitting the first championship foe ever for this Thunder squad is against the Heat - after the next two weeks either KD or LeBron will have a ring and a banner to raise this fall.  Soak that one in.

Other than that quick little hit, I going to stay away from the obvious KD vs LBJ narrative because I'm pretty sure 99% of the blogosphere is writing about that (My thoughts on that matchup: The two best players in the league going at it for their first title and we're in for a hell of a series. That cover it? Okay, good). So let's stick to basketball, shall we? Presenting the Thunder's keys to victory.

MAMBINO's NBA Finals Preview: Keys to a Miami Victory

In many ways, the Miami Heat and Oklahoma City Thunder are mirror images of the same team. Guided by three athletic superstars and one of the youngest coaches in the league, both teams had to survive the old powers in their respective conferences to make it here. The Thunder played the Mavericks, the Spurs, and the Lakers, who collectively represent every single NBA finals representative from the West since 1999. The Heat took out Boston for the second straight year and prevented the C’s from getting to the Finals for the 3^rd time in 5 years.  In terms of NBA narrative, however, these teams could not be more different.  The Heat will undoubtedly be the villains in this series and most casual fans will side with the Boy Scouts from OKC.

OKC is the homegrown model, the team created by smart lottery draft picks, cap flexibility, and opportune trades. With their culture and management structure, they are set up to be the Spurs of the next decade if they can find a way to lock up their young core. And with Harden still on his rookie deal, OKC has the added advantage of the kinds of role players that Miami wished it had. My heart says that OKC will win, but my brain is telling me that I’m merely hoping instead. Miami certainly has more experience, as both Wade and LeBron have 2 appearances in the Finals each under their belts. You might say that the Thunder are merely precocious and that the Heat are still the current generation of stars. Either way, this is the time for the Miami Heat to establish a dynasty if they’re ever going to.

Pacquiao-Bradley Review

It was a nice little Sunday, on October 16, 2004. It hadn't gotten too cold yet in Chestnut Hill, although my friends from the left coast would swear to you otherwise. YOUR New York Yankees had just finished obliterating the Boston Red Sox, taking a 3-0 lead in the American League Championship Series. Hideki Matsui hit two moonshots, and was joined by Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield in the long-bomb department. Legendary Boston sportswriter Bob Ryan called it "an official death sentence."

I remember being on the phone with irregular MAMBINO contributor TuckRule late that night. I said that winning Game 4 was an absolute must, because if the Red Sox were to prevail, they would push it to Game 7 in the Bronx. He laughed at me, of course. But then came the fourth game, when Dave Roberts stole second base, eventually forcing extras with the tying run, and when David Ortiz walked off to make the series 3-1. It was that one moment where at least a little bit of yourself asked whether the opponent could come back.

I felt the exact same way on Saturday night, when the first judge scored the fight in favor of Manny Pacquiao, 115-113. Was it really that close? HBO's Harold Lederman scored it 119-109. ESPN's Dan Rafael had it the same. The people in my apartment gave two rounds, tops, to Timothy Bradley. But the first official scorecard gave FIVE rounds to the man who was jelly-legging his way to the finish? How could this be?

Pacquiao-Bradley Preview

I used to be a regular churchgoer. There were the years of my childhood, where Mama BockerKnocker would dress me in Sunday best, dragging me to Mass against my will. But there was also a period of time where I went on my own. I was never a superfreak about it, but for one hour every week, life slowed down to a stress-free pace. I couldn't say no to that.

Fast forward to the real world today, and I just can't bring myself to lose that precious hour of sleep, which is necessary due to the robbery that weekdays pull on me. 4 Sundays per month became 3, then 2, then 1, and now I'm one of those phonies that attend on Easter and Christmas only.

Manny Pacquiao has taken the opposite route. Before, he carried himself with God, but only as part of his exterior. These days, Manny leads church groups, quotes Bible verses, and declares that the "old Manny" is gone.

Ugly MLB Player Power Rankings

We here at MAMBINO consider ourselves to be fairly good people. After all, we do spend gobs of our free time cooking up this made-to-order content just for you, don't we? We try not to curse, throw around racial slurs or insult the feeble nature of women's sports,  although those thoughts might rumbling around in our head as loosely as the WNBA is based on actual basketball. 

However, as the Magellans of this sporting world, we have an obligation to leave no stone unturned,  no deserted island untouched or forbidden continent undiscovered, no matter how hideous the finding may be. Yes Mambinites. It's time for the Ugly MLB Player Power Rankings.

Months ago, we unleashed our Ugly NBA Player Power Rankings upon the world, and to this day it's a force that can't be stopped. Summoning together our collective disgust into a gigantic ball of heavy handed judgment, the esteemed council here are MAMBINO HQ came together with a tragic slate of NBA superstars whose faces were more mangled than a Joakim Noah free throw. Coincidentally enough, Noah's face actually resembled his own free throw, and thus, the Ugly NBA Player Power Rankings were on their way.

We've perused the much more expansive MLB active rosters (750 players are opposed to the NBA's 450), and come up with our indomitable top 10 list of the ugliest mugs in professional baseball.

Now please keep in mind the two simple rules here:

1) Any player under consideration has to be an active player on the 25-man Major League roster. DL players are eligible, but must be on the 25-man prior to his injury.

2) Any player under consideration has to be out and out UGLY, not just funny looking. For example, you might think that Carlos Ruiz is a little funny looking, but he's not doing a Elephant Man impersonation out there. He has to be ugly enough for your girlfriend to look at him and give an instantly "Ugh, who's that guy??"

So with those guidelines in mind, (in your best Lawrence Tanter voice) here.....we.....go!