The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder celebrated like they received the NBA Cup, not the NBA championship, on Sunday night time.
Maybe it was their collective age — the second-youngest NBA finalist in historical past — or the truth that they obtained to the mountaintop with out enduring years of heartbreak. Now, evaluate that to final 12 months when confetti rained down on TD Backyard in Boston. Jayson Tatum burst into tears and yelled out, “Something’s attainable!” replicating Kevin Garnett’s iconic celebration from 2008, whereas the remainder of the Celtics have been equally animated after lastly crossing the end line following six years of painstaking NBA Finals and convention finals losses.
The Thunder have been nearly solemn after hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The Athletic’s Marcus Thompson II described the locker-room scenes because the “most tempered” title celebration he had ever seen in any sport, resembling “an workplace social gathering for somebody who retired.”
“A lot of the gamers left. No champagne splashing. No yelling,” he wrote. “I’ve seen celebrations from AL Wild Card clinchers extra turnt.”