by Mac Paquette | Staff Writer
With the NBA playoffs in full swing, the amount of spirit and fandom shown by NBA fans across the country engulfs each city involved in the madness. San Antonio obviously being “Spurs crazy” tends to be a struggle for fans of other teams, particularly Oklahoma City Thunder fans.
“I have a love/hate relationship with being a Thunder fan in San Antonio. While I have many friends who are Spurs fans, I think most of them are unbearable, especially this time of year,” sophomore Hunter Evenson said.
The Thunder have seen great success over the past four seasons, with the development of the current Most Valuable Player, Kevin Durant and young energetic star Russell Westbrook, they have been a tough match for the San Antonio Spurs over the past few seasons. Which has included an epic matchup in the western conference finals in 2012, when the Thunder came back from a 0-2 deficit, to win four games in a row and continue on to the NBA finals.
“The western conference finals was definitely the best moment so far of being a Thunder fan in San Antonio, the whole series was intense but holding the bragging rights for a whole year, and doing so after being down two games was great,” Evenson said.
Ever since the emergence of the Thunder, the Spurs have been there to challenge them. After last year’s playoffs, it is clear there has not been a changing of the guard, but it is also clear that one may be coming in the future. Differing from the Spurs, the Thunder are loaded with young talent throughout the whole team, which always makes for the epic matchup when the teams play, the young guns of the Thunder versus the feisty veterans of the Spurs.
“My favorite matchup is always when the Thunder gets to play the Spurs, I hope we get to meet up in the western conference finals, because I don’t think the Spurs can stop us this year, just like 2012,” senior Christian De La Cruz said.
Since the matchup has not been set yet, the Spurs and Thunder fans of Johnson high school find their own battles to have, which include rooting for the team that the Spurs and Thunder are playing against.
“I will always happily root for any team playing against the Thunder, just for the chance to get on Twitter and get the Thunder fans angry, it’s all in fun and definitely adds a new element to the playoffs if your favorite team isn’t playing that night,” junior Akash Patel said.
Whether the Spurs and Thunder meet for a rematch in the western conference finals or not, Spurs and Thunder fans alike have grown fond of this new rivalry and look forward for its continuation over the years.
“Once some of the old guys retire from the Spurs, then it’s going to be the Thunder dominating the series for years and years,” Evenson said.
