Onwards and Upwards

One of the Oklahoma City Thunder's five losses so far this year came against the Celtics on Thanksgiving weekend. The Thunder had flashes of excitement and fluidity, but couldn't quite put enough together for a victory. There was a bit of a stutter to the game that stopped everything from coalescing. I closed the TV wondering if they could be the same without James Harden, their star guard who was traded to the Houston Rockets because the Thunder's management decided his impending new contract would've been too expensive to afford. So much for that: The Thunder have the NBA's best record now, at 21-5. That their winning so often without Harden doesn't demonstrate that he was irrelevant to their excellence. Harden is carrying an otherwise unimpressive Rockets team to a .500 record, and the Thunder probably could've traded guard Russell Westbrook, their other secondary star, and not missed a step this year.

If any team could justify the importance of professional sports in urban policy and planning, the Thunder are probably it. With their rise has come a pop in stories about Oklahoma City's resurgence, most noticeably in the Times' Sunday magazine last month. Downtown housing, redeveloped mills, re-designed streets, and a talented basketball team that's popular nationwide and raises the city's profile. Basketball is the most urban of the top-four professional U.S. sports, so perhaps this correlation makes sense. (Or maybe the improvements in Oklahoma City have to do with a cast of thousands who shape its policy, development, culture, lifestyle, and neighborhoods.) The city takes pride in its team and the team takes pride in its city, and it's hard not to be charmed.

The Thunder's current roster is at a stage similar to where Beach House or Grizzly Bear sit these days -- at the peak of their powers, with even more potential and growth laid out in front of them. But they're no longer a secret to share among your cool friends. The word about their talent is out everywhere, so the fan base is much larger. And as hard it is not to be able to keep them to yourself any longer, you're still so happy for all that they've done. The difference between the Thunder and Beach House is that while the Thunder will compete for the championship for probably the next five years (if not more), Beach House probably only have one or two more great albums left before they become repetitive. That's because basketball seasons are played every year while one record is released every two or three years, and because art is hard, maybe even harder than professional sports.

Above is a photo of Kevin Durant, the Thunder's star and the league's sweetest player.