Thunder Rewind: A Franchise-Altering Series
The 2015-16 season for the Oklahoma City Thunder is one fans will never forget.
After a 55-win season, OKC finished as the third seed in the Western Conference behind Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Durant's upcoming free agency was certainly at the top of everyone's mind, but was something the Thunder would worry about in the offseason.
Oklahoma City would cruise through their first two playoff series, knocking off the Dallas Mavericks 4-1 followed by the Spurs 4-2. From there, things would get much more difficult.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Thunder were set to face off against the Golden State Warriors, who just capped off a historic 73-win season, claiming the crown for the best regular season team in NBA history. Headlined by a dynamic duo of Steph Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, the Warriors seemed nearly impossible to beat.
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After losing nine total games in an 82-game season, could OKC really beat them four times in seven games?
After exchanging wins in Games 1 and 2, the series between Golden State and Oklahoma City was tied 1-1 through the first two matchups. From there, the Thunder would get extremely hot and win two straight games, giving them a dominant 3-1 series lead over the Warriors. In those two wins, OKC won by a combined 52 points.
Next, the Thunder lost Game 5, but still had quite a bit of momentum heading back to Oklahoma City for Game 6.
While things looked great for Oklahoma City early on in Game 6, Thompson would notch a playoff-career-high 41 points on 14-of-31 shooting, including 11 threes. He scored 19 of his points on five 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, helping the Warriors tie the series at 3-3.
After winning Game 7, Golden State capped off the historic comeback to advance to the NBA Finals to face LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
From there, Durant would ultimately make the decision to walk in free agency to join the Warriors the following season and the rest is history.
The 2015-16 season was truly an era of it's own in Thunder history and will go down as one of the most franchise-altering stretches of all time.
