2018 Oklahoma City Thunder | Forgotten NBA Teams

Nowadays when you think about the Oklahoma City Thunder you probably think about their young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holgren and Jalen Williams. Or maybe you think about their team that made the NBA finals in 2012, but the team that gets forgotten about is the one in between with their big three of Russell Westbrook, Paul George and Carmelo Anthony. Today we look back at the failed OK3 super team.
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[@TheNorthie]

I remember this team, this is when Playoff P never showed up and a rookie Donovan Mitchell led Jazz team beat them. Good times

[@alxx292]

Playoff p in games 1-5 of that series btw: 28.6 pts 6.6 Rbs 1.4 Stl 0.8 Blk 60% Ts

[@roryquinn6688]

​​@alxx292 with 5pts in the must win game

[@Kmonique27]

@@alxx292 yet paul george choked 😂😂

[@alxx292]

@@Kmonique27played through an injury btw

[@Kmonique27]

@@alxx292 doesnt matter he was supposed to be a second piece to westbrook and he failed at that role

[@colinrockholt7330]

As a thunder fan, appreciate the love. I would say something is forgotten in the video, the Andre Roberson injury. He was vital to the melo team. He couldn’t shoot a ball into the ocean, he was an amazing defender that allowed the big three to relax more on defense. The bench was never good so he added much needed depth

[@TheNorthie]

The team defense was pretty solid with Andre, PG, and Adams. But losing Andre was something OKC really couldn’t replaced. Their offense and Melo being a liability on defense killed them.

[@PSL09]

facts

[@TheFrostbite324]

Robertson and PG were an elite duo defensively

[@dtrain8530]

Oh boy, this was the team that got me back into basketball as an OKC native. I was legit delusional about this squad because I loved Russ and Melo (and later PG) and was convinced we could actually do something only to get cooked by a rookie Donovan Mitchell and Joe fucking Ingles. 2019 was a fun season until Dame stole our soul and I’m still not over the Woj bomb of PG to the Clippers

[@manzac112]

Also Russell Westbrook is trying to get revenge on Ricky Rubio in Games 3 and 4.

[@aaronramirez408]

@@manzac112your comment gave me ptsd

[@emmajohnson7364]

Also from OKC, I was so hyped for them Melo and PG were some of my favorite players. Pretty disappointing but still enjoyed it and the PG MVP run in 2019. It gave us our rebuild too so it was great

[@manzac112]

@@aaronramirez408 As Spurs fan, the feeling is mutual...

[@ralphiemcdingus2075]

What tribe you from?

[@inaki6404]

2017/2018: Paul George introduces "Playoff P" to the audience. Gets embarrased by a rookie and Joe Ingles in the playoffs. 2018/2019: The "That's a bad shot" quote after Lillard's buzzer beater. Dame was 9/13 from 30+ feet on that series. 2019/2020: Just all the Clippers' antics prior to blow a 3-1 lead to Denver. Then, Mike Breen eviscerates George with the "WAY OFF" line. This three year saga has to be one of the funniest things in NBA history.

[@Kmonique27]

yep and people blame russ for that 2018-2019 playoff series what a joke 😂😂

[@alxx292]

@@Kmonique27 Paul George against the blazers in 2019: 29, 9 and 4 on 58% ts Close out game: 36 points on 70% shooting Russ against the blazers in 2019: 23,8,11 on 47% ts 29 points on 31 shots and 36% shooting But pg is the one to blame 😹😹😹

[@Kmonique27]

@@alxx292 paul george only had one good game game 1: 24 pts, 5 reb, 9 ast (41% fg) and 40% ts game 2: 20 pts 7 reb, 4 ast (39%) and 43% ts game 3: 17 pts on roughly 28 shots while also being 1-8 from 3pt than the rest is history u can't just take one good game and compare that to Russel Westbrook who was actually trying to win, again ur just trying to deny russes achievements of helping the thunder win 😂

[@Kmonique27]

@@alxx292 and just the next year he choked a 3-1 lead aganist the nuggets while pg averaged 21 on 35% and 39% TS and also in game 7 had 8 pts on just 22 shots 🤣

[@inaki6404]

@@Kmonique27 For me, it's not the performance itself (wich was bad) but the saltyness all over the place after game 5. Dude, you lost fair and square and you specifically got embarrased after the game 3 dunk shenaningans. Take the L with some dignity. You can blame Russ for being Russ, but at least he did shut up after the loss.

[@Jose-st3fq]

My best memories as a jazz fan were watching that playoff series

[@TheMannyPlays]

That Ricky Rubio triple double was special man

[@urbaindelva7869]

Their series against the Jazz made me a Donovan Mitchell fan. Outplaying three of the then-top 20 players in the league on the same team in his postseason debut? Crazy. As an aside, Billy Donovan does not get enough criticism for the way this team underperformed. Any truly good coach would've been able to get that team to the WCF at least. Recommendations: Johnson-Horford-Smith Hawks "7 Seconds or Less" Suns 2000-2011 Dallas Mavericks 2013 Indiana Pacers 2014 Phoenix Suns

[@_4k.erick.]

game 5 was so heartbreaking that i have only watched that dame shot once and only once. after i saw it live i have always skipped past it never rewatched the clip ever again. and yet i still remember the shot in my head

[@BJC36]

Me and my brother were watching the game live at the time, and it might have been the most depressing day of my life

[@nicksirju8717]

Do a retrospective of the Raptors 2019 Championship run. It's worth revisiting

[@Zrj19]

hes never gonna make a video about that lol

[@defconjack717]

Got to see this team (sadly) beat my 76ers in triple overtime at Wells Fargo, it was my first sixer game and goddammit melo was on one that day

[@davidbuchanan3738]

The game when Westbrook waved good bye to Embiid 😂😂

[@defconjack717]

@@davidbuchanan3738 terrible 😂😂😂 i forgot about that until you said it, embiid was the only dude on the sixers that night to score over 20 points with 34

[@Kmonique27]

@@defconjack717 I was at that game live and the atmosphere in that game was intense, it felt like a playoff game once it gotten to the 4th 😂😂 laughing my ass off when Russ humbled embiid with 30 it was pretty entertaining 😂😂

[@defconjack717]

@@Kmonique27 game still remains one of the best i’ve seen 🤢

[@skywalker2676]

That game when Westbrook dunked on 3 Sixers shit I’ll never forget that game

[@nvm9040]

That MVP seaon for Russ and those two teams with PG and melo (for only one seaon) where fun to watch and '18-'19 season was their best shot FYI i would love a retrospective on those Spida and Gobert jazz teams

[@marecare223]

For a potential superteam of that era not going to the wcf without even meeting the GSW in a series is a bad thing.

[@jojijoestar7233]

That Vick to Brady jersey clip SENT me into the side of the board

[@justinsullivan7284]

Most underrated on KZbin

[@realjt333]

I was live for a clippers-thunder game in this era. PG and Melo hit some awesome shots

[@alexcurtis_07]

As a OKC fan this brought back some bad memories 💀

[@renzoenzo7535]

PG is a great playoff performer before his injury, this OKC team underachieved. C - Adams F - Grant F - Melo G - PG G - Westbrook

[@jacksonbianca2231]

Need one of these for the 2020 thunder team, cause that team now is really forgotten

[@Kmonique27]

as a OKC fan they were forgotten for a reason, harden didnt play for games 2, 3 and 4 and we still lost in 7 cause dort shot a terrible contested 3 😂

[@sonicmeansspeed8614]

Y’all should talk about the Grit N Grind Memphis Grizzlies at some point. They don’t get talked about enough

[@Kmonique27]

they were good

[@skywalker2676]

One of my favorite teams to watch smh too bad it didn’t work out

[@Breadslav]

Your next video should be the 11-30 heat that then went 30-11 with dion waiters and fucking luke babbit

[@georgemichaels9536]

I wish more teams knew when to give up on their Super-team/Duo experiments. Not every executive can be Sam presti or Danny Ainge but if you see that your team/duo aren’t gonna make that deep playoff run, just pack it in and build for the future. Otherwise you end up like the Bulls.

[@wildtacocat]

The real disappointments of this season was this was the first season the NBA let Nike completely shit on the jersey foundations Adidas had worked so hard to build

[@ShadowThe771]

Imagine if KD had stayed with OKC, won a championship the next season, and still trade Oladipo and Sabonis for Paul George. They would have been unstoppable.

[@Kmonique27]

KD is dumb. he should have stayed with us cause we were the favorites coming into the 2017 season before KD decided to join the frauds who choked a 3-1 lead, now he got his two little cupcake rings but he cant win now. Thats what ya get u fraud! 🤣

[@Kennyisdarkvanilla]

I was a Blazer fan living in OKC and I remember this year the Blazers sweeping this team in the regular season. Then I remember OKC getting clobbered by rookie Donovan Mitchell.

[@angelsppp11]

I still vividly remember that Portland/OKC Game 5 playoff series winner. Late night, everyone else in the house was asleep and I was there in my room watching the game come down the wire. Then Dame throws up the dagger to win, and I lose my shit when it goes in. Got yelled at for waking my parents up with the noise, but worth it.

[@dawnhines6912]

Bro this team in 2k is goated

[@87alock]

This team was hell on 2k though

[@Kmonique27]

remember hitting a full court fadeaway game winner with KD vs the warriors, such a broken team 🤣

[@The__Wanderer.]

We need a video on the Dwight Howard Magic.

[@baasikgamer368]

That’s Russ and ‘em

[@RealTomahawk7]

Fun fact: That 2nd round pick the Knicks got for Melo ended up becoming Mitchell Robinson, who (when healthy) is our starting Center today. That trade turned out to be better than we all thought it would be.

[@paddle_my_mad_laddle]

Yall should make a video on the 1991-92 blazers or the 1999-2000 blazers Those are iconic blazers teams that people dont talk about enough

[@J69user]

The era of Blazers from 1976 to modern day. The last Championship would be more fitting. I’d like to see more retrospective videos about the 70’s a forgotten era because there are a bunch of teams who have been in a Championship drought since. I’d like a video about how the Blazers, Bullets-Wizards, and the Sonics-OKC had such a dominant era and all three teams have been in Championship drought since the late 70’s. How about the Hawks and Kings who haven’t won since the 50’s. There are so many teams you can make what if videos about.

[@FinneganMurray-pb2ej]

It’s a little early to tell, but it seems that the suns are on this direction. Overhyped, and underachieving. I guess we’ll see in a couple weeks.

[@Kmonique27]

do the 2018 pels they beaten the blazers and they forced the warriors with KD and curry Healthy to 6 with AD averaging 28-8-9 ill love to see a video on them

[@urbaindelva7869]

They pushed the Warriors to 5 games, not 6.

[@nisoumaghrebi]

2011 Bulls next pls

[@liltremble623]

i loved this team. if russ had a core actually built around him in his prime he would’ve been well off

[@Kmonique27]

yea PG13 screwed us over, hes name is ''playoff P'' but he didn't perform like it smh 🤦🏾‍♂

[@nustrio]

These guys are actually so entertaining, they deserve more attention for that and to make up for the fact that they support the trailblazers( poor guys )😂

[@Kmonique27]

ye feel bad for them

[@artos607]

How did presti do it? The magic GM was his inside man😂

[@lalelale9767]

thank you for refreshing my memory and lot of laughs..🤣🤣❤

[@Kmonique27]

as a thunder fan i still have pstd from that dame shot

[@juanvelasco74]

As a thunder fan ⚡️ I’m glad the blazers suck

[@10mviews45]

Luv u guys

[@TBCLINQ]

OKC . Notable highlights : KD And Russ , bumping heads to each other while the Warriors are in a blowout. And swept by the jazz in the first round.

[@RumblyAxe]

Sam presti is the best gm in the league hands down

[@trulogan4585]

this might be my favorite team of all time

[@lawtonfriedland1228]

Absolutely love ur guys content tbh its brought back so many nba memories I forgot I had. That being said, King Michael Penix Jr. is your daddy. So glad I was at the pac-12 championship and the game in seattle this year.

[@FinneganMurray-pb2ej]

Love this channel but “as a proud okc hater” is hilarious, like they don’t also hate on the lakers, warriors, Celtics, heat, etc. Not hating on them, though 👍

[@Kmonique27]

I hate the warriors and warriors ONLY, especially that fraud PG named ''curry'' hes a wannabe reggie and he will never be and NEVER be on the level as larry or ray allen

[@jacobmervin7810]

@@Kmonique27😂😂 ok buddy

[@blakethomas3001]

I was at that Knicks game on opening night. Had high hopes for my Thunder that year. Wishful thinking...

[@Kmonique27]

yea still wondering how we lost to a team led by mitchell and gobert with NO backcourt or assets, when we had 3 superstars on our team just to get bounced in 6. It was tough man

[@itsallenwow]

I remember people saying this team was gonna beat the KD warriors. One of the most overrated teams of all time imo

[@ChanyeolChanyeol-ko4rh]

This was the year that I'm relieved that Melo will return to the playoffs. However, playoffs happened...

[@bronzeandsteel3344]

I know it's a small thing, but "fat ass Raymond Felton" has to be my favorite of your running jokes

[@enanebres6481]

New Subscriber here

[@Thehughesgaming]

Why do I remember the 2019 series being a sweep, weird

[@MusicLover-my6fo]

Dame really forced a whole franchise to rebuild with a "bad shot". That's crazy.

[@Kmonique27]

yep, but thank god he did that cause now were a top 3 team in the west battling for home-court in the entire playoffs. So ill give dame credit

[@bertog8080]

This was my fav team from 2017 to 2019 I loved mvp Russ and PG13 was also my favorite because of the heat-pacers series I thought they had a good 2 more years after PG resigned Also apparently thunder wanted to trade Russ and pg13 to raptors to give PG13 his wish but obviously OKC wanted all their young talent I’ll never forget refreshing my instagram page at 2am to see bleacher report post pg13 photoshopped in a clippers jersey I died

[@MikeBeltMikeBelt]

"Playoff P", Melo, and Westbrick....I mean, what could go wrong?

[@dylanbarnett7510]

I was at game 1 vs utah, we looked good the first game and just collapsed after. I remember watching the other games on tv and melo was trash. I think we gotta couple championships with our name on it in the next five years though, hopefully we don't just somehow choke like we always have in the past!

[@freezhollywood]

This killed Melo’s career. They placed all the blame on him. Even tho Rubio cooked Westbrook and Ingles cooked PG. And Melo went from #1 option to 4. Thts impossible to adjust.

[@yom0mma214]

Thats such a lie Westbrook was the only dude even playing out there

[@RJNembhardJr]

he killed his career by himself

[@freezhollywood]

@@yom0mma214 and getting cooked on defense so wtf are u saying

[@yom0mma214]

@@freezhollywood you acting like its all on Westbrook even PG couldn’t guard Joe Ingles and rookie D Mitch that year and Melo didnt even help even off the bench

[@freezhollywood]

@@yom0mma214 how could he help when he wasn’t getting touches? You the type to just watch first take n read the stat sheet. Watch the fuccin game.

[@ceufrscio707]

"I was thinking we lose in 5. Now I'm thinking we winning in 5!" - Ben

[@alexlindbjerg]

People are going to remember the time *Melo* thought the Nuggets gave his number to a rookie so he couldn't get his jersey retired 🤣

[@theviewer1423]

Didn't see many OKC games at the time. Didn't seem like that were gonna win the title Warriors looked too good back then though.

[@jameskreisler6083]

Give the people what they want! (They want the 2012-13 Knicks)

[@mca1999]

Who's Melo

[@alexlarsen2464]

The 18 rookie of the year race is funny in retrospective. Philly fans were so cocky about Ben Simmons being the clearly better player over Spida and let eveyone know about it. All the talking heads were glazing Simmons like no other. Turns out Simmons is unplayable and Spids is top 20. Turns out, you actually need to be able to shoot the basketball in the NBA. Who woulda thought? lol I hope Simmons can resurrect his career and I hope Spida can finally win a title.

[@bucksfan1945]

I remember when they lost to a rookie dmitch with that team is insane lol😂

[@Kmonique27]

yep still annoys me to this day, we had the upper hand with players and backcourt and we still choked 🤣

[@curtezjames4480]

Beginning of the black ball of melo

[@Nahanoo]

I don’t think I believed more in a team than this one. I think this is the worst team I’ve ever rooted for. Always loved Melo, loved the post-KD Russ and PG was a star in Indy. They got together and I thought it was over. When they beat the warriors in the regular season, I was already hanging the banner in OKC. The gut punched I felt when they lost in 6 to a rookie, PG getting torched by Ingles, Hoodie Melo can’t defend and Russ being absolutely RATTLED by Rubio picking up 4 fouls in the first like quarter or so. Crazy. But that game 6 Russ did everything he could while the others didn’t show up.

[@lgsg2825]

2k wise, team is all that. On court, they shouldve been so much better. Those jerseys were yuck

[@jethrojacinto2798]

Melo is the most OVERRATED star in NBA history. Complete ball hog, franchise cancer and plays absolutely no defense and yet y'all somehow defend him.

[@5115neo]

Imagine having beef with any professional team in a state like Oklahoma 💀 blazers fans are down horrendous

[@5115neo]

Spoiler for anyone watching: the last 6 minutes of the video are just them talking about the 2019 blazers series

[@Kmonique27]

@@5115neo welp blazer fans specifically the creators got their karma, as now the blazers are last in the west while our thunder are the top 3 seed coming into playoff time, love to see all the haters go opposite directions after last season 🤣

[@YueGoy-uy1po]

Wtf is a shooting forward

[@flexbone58]

Damian Lillard destroyed an entire organization with one shot. I love it

[@brownboicarti]

Tell me, how are the blazers doing now? 💀

[@Kmonique27]

u cant say that now tho 🤣🤣

[@bakedshake7224]

NOTIFICATION GANG

[@DM-en1vo]

The amount of shit I had to hear about this team during this time period

[@Ig0r582]

More football!!

[@jaychow3]

Ah Rus trying to take the last shot is funny af to me. I remember Mavs were playing OKC and PG was on in that 4th qtr. Dude was hitting everything. Getting close to the end of the game I was like yes give it to Russ take that shot Russ lol. Don't let PG take any of those shots lol Mavs won the game lol

[@HDX21]

I remember as a Laker fan with Paul George was heavily linked to the Lakers after that first season was Oklahoma City and he did this ridiculous ESPN three part piece about where he was going to go in free agency. All just to say he was going to resign back with Oklahoma City. I remember LakersNation hating his guts after that. Especially doing that stupid ass special like if he was KD or LeBron. But it all worked out in the end for the Lakers. Plus when Dame knock that three in his eye in Game 5 Blazers fans was it the only one celebrating that victory. 😅😅😅😅

[@nonamewillbegiven]

@@HDX21 no one cares or asks who your team is egg brain

[@nonamewillbegiven]

@@HDX21 ain't shit worked out for the Lakers hahaha Redick and Bronny hahahahahaha

[@NZbo-.-.-614]

Russ has never been a point guard that makes things work around him. His only success was with prime KD. Who can’t be good next to KD?

[@s.m.9086]

Melo didnt regress, he wasn't good since 2013, as a knicks fan, that trade was a blessing from the nba gods

[@Kmonique27]

no he was still soild putting up 24-6-7 for the next 4 seasons with the knicks

[@guillermoportillo7949]

Man, If Dame didn’t hit that shot, they could’ve gone far. 😢 Russ, PG, and Melo! Oof! What could’ve been.

[@himekomurata72]

Not really, the shelf life of that team is short and they would eventually lose anyways and have to rebuild

[@e-rab_malibu34]

They were down 3-1 even if dame misses Portland has two more chances to wrap it up, one of em at home

[@koreanyt]

yall are blazers fans poverty franchise 🤣

[@rickyspanish3821]

5:33 GAY!!!!

[@jayflacko6777]

Like my comment gang

[@marcusledbetter667]

2009-2017 Chicago Bulls needs a video

[@Kmonique27]

they were straight trash

[@LetsTalkAbout1125]

They aren’t forgotten, they just got beat by a rookie Donovan Mitchell and an inspired Joe Ingles 😭😭

[@reltihfloda7419]

What abbaut 2012 2013 lakers Or maybe lakers teams from 2010 to 2013

[@phatmartyplays332]

Day 1 of asking for the 2013 Pacers forgotten team

[@michaelmills2001]

Can yall do the Wade bulls next?

[@ItzM36Spadez]

I don’t think anyone remembers Carmelo on the thunder or even Chris Paul

[@Skinslyfe]

Or even al horford

[@cheap272]

Saying that the paul george russ duo might be more known as clippers than thunder is the biggest hater taker ive ever heard its funny

[@jacobmervin7810]

Facts 😂

[@brrazzy8417]

They gave up on the Russ and PG experiment way too quick in my opinion. Grant could have emerged as that third option for them, but it’s payed off heavily now seeing where they at now

[@brownie7858]

Damn theses dudes are just hater for real

[@gerwique3146]

I don't think you said Steven Adams one time! They had a squad! Fun regular season for sure~

[@Kmonique27]

good regular season, but my thunder apparently play like the pistons when it comes to post-season time, and its been like that since the supersonics era

[@Kalinbuggs]

What melo/PG13/Westbrook did in those 2 seasons is what separates a great player from a all time player. Big moments and coming through in big games it’s what separates them from KD KAWHI AND STEPH smh still great players HOFs even. But man no way this team. This team is supposed to go to the WCF at least

[@jonathanlowe6342]

Does everyone forget that Andre Roberson was a huge part of this team’s defense, and they struggled defensively after he got injured. Assuming they still played Utah in the playoffs, Roberson would’ve been guarding Mitchell most of the time, and i think it would’ve changed the outcome of the series.

[@bmillersince92]

Okc picked it up during this season they won 11 straight when arguably the best perimeter defender Andre Roberson had that career ending injury they was rolling figuring out there chemistry

[@esperry6]

This is back when I would hate on Westbrook every chance I got. Now that he's on the clippers, I appreciate what he does but he did prove me right in multiple ways. 1. I said the thunder would be better off without him. (The following season, OKC had a better win percentage) 2. He wouldn't win a championship as a starter. 3. The best thing for his career would be to move to the 6th man position. (So far, true.) All in all I hope he wins one with the clippers.

[@1Joseph25]

They woulda been nice if it wasn’t for the Melo trade, they were streaking before the Roberson injury and traded solid role players for a washed Melo. Maybe with just Russ & PG they wouldn’t have had to adjust as much but tried to get Melo going too and there was a struggle with balance and even that Jazz series if Melo & PG helped Russ in Game 6 they prolly win the series

[@neilbryanbucsit197]

Lets not forget Westbrook was so focused on shutting down Ricky Rubio that he forgot to help his team win.. Loved how Rubio held his own against Russ throughout the series

[@kevintorres8848]

As a okc fan this team was pure a$$ I didn’t want Melo or pg Melo knowing him wanted to start and pg idk man he ain’t a winner Russ was ok but I missed kd man now we got shai and chet 😈

[@frankschaefer8890]

Personally Im a bigger fan of the Melo Hawks. But that's just me.

[@Greatzinger67]

I wouldn't even consider this team a super team