A passion for the Thunder and game-day experience

Watching the televised Thunder-Dallas game with my wife this past Saturday afternoon turned out to be a personal treat for me.

Not because the Thunder won or lost (they lost).

Paula and I were both disappointed to see our Thunder lose and go down 2-1 in their NBA second round playoff series to the Mavs.

Rather, it was the rare shared experience of watching a game together and being able to see Paula’s passion for the Thunder as the game progressed.

As a fan, Paula is a Thunder veteran. She’s attended a vast majority of Thunder games in the arena since the team relocated here in 2008. This year she saw most of their home games live as she accompanied her mother to the Paycom Center.

I mostly watched from home, and saw only a handful in person.

So, we watched separately most of the time. As for televised out of town games, they are usually played at night when we are trying to wind down and get our 4 year-old grandson in bed for the night.

It’s even worse for the playoffs when start times for NBA Western Conference teams like the Thunder are at 8:30 pm or later.

So Saturday afternoon brought us together in front of the TV for a rare shared watching experience.

Paula made it fun by wearing her passion on the sleeve of her Thunder T-shirt, so to speak.

Before the game, she offered a coaching tip to Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. Send Gordon Hayward out on the court to give Luka Doncic a couple hard fouls early and protect Lu Dort from accumulating fouls.

And when the Thunder have the ball, go hard at Luka, whom she perceives as soft on defense.

Later, we both decided that Hayward wasn’t tough enough to rough up Luka, so we settled on Kenrich Williams as a good matchup.

Daigneault did not heed her coaching tip.

Still, the Thunder hung with the Mavs throughout the game, even taking the lead several times.

Paula took to barking whenever Jalen Williams — J-Dub to fans — made a great play. J-Dub started the barking trend in post-game interviews, and it has spread to fans, even those at home.

As the game progressed, Paula would call her sister or our friend Donna and break down what just happened with them or celebrate a good play. Sometimes, they called her.

She chanted “Let’s go Thunder” periodically like they do in the arena, or “Rebound Thunder!” when they needed a boost.

The phone line was hot. In fact, out of the blue, her sister, JoAnne, suggested that the Thunder put Hayward on Luka to give him some hard fouls.

Where had I heard that?

But the Thunder couldn’t hold off the Mavs in the second half, and Paula was indignant over how the game was called by the refs.

“It’s hard to win when you are having to play against both the Mavericks and the refs,” she said. “Every call has gone Luka’s way because he’s getting star treatment.”

And so it went. I enjoyed watching her reaction as much as the game itself.

When it was over, Paula called her sister and our friend Donna, and they all commiserated over the loss and the unfair star treatment Luka received. The consensus was that Luka is a drama queen. I concur.

As for me, I enjoyed Paula’s enthusiasm for the Thunder to the end of the game and beyond.

It was a great afternoon of basketball.