How New Year's Eve 2008 was pivot point in OKC Thunder basketball history
The Thunder hosted its first New Year’s Eve game 15 years ago, and watching the ball tip in Oklahoma City has been an annual tradition ever since.
The Thunder moved to 12-4 all-time on New Year’s Eve by beating the Nets 124-108 Sunday night at Paycom Center.
But let’s rewind to Dec. 31, 2008 — New Year’s Eve in the Thunder’s inaugural season.
The young Thunder was 3-29 going into a game against the 10-23 Warriors. Not exactly a prime matchup, but the game marked a pivot point in Thunder basketball history.
The Thunder beat the Warriors 107-100. Jeff Green led the Thunder with 26 points. Kevin Durant had 25 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. Russell Westbrook had five steals. The Thunder’s other two starters that night … anyone? That would be Desmond Mason and Robert Swift. Chris Wilcox (!) had a season-high 23 points off the bench.
Here’s how long ago 2008 was: the Thunder attempted eight 3-pointers that night. The Thunder made 18 3-pointers Sunday.
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One more fun fact from that night: Kelenna Azubuike, who won a state title at Victory Christian in Tulsa, led the Warriors with 24 points.
So why was that game important? Because the Thunder, after that 3-29 start, finished the season 20-30. OKC went from a .093 winning percentage before New Year’s Eve to a .400 winning percentage from New Year’s Eve on.
“We’ve had a lot of fourth-quarter games,” then Thunder coach Scott Brooks said after the game. “When you’re put in that situation constantly, you get better. You find a rhythm. You find a little bit of anger inside your soul and say you’re going to keep fighting, we’re going to break through. And we’ve done that.”
The Thunder broke through, all right.
From Dec. 31, 2008 to Dec. 31, 2023, the Thunder went 687-506 — a .575 winning percentage.
The 2010s, of course, was the Thunder’s golden era. From the start of the 2010 season to the start of the 2020 season, the Thunder went 515-290. That .639 winning percentage ranked second to only the Spurs (.687) in the NBA.
Across the four major U.S. professional sports, only the New England Patriots (.776), Spurs (.687), Washington Capitals (.648), Green Bay Packers (.646), Pittsburgh Steelers (.643) and Pittsburgh Penguins (.643) had a better winning percentage than the Thunder.
Fifteen years after that first New Year’s Eve win, the Thunder (.710) is on pace for its best winning percentage since the 2013-14 season.
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Thunder winning percentage by season
2008-09: .280
2009-10: .610
2010-11: .671
2011-12: .712
2012-13: .732
2013-14: .720
2014-15: .549
2015-16: .671
2016-17: .573
2017-18: .585
2018-19: .598
2019-20: .611
2020-21: .306
2021-22: .293
2022-23: .488
* 2023-24: .710
*-Through 31 games
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: How New Year's Eve 2008 was pivot point in OKC Thunder history
