Dean Blevins: A night to remember for Thunder and Sooners fans

Wednesday night’s results are hard to beat for many of you who root for the Thunder and the Sooners. Similarities abound.

Both teams were on the road as 3.5-point underdogs in consequential games with pivotal starters injured and out. And both came through as deserving winners.

In Boston, OKC outcoached and outplayed the defending NBA champs. In Round 1 of the SEC Tournament in Nashville, Oklahoma did the same to a red-hot Georgia club with a home-court advantage.

Both teams have star point guards — an in-his-prime Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and OU’s plucky true freshman Jeremiah Fears — who dominated the ball and much of the games.

Both have head coaches who’ll win the majority of games with their own players and a majority of games with those of opponents.

Both are coming in hot — albeit ‘relatively’ warm for the Big Red while Big Blue’s been on a season-long heater. But you can bet your bippy that the Sooners feel as gratified after winning three in a row and four of their last six SEC games as the Thunder feels about winning 17 of its last 18 and 54 of 66. As we might say in the free-spirited decade of the seventies, “everything’s relative, man, relative.”

While other similarities exist, the fact is the two don’t have much in common when it comes to the remainder of the season. While Oklahoma hopes to upset Kentucky in tonight’s Round 2 game and secure a first-round upset in the NCAA Tournament, Oklahoma City is (hopefully) looking to earn home-court advantage throughout the playoffs and play for its first NBA Championship.

But there’s one other critical similarity: Both coaches can look forward to continuing to coach at their current places in 2025-26.

Porter Moser, the one who gets in 20,000 steps a half pacing OU’s sideline during games, has earned his way into another season after he looked like a dead man walking ever since OU finished its unblemished 13-0 non-conference schedule.

In the meantime, Mark Daigneault, whose step count is closer to 500 per game, has no peer right now in the Association. And at this moment in time, he can surely envision annual chances for multiple NBA titles.

So, as we’ve all been reminded of in the recent past, we’re best served by savoring the triumphs. You’ve got a free pass for peace and sanity on this V for Victory Day here in God’s Country.