I flirted with disaster in Oklahoma City.
I wasn’t initially planning to tell this story, but it has felt relevant to me throughout a compelling NBA Finals between the Thunder and Pacers.
It happened after Game 1 in OKC, when the Nuggets pulled off a heist for the ages. Chet Holmgren’s missed free throws and Aaron Gordon’s game-winning 3-pointer in the ensuing chaos had sent my game story into a death spiral. (I refuse to read whatever my fingers regurgitated in those next 90 seconds to make deadline. Please read this piece I wrote about Gordon later that night instead, with fantastic insight from someone who factors prominently in the story I’m about to tell.