DEUCES WILD

By Harold McIlvain II

OKLAHOMA CITY — The Ford Center isn’t often mistaken for the Boston Garden or Madison Square Garden, both historic arenas that have been hosts to basketball games played at the highest level.

The arena opened in 2002 and is the current home of the Oklahoma City Thunder and the former temporary home of the Hurricane Katrina-displaced New Orleans Hornets. That’s solid résumé-building material for an arena.

But this is the same place that hosted a Central Hockey League team called the Oklahoma City Blazers and an AF2 football league team named the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz. Doesn’t quite match up with the prestige of the Gardens.

(And yes, it’s the Yard Dawgz. I can’t make that up. I wish I could because evidently someone was paid to come up with that name.)

But that’s what makes this arena special. Don’t get me wrong. I was able to witness how amazing this basketball facility is in person last weekend during a 108-102 win over the Indiana Pacers. But it’s the potential of that place – and the team – that got me thinking:  It has so much room to grow.

With stars like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green locked up with inexpensive contracts and happy in Oklahoma City – yes, OKC of all places, not Miami or Los Angeles – this core of players could form something special.

And not just down the road. Right now. This is the same Thunder team that lost 101-98 in overtime at home to the Lakers early in the season. Not bad considering it looks almost automatic that Los Angles will walk away with another title at this point if they avoid injuries.

The pieces are there for the Thunder. Westbrook can create offense at the point (16 points a game) while finding teammates (seven assists a game), and Jeff Green is a man-beast and a physical specimen that scores 14 a game down low.

And Kevin Durant is just Kevin Durant.

There isn’t much more I can say about him after watching him in person drop 40 points, using every way possible to put the ball in the basket. He can use his jumper, he can pull up for a 3-pointer and he can get to the line with physical play with the best in the league. There is no doubt he can be a top 30 basketball player of all-time when he finishes his career if he stays healthy.

With such a young team, Durant is the leader and should be able to drive the Thunder to a playoff spot this year. And reports indicate this core of young stars genuinely want to stay together and make the Thunder special. Throw in an outstanding backup guard in rookie James Harden and things get interesting.

But the best things about all of this? A surging basketball team is only a few hours drive away from Fayetteville. But watch out. Oklahoma bumpy road conditions are known to steal lives on the mobile phone game BrickBreaker if you are not careful.

If you haven’t had the opportunity to make it to an NBA game before, it’s an experience you’ll never forget like when Locke found the hatch during the first season of Lost. It will leave you wondering and wanting to watch for hours and hours. And you’ll wonder why the Thunder also release a live polar bear into the middle of the court followed by black smoke making strange sounds.

OK. I made that last part up. But a game at the Ford Center is an event basketball fans should experience if you haven’t.

And you just never know what will happen when you go to an NBA basketball game. With the Pacers in town, I was able to sit less than 20 feet away from Larry Bird.

The same Larry Bird that finished as a 12-time All-Star, won MVP titles in 1984, 1985 and 1986 with Finals MVP awards in 1984 and 1986.

It doesn’t matter where Larry Bird goes, he is always a legend even in Oklahoma City, where a man in 2005 requested a prison term longer than the defense had agreed to because of Bird’s number. The plea agreement was set for a 30-year term but the man wanted 33, which was the number of Bird’s jersey.

He kind of is a big deal. And I made eye contact with him for a whole five seconds.

The thing that made Bird special is that he didn’t care about the numbers. (Somewhere Ryan Mallett is being asked again about another broken record and saying it isn’t about the numbers). Bird just wanted to beat the opponent to a point he didn’t even care how he did it. He would shoot randomly left handed in games and trash talk with the best of them.

Rumor has it that he even sparked an interest in creating one of the first fantasy basketball leagues back in the day that revolved around just points, assists and rebounds. And because he filled stat sheets, he was the clear first pick and it was thus called the Larry Bird League.

I didn’t mistake the Ford Center for a historic basketball palace last Saturday when I viewed it outside. But it sure did feel like it on the inside that night.

Harold McIlvain II is an assistant sports editor for The Arkansas Traveler. His column appears every other Wednesday.