The best team, not the most capable, wins; Thunder must know the difference

Also, what Wayne Gretzky learned in '83 could sure help Oklahoma City now

The Thunder, during Game 6 in Indianapolis. (OKC Thunder Photo/Jimmy Do)

Author’s Note: Because most readers of this will find it when they open their e-mail on Sunday, I have referenced Game 7 as happening “tonight” throughout this column. Hope that eliminates any confusion.

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There’s a famous story Wayne Gretzky’s told through years about the Edmonton Oilers’ first trip to the Stanley Cup Finals.

It was 1983 and the Oilers had been rising for a couple of years and now they had the chance to hoist Lord Stanley’s Cup. All they had to do to do it was stop the three-time defending champion New York Islanders.

They got swept.

Here’s Gretzky’s story.

To exit Nassau Coliseum in those days, the visiting team had to walk past the home team’s locker room to get to its bus.

Gretzky was walking out with teammates Kevin Lowe and Mark Messier and the trio was not looking forward to watching the Islanders continue celebrating.

Thy didn’t have to.

“We walked by the room and it was the most amazing thing we’ve ever seen,” Gretzky told his interviewer, Joe Buck. “They were just sitting there because they were so physically and mentally beat up and I remember thinking, as we all walked by, OK, now we understand what it takes to win a Stanley Cup.

Game 7 of the NBA Finals arrives tonight inside Paycom Center.

Same thing.

There’s no winning easy.

Even should the score makes it appear it was easy, it will be because the Thunder or Pacers dug so deep, played so well, were so unflappable, the other crumbled, and making that happen is not remotely easy.

One more Gretzky quote about the same experience.

“Winning is hard and it’s tough and it’s physically and mentally demanding,” he said. “And losing is relatively simple and it’s, quite frankly, easier.”

We believe the Thunder to be the better team, but all they really are is the more capable team and what good is that if those capabilities can’t be leveraged?

Tonight, the better team wins.

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