Oklahoma City is thrilled with their Thunder these days. The fans all wear the same t-shirts to every home game, and stand cheering in unison until their faces are more blue than Kevin Durant's uniform. That energy helped OKC get a much needed win over the Spurs last night, to cut San Antonio's lead in that series to 2 games to 1, and the city will remain electric leading into Game four as well for obvious reasons.

In response to the NBA's national spotlight being cast upon Oklahoma City, the city's mayor Mick Cornett made a video to welcome the TNT broadcast team to town. In that video below, he also makes fun of Charles Barkley:

Zing. Take that, Chuckster. 

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There's no denying Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett has always brought intensity to the court. From his days with the Minnesota Timberwolves to his time in Boston, KG is known as one of the best at his position and an all-around player.

But according to his former teammate, Wally Szczerbiak, KG always has lacked the "clutch-gene" and took to Twitter to call out KG.

Toward the end of the Boston Celtics' 115-111 loss to the Heat on Wednesday, which put them behind 2-0 in the Eastern Conference finals, Szczerbiak tweeted: "KG is another one who lacks the #clutchgene always has." (The message has since been deleted.) This was after Garnett missed five of his final six field goal attempts and turned the ball over with 1:16 remaining in overtime, but still, it was harsh.

Other messages included:

"KG never takes big shot for #Celtics now he's fourth in line behind Pierce Allen and Rondo to take clutch shot. Warrior all game though!!"

"KG was a warrior all game but in OT he was horrible on both ends of the floor tonight!! #NBAPlayoffs"

OK ease up there Wally.

So you live in Charlotte. Your basketball team just won seven games for an entire season and, even in a shortened season, still managed to set the record for worst winning percentage in NBA history. Your owner is the greatest basketball player of all time, but does not have a great track record running a team.

Worst of all, that seven-win season did not even net you the top overall pick in the Draft. Settling for second -- likely Thomas Robinson, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Andre Drummond or Bradley Beal -- is a big step back from the promise of Anthony Davis.

Life is pretty hopeless for a Bobcats fan right now. The roster is still a mess and there is not much reason to be excited -- last year's top pick, Kemba Walker, showed flashes but largely underperformed on an awful roster.

The Bobcats, who finished 26th in the league in attendance, need to find any way to get the fans energized and into the building (after all, this is a business).

The team may not be good, but the marketing department sure is trying hard. If you go to the Bobcats' Web site right now, you will be greeted with this offer:

Bobcats Splash | THE OFFICIAL SITE OF THE CHARLOTTE BOBCATS via kwout

Step right up then!

The offer probably is not as splashy without the #1 there instead of the #2, but Charlotte is offering two-for-one NBA season tickets. If you are a basketball junkie, how do you pass this offer up?

Every morning, we'll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.

1:  The Spurs...... lose?

This has to be some kind of special effect, right?  That was Hollywood CGI that made the Thunder fly all over the court and make more baskets than the Spurs, wasn't it?

After a 20 game winning streak and no losses since April 9, it's hard to believe the Spurs would drop a game again, much less get spanked by 20.  But the reality was that it was bound to happen, and when you consider the desperation facing OKC, combined with the fact that they're at home, it was not real surprise that the win came in Game 3. 

The Spurs were sloppy and slow, playing at a pace that that netted them their lowest scoring output of the season. The Thunder played for their lives and got the kind of unexpected contributions that you need to beat a team like San Antonio in the playoffs.  They made adjustments to put a better defender (Thabo Sefolosha) on Tony Parker that San Antonio will have to counter.  The Spurs will obviously need more than 35 points out of the Duncan/Parker/Ginobili trio, but more than that they need more than six points out of their three other staters (Kawhi Leonard, Boris Diaw and Danny Green).  

It's still not very likely that the Thunder will beat the Spurs three more times in four tries.  But it's not impossible, either.  So we'll have to wait and see if this is one of those "smack you in the face" losses for the Spurs that ultimately is good for them, or if it's the beginning of a shift that tilts this series in OKC's favor.

2:  Duncan makes history

Tim Duncan last night became the all-time leader in shots  blocked during the playoffs.

Add it to the list of his achievements.  I could go on and on with obvious statements about Duncan's greatness.  I'll spare you all that and just say there's a reason the Spurs have been contenders every year he's been in the league.  Congrats, Timmy. 

3:  HIGHLIGHTS!!!

Russell Westbrook gets the alley oop from Harden

Trading Lamar Odom to the Dallas Mavericks clearly wasn’t good for anyone. The Lakers missed their Sixth Man of the Year, Odom missed L.A. and the Mavericks missed out on a legitimate chance to defend their title. That wasn’t all Odom’s fault but he clearly wasn’t happy playing in Dallas and it showed.

Odom’s attitude all year got him released from the team and now the Mavericks are looking to get rid of his contract any way they can. ESPN analyst Stephen A. Smith says Odom would love to return home.

“(Odom) desperately wants to come back and wants to play for the Los Angeles Lakers,” said Smith. “Mike Brown desperately wants him back. He’s going to talk to Buss and Lakers hierarchy to see what they can do about getting Lamar Odom back.”

If Odom were to go back to the Lakers, I guess that would show they just thought this year was a fluke and wasn’t indicative of any drop off in Lamar’s ability. I would probably agree that Dallas just wasn’t a good fit for Odom and he would play much better back in the purple and gold.

The Lakers would surely love to have their old Odom back. One of the biggest issues with the team this year was the pressure placed on Kobe Bryant to score. If Lamar comes back, and returns to his prime level, and the Lakers make one of the big offseason moves that has been rumored (Andrew Bynum for Dwight Howard or picking up Deron Williams), they may be back to a contender.

There’s a lot of speculation going on surrounding the Lakers. Free agency starts next month and I would expect a lot of fireworks out of L.A. That city doesn’t tolerate losing for very long. I’m sure they’ll be doing whatever they can to get back on top.

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He's Larry freaking Bird, first of all. But not only that, he's also clearly separated himself as an executive from those legends who once played as his contemporaries. If he wants to come back, you let him come back. This isn't Isiah Thomas or Michael Jordan looking to stay on as President of Basketball Operations for the Indiana Pacers. It's Bird, the reigning NBA Executive of the Year this season who won said award for the work he's done building the Indiana Pacers into a team two wins away from the Eastern Conference Finals.

The rebuild he's helped orchestrate has staying power too. Roy Hibbert is just now coming into his own as an All Star Center, and the upside for guys like Paul George, George Hills, Darren Collison and even Danny Granger is still high. At the moment though, Larry Bird is a free agent.

According to what he told the Indiana media last week, he's interested in helping to finish what he started out in Indy:

Bird's future with the Indiana Pacers is still in question, but he told reporters Wednesday he would be open to coming back. Bird said it's imperative he and owner Herb Simon are sharing a common view of the future.

"(I want to talk to him about) the direction of the team, what kind of job he thinks we're doing, if there's anything he sees that we should be doing better," Bird said. "Just a number of questions. I've got a lot of them written down to ask him and hopefully we can get the answers we like and move on."

Bird has overseen basketball operations for the Pacers since 2008. He also coached the team from 1997-2000.

"I wouldn't want to sign a four- or five-year deal because I'm getting older," Bird said. "I don't know long I want to do this but I do love my job and what we have to do is find out which direction we want this franchise to go."

The two to three year contract option should be even more appealing for Simon and his ownership group with respect to bringing Bird back. If they moved on that, they could also use this as an opportunity to hire Bird's successor at the same time. Bring that person in too, along with Frank Vogel, and continue to build through that shared vision for what the franchise can become over three more years with Larry at the helm. It's a best case scenario for the Pacers in my opinion, and I'd expect they lock Bird up and keep building.

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Call it a conspiracy, call it karma for a team that didn't tank, either way it doesn't matter.  The New Orleans Hornets won the NBA Draft Lottery and will soon have a new cornerstone to their franchise. For a franchise that's been in flux for the last three years or so, it was a great night.  Davis should also view it as a great night.  He's going to a team that is defensive minded and a coach who played with David Robinson and Tim Duncan and helped developed LaMarcus Aldridge in to one of the the premiere big man scorers in the league.  If there's another coach in the lottery that is better suited to help Davis develop, I can't think of him. Most importantly, he's not being called upon to single handedly save the Charlotte Bobcats.

Drafting Davis is just the beginning of what will be a busy summer for the Hornets.  They also have the tenth pick in the draft thanks to the Chris Paul trade.  Will they draft another big guy? A scorer like Jared Sullinger perhaps? Or will they look for a point guard like Kendall Marshall to get the ball to both Davis and Eric Gordon.  Speaking of Gordon, the Hornets still need to re-sign him, figure out whether they're bringing back Carl Landry and Chris Kaman. Still, there's no better way to begin the offseason by getting the best big man prospect since Tim Duncan.

A couple of other draft thoughts:

If there was one team that could use the re-assurance of some lottery luck, it felt like Phoenix was that team. OK, so a whole lot of teams who just missed out on the Playoffs like the Suns did could have used the safety blanket of a top 3 pick.

Many of those teams though do not have Steve Nash making their engines go and driving everything that their team does. And few of them have to deal with that kind of player's free agency.

If it were not for Dwight Howard's never-ending drama and Deron Williams patiently waiting for Howard to make a decision (good luck with that), Nash might very well be the prize of free agency. And that is even at 37 years old.

The two-time MVP put his free agency on the back-burner. He did not make a big issue about throughout the season and continually affirmed his love and desire to stay in Phoenix. That will not stop Nash from exploring his options.

The Suns felt comfortable doing this too. They never seriously pursued any Nash trades and are at the point where losing Nash for nothing might help the team clear the decks faster and begin the rebuilding process. The first preference though is to bring Nash back and have him wearing the Suns uniform until he retires.

And unlike the Magic, the Suns feel extremely confident of their ability to resign their star player.

"I feel good about it," coach Alvin Gentry told Dan Bickley of The Arizona Republic. "We just need a player we can throw the ball to at the end of the game, who can get to the foul line, get us a basket or make the right play.

"I think it's a little unfair for me to ask Steve Nash to do that night in and night out, not just for 66 games, but for 82 games next year. If we're fortunate enough to have Steve back, and we're going to do everything we possibly can to do that, I just think he needs some help."

Getting Nash some help will get the Suns over the hump and back into the Playoffs. Phoenix went on a tear to get to 10th place in the West. Of course, that leaves them with a low lottery pick and little chance to make an impact this season. As Bickley notes, Nash makes everyone on the team significantly better. Losing Nash would be leaving an irreplaceable hole in the lineup that would have a devastating ripple effect on everyone. This team is still built around Nash and everything that he does for the team.

The goal for the Suns is a return to the Playoffs and to upgrade the talent to one day compete for a title again. Whether that will come with Nash still in uniform or aging or not is yet to be determined. That decision lies on Nash who will have to weigh whether he wants to stay in his comfort zone in Phoenix or, possibly, take less money and try to chase a championship.

It all seems on the table for Nash.

While a split might be amicable, Nash has not come out as outspoken about chasing a title. He seems perfectly content in Phoenix and willing to play the remainder of his days on what now looks like a pretty mediocre roster (at least that is what the record says, and there are not a lot of "high ceiling" players on the roster).

To be sure, Nash will be one of the major dominos to fall this summer. And the Suns seem patient enough to let him make that decision in peace.

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Every morning, we'll give you five things from the night before in the NBA to start your day.

1.  Heat have just enough

The Heat looked plenty vulnerable last night to a Celtics attack that featured an historic Rondo (specifics on him a little later one), and scattered contributions from the rest of Boston's Big 4.  But Miami had just enough to hold the Celtics off and take a 2-0 series lead.  

The Celtics led for pretty much the entire first half, but a sloppy and slow third quarter let the Heat come roaring back to take a lead.  Despite that they had plenty of chances to beat Miami down the stretch thanks to the Heat returning to sloppy execution and missed free throws (Miami shot 31-47). 

The Celtics biggest problem, again, was rebounding.  While the rebounds were even, Miami had five more offensive rebounds, including one by LeBron James for Miami's last possession of regulation.  So instead of the Celtics having the ball with :19 left to run a potentially game-winning play, the Celtics watched LeBron miss a shot and go to OT.  

This was the Celtics chance to steal one.  Now they're in the same boat as Oklahoma City:  They have to beat one of the best teams in basketball four times in five games.  Not likely.

2.  And then there were the refs

Once again the officiating is an issue that permeates basketball discussion.  The issue:

Yes, it was a blown call, and it was a game-changer.  After the game, the VP of referee operations told Celtics GM Danny Ainge 

"I'm sure we missed five or six calls somewhere"

But still, the bigger story should be the missed Celtics opportunities.  Sadly, the officiating is a factor in most games, and it may ultimately be an issue that tarnishes David Stern's legacy.

3.  HIGHLIGHTS!!

Paul Pierce the big dunk on Shane Battier

It was the marquee match-up heading into the San Antonio Spurs - Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference Finals: Tony Parker versus Russell Westbrook. Two of the best point guards in the NBA colliding with an NBA Finals appearance at stake.

For Parker it would mean a fourth ring, for Westbrook his first.

TP has been playing at an all-time high all season and garnered MVP mentions (and votes), Westbrook is that up-and-coming point guard ready to make the next step, and be the floor leader for OKC who can guide them to the NBA Finals after coming up short last season.

Leading up to their Conference Finals match-up, Parker had to deal with much more difficult competition at the point guard spot with Devin Harris and Chris Paul (albeit a banged up CP3) while Westbrook dealt with an aged Jason Kidd and Steve Blake and Ramon Sessions.

And with all the hype in anticipation of this match-up, after two games, it's been one-sided in favor of Parker.

Parker has led the Spurs to a 2-0 series lead with steady play, smart decision making, involving his teammates and displaying that championship experience while Westbrook has been playing well but tends to force the action, and tries to be a one-man-wrecking crew.

So how much is TP outplaying Westbrook? Check out the stats (via NBA StatsCube) and like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words.