The NBA may be suspended, but Oklahoma City Thunder and Seattle SuperSonics fans can take a blast into the past with NBA League Pass.
The streaming service is offering a handful of old games to viewers for free. Guests just need a login, which is free to create.
There are four Sonics games and one Thunder game available for viewing. All the games are located here.
Sonics vs. Phoenix Suns: May 17, 1979
Western Conference Finals Game 7
After going 52-30 and finishing in first place in the Pacific Division, the SuperSonics beat the Los Angeles Lakers in five games to advance to the Western Conference Finals and face the Phoenix Suns.
The Sonics fell behind 3-2 in the series but eeked out a 106-105 win on the road to force the series back home for a Game 7.
Hall of Fame center Jack Sikma finished with 33 points and 11 rebounds, Hall of Fame guard Dennis Johnson had 26 points, eight rebounds and two blocks and guard Gus Williams had 29 points, three assists, two steals and two blocks.
Setting the stage: The season before, the Sonics had made the NBA Finals but lost to the Washington Bullets in seven games.
This year, they were tasked against the Suns, who had not lost a home game since March 2. Those 10 weeks made Game 6 all the more worrisome for Seattle and Sikma, who told the Seattle Times in 2019 that he had a panic attack in a hotel room the night before that game.
But in Game 6, Seattle staved off Phoenix as Gar Heard, who made the “Shot Heard ‘Round The World” against the Boston Celtics in the Finals three years prior, missed a buzzer-beater attempt. That ended the home streak and gave the Sonics life for Game 7 and a rematch against the Bullets, which Seattle won.
Sonics vs. Rockets: May 14, 1987
Western Conference Semifinals Game 6
Houston Rockets center Hakeem Olawujon put up 49 points and 25 rebounds, 11 of which came on the offensive glass, and had six blocks.
The Sonics won anyway.
Seattle got the 128-125 double-overtime victory behind a combined 97 points from star trio Dale Ellis, Xavier McDaniel, and Tom Chambers to advance to the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Setting the stage: This type of stat line defined the Sonics’ season. Ellis, McDaniel, and Chambers all averaged over 23 points per game during the year. Rookie point guard Nate McMillan did not score a single point in this game, but he dished 16 assists and had eight rebounds.
The Sonics finished 39-43 after averaging the 13.7 points per game, the fifth-best in the league, but 113.3, the ninth-worst. That was enough to sneak into the playoffs, where they beat the Dallas Mavericks 3-1 in the first round and took down the Rockets 4-2 with two overtime victories.
The Showtime Lakers were too much, but the Sonics were one of the most exciting teams that season.
Sonics vs. Suns: June 1, 1993
Western Conference Finals Game 5
One of the games that defines Charles Barkley’s career came against the Sonics. He had a 43-point triple-double to lead Phoenix to a 120-114 win over Seattle in Game 5.
Barkley battled Shawn Kemp, who put up 33 points, six rebounds, four assists, and three blocks.
Ricky Pierce had 27 points and Gary Payton had 20 points with eight assists.
Setting the stage: This was still a young version of the Payton and Kemp Sonics team, but the Sonics went 55-27 and lost the tiebreaker to the Houston Rockets to get the third seed in the Western Conference.
Kemp was 23 and Payton was 24, but those two and Pierce led Seattle over the Utah Jazz in the first round and the Rockets in the second, a series that again ended in an overtime victory.
In the conference finals, the Sonics were tasked with facing the NBA’s Most Valuable Player that season in Barkley. In this Game 5, Suns wing Dan Majerle scored 34 points and point guard Kevin Johnson had 13 points and 10 assists.
Phoenix took a 3-2 lead, and, unlike 14 years prior, the Sonics were unable to come back.
Sonics vs. Nuggets: May 7, 1994
Western Conference First Round Game 5
A game Sonics fans would prefer to forget: After finishing the season with the best record in the NBA, 63-19, Seattle blew a 2-0 first-round lead to the Denver Nuggets and lose the remaining three games, two of which ended in overtime.
In Game 5, four Seattle players finished with double-digit points. Kendall Gill led the way with 22.
But Denver’s Robert Pack and Bison Dele combined for 40 points off the bench and Dikembe Mutombo had eight blocks to lead the Nuggets to a 98-94 win.
Setting the stage: Honestly, no need for this section. You’re not going to rewatch this game. (OK fine, Seattle had the fifth-most points per game and allowed the sixth-fewest during the regular season. With no Michael Jordan on the Bulls, it seemed like the Sonics could go all the way after recording what was, at the time, the best record in team history. They fell flat in the first round and the Houston Rockets won). (We can move onto the next section now).
Thunder vs. Pelicans: February 6, 2015
Regular season game
For whatever reason, NBA only has two available games in these free archives after the 2010 Finals: A November 2010 Kevin Love 30-30 game, and this February 2015 game featuring the New Orleans Pelicans and Oklahoma City Thunder.
Yeah, we’re not sure why they went from playoff classics to these regular-season games either.
But it was an exciting one! Russell Westbrook and Anthony Davis went back and forth! Westbrook ended up with 48 points, 11 assists, and nine rebounds. He put what would have been a cherry on top when he got fouled on a 3-point attempt down three points with 1.2 seconds remaining and drilled all of them to tie the game.
But Davis stole the show as he drilled the buzzer-beater 3-pointer to give the Pelicans a 116-113 victory.
Setting the stage: Don’t read this next sentence if you’re still upset about the 1994 game in the last section: This loss proved crucial in the 2015 playoff race. The top seven teams in the Western Conference had 50 wins or more.
The eighth-seed Pelicans went 45-37. The ninth-seed Thunder went 45-37. New Orleans won the tiebreaker.
