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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Logan Newman

March Madness: 2011-12 Thunder voted best team in franchise history

You voted. A team that just fell shy in the NBA Finals came out on top.

The 2011-12 Oklahoma City Thunder team was voted the best in franchise history by ThunderWire voters, beating the 2019-20 squad 65% to 35% in the championship round.

The 2012 team, which made the Finals behind young stars Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Serge Ibaka looked like a team that would run the league for years to come.

With three elite scorers and a dominant defender, the question wasn’t if this group would win a title — it was how many.

Voting totals: Championship round

Unfortunately for the Thunder, finances got in the way. The front office, wanting to avoid heavy spending, chose to keep Ibaka over Harden and the core could not return to the Finals.

In the tournament, the 2012 team beat the 1993 and 1996 Seattle SuperSonic teams to advance to the championship round.

The 2020 team had a Cinderella run after entering as the No. 12 seed, taking down 1998, 2016 and 1979 before coming short to the 2012 group, which was No. 3.

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