Seriously, we've won three playoff games against the Warriors? One of which was at The Oracle? Somebody pinch me, I must be dreaming. Nope, this is reality! When I first arrived, I didn't pay attention to whether or not Kevin Durant or Serge Ibaka were out. I did notice later on that Kyle Singler didn't stop to sign for anyone, but he did high-five a few people. Guess the Thunder still aren't signing. This would be tricky if the Thunder and Cavs happened to meet in the Finals, although to be honest, neither side will probably sign. I'm just not sure which side I'd take a chance on. If it weren't the Finals, I'd probably not even bother to attend, but hey-- it's the Finals. Ya' gotta. I arrived at about the same time as I did for the last game and was first in line both times, but this time I wasn't able to secure a spot in the front row. That's okay-- I managed to make do on The Rails. I know Curry signed for The Rails last time, so maybe my chances were slightly better to get him. While I was here, I had a great spot to both graph and watch the goings-on of the TNT booth. I actually saw Charles Barkley this time! He didn't sign as far as I could tell, but he had work to do. Because the booth was there, a lot of fans were trying to get selfies with Shaquille O'Neal or Barkley, which made the autograph queue a bit easier to work with. I also met a mid-thirties mom from Salt Lake City, who I got to chat with a bit. For the record, she did NOT look old enough to have teenage children. Just saying. She told me she had just flown in that evening and based her timing on her experiences with Jazz games (no line beforehand, save maybe four or five people). She was surprised the line was so long before tipoff, and even commented that Jazz games were nothing like Thunder games (the energy and crowd are vastly different). Welcome to Loud City, and I hope you enjoyed the game! Shaun Livingston came off first and blew past everyone, but that was okay with me. I have since heard he is a hard one to get, but his autograph wasn't my primary objective tonight. No one made an effort to stop him or complained when he didn't stop. Stephen Curry was next and although the crowd wasn't nearly as large as the February game, you could definitely feel the urgency and tension in the air when he made his way to the locker room. The older African-American gentleman behind me offered to let me go ahead of him (citing the grapher code of honor - let the kids go first) and was nice enough to check/ask me if I had enough room to hold my jersey out. This is what it's all about, guys! Whoever you are, thanks man. Sorry Curry didn't sign the balls for your grandsons. He will sign, you just have to be patient and be in the right place at the right time. You win some, you lose some. I struck out last game, but it was an epic win for me when he signed my jersey on the number this time! I'm not sure how it happened, but Andrew Bogut slipped out while Curry was signing for us. Nice strategy, although it's not the first time I've seen it done (see Chandler Parsons-Dirk Nowitzki, Game 2 of Round 1). I'm still not sure if that was Festus Ezeli or Ian Clark. Heck, that could have even been Leandro Barbosa with hair! Or Kevon Looney! Either way, whoever he was didn't sign again and no one seemed to care. Klay Thompson came around and actually signed for a few people but stopped a few people short of me. So close! Who knows when or if that'll ever happen again? I assume he had already signed for Ty from 101, either moments before or at the hotel, because Mr. Thompson made it obvious when he blew off Ty's request for a signed jersey. Just a reminder, guys, when there is a large crowd, only present one item for the player to sign so that all of us can get at least one. Some of us didn't get any! Brandon Rush came over and signed one for everyone, and I was planning to ask him for a photo op but it just didn't happen. He moved too fast and didn't really make eye contact with anyone -- much like Curry. He was nice though; maybe next time. Marreese Speights came off last again and I only had the logo photo for him, which he signed. It wasn't quite as nice as what he gave me last game, but something is better than nothing and I'll take it. Bogut 0/1 Clark/Ezeli/Barbosa? 0/1 Curry 1/1 Iguodala 0/1 Livingston 0/1 Rush 0/0 Speights 1/1 Thompson 0/1 If the Warriors win at home on Thursday, we'll get a game 6 at home on Saturday. I kind of hope they don't, because I need a break. I don't always sleep well coming home after a game and I usually work early the next day. We'll see though. Go Thunder! Let's wrap this one up! Until next time, J.R.
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