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Why OKC Thunder players 'show love' to Bally Sports sideline reporter Nick Gallo
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- Why OKC Thunder players 'show love' to Bally Sports sideline reporter Nick Gallo
The OKC Thunder has had plenty to celebrate about this season.
OKC is the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history for either conference, and it became the youngest team to win a playoff series on Monday when it swept the No. 8 New Orleans Pelicans .
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And when OKC does celebrate its many victories, it chooses to celebrate with Nick Gallo. The Bally Sports Oklahoma sideline reporter does postgame interviews with the Thunder's players, who enjoy every second of the interaction.
They enjoy it so much that Jalen Williams and his teammates skipped out on a postgame interview with TNT's Allie LaForce following a Game 3 road win over New Orleans on Saturday . The group then went to get interviewed by Gallo, who became the Thunder's sideline reporter in 2019.
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"(Gallo and Paris Lawson) be with us for the whole year," Williams said after OKC's Game 4 win on Monday. "Not just kind of when we have a couple of wins under our belts, so it's always cool to be able to come over to them and kind of celebrate that with us."
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Gallo began working for Bally as a digital content reporter in 2012. He and Lawson travel with OKC, and they've covered all 86 of the team's games so far this season.
Gallo has managed to connect with the young Thunder players, who've started a tradition of barking like dogs after wins . They even got Gallo to bark with them following a 135-86 home win over Dallas to end the regular season on April 14 .
"They're in the trenches with us for 86 games so far," Williams said of Gallo and Lawson. "So it's always good to kind of show love. We really appreciate them."
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OKC will face the winner of the No. 4 Los Angeles Clippers and the No. 5 Dallas Mavericks in the second round. That series is tied at 2-2 with Game 5 set for Wednesday.
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Regardless of which team OKC faces, the remainder of its playoff games will be covered exclusively by national TV networks. That means no more on-court interactions with Gallo and the rest of the Bally crew.
But it doesn't mean OKC's players will stop enjoying themselves as they continue their historic postseason run.
"It's just fun to interact," Williams said. "I think that's just our organization and just how we are as a team."
More: Who is the OKC Thunder projected to face in the second round of the NBA playoffs?
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder players 'show love' to sideline reporter Nick Gallo
