Author: Mike

I like Donovan for the most part. I have no major issues with him. Here’s Billy Donovan’s post game presser after the Pistons win.

A good night in Thunder Nation as for the second night in a row one Anthony Morrow dispelled errant rumors of his retirement from the NBA. Against the Nuggets on Friday, Morrow was solid with a ten point night which helped the Thunder win an ugly basketball game. Last night at the Peake, Anthony Morrow was more than solid. On my sheet he was the No. 1 Star of the Game as he led all scorers on the court with a 21 point game and was a major reason the Thunder coasted to a wire to wire 116-108 rout of the Pistons.

Morrow was so good it makes you wonder wtf Billy Donovan has been doing. Amo was 8-12 from the field hitting three of his customary splashing threes, but he scored other ways as well. Off the dribble, posting up, getting to the rim–it was beautiful. Here’s a wild thought for Presti and Billy Donovan—why not start feeding Anthony Morrow some minutes every game and see what wtf happens since Roberson and Singler have trouble making shots other than layups.

And did you see what happened when the Thunder started spreading the floor with Morrow? The seas parted in the Pistons’ paint area. It’s called space and time. Steven Adams had 16 points and 9 rebounds. When Kanter could catch the ball cleanly his pick and roll with Westbrook was a smorgasboard of space and time with those two even though I’d still like Presti to trade Kanter and his $17.5 million salary for another two way swing player.

All in all it was a much needed game of the Thunder playing well on both ends of the court.

I love Oladipo so excuse me when I appear to be his agent on here, but he was good again with his mini-Westbrook triple double of 18-6-2. In time there will be only one backcourt better than OKC’s in this league and yeah, it’s the two pricks in Oakland who traveled to the Hamptons to steal Durant from the Thunder. But me thinking of what Westbrook and Dipo can become in tandem is what keeps me going through the nights when it gets ugly.

Jerami Grant had what I thought was an excellent game. In time as he gets more in feel with what OKC is doing he’ll become a player the entire city falls in love with as well. I loved his daddy Harvey when he led the Sooners to the ’88 national championship game so it was an easy conversion for me. But Grant can do things which will help this team evolve.

Almost forgot, Russell Westbrook had his seventh triple double of the season…yawn. But let me be clear here it was the more in line with the type of triple double which makes the Thunder a better team. Westbrook’s line was 17-13-15 on but 22 shots. I’m not one of those shot counter types, but when Westbrook’s shot total stays near 20 the Thunder play more balanced team oriented basketball.

One stat which can’t be unmentioned on here is the Pistons were limited to a 1-19 night from shooting threes in this ball game. That is 5.2% from behind the arc. Obviously, the Pistons were tired and without minimalist Reggie Jackson who by my count hasn’t played yet this season. But the Thunder were tired and without Reggie Jackson as well. So there’s that. I wonder if Reggie finally bought a car when he inked his $80 million deal with the Pistons or just walks to the arena in his socks? Maybe Darnell can fill us in on the whole Reggie Jackson situation in Detroit. Will he ever play again? Does he own a car? Does he rollerblade in in downtown Detroit? Did he vote for Donald Trump just to piss off Russell Westbrook? Get with it Darnell. Inquiring minds need to know.

So—the Thunder improve to 10-8 and all the sudden have a nice little two game winning streak going as they now head east to play the Knicks tomorrow night in Madison Square Garden.

But my storyline from Saturday night was Anthony Morrow and how much he could potentially help this young basketball team by scoring the ball and creating space for Russell Westbrook.

Knicks in New York tomorrow night. Wouldn’t mind a bit if Westbrook pissed on the curb right in front of Trump Tower to make a national statement of sorts for the NBA.

Let’s go Thunder.

Warriors sit atop the entire NBA with a 14-2 record and a current ten game winning streak. All the stars are starting to find their comfort zones with each other. One would assume the Warriors will pick up a better rim protector before the trade deadline. Here’s Durant on Drake Night in Toronto on Nov 16th talking about the Warriors.

Let’s be candid moving forward with this Thunder basketball season. This team in no way is a legitimate contender of any sort in the post Kevin Durant era in Oklahoma City unless Sam Presti has a deal up his sleeve to bring either Anthony Davis or Blake Griffin to the Thunder. And even then—there’s that Oakland AAU All-Star team Durant now plays on.

If OKC could possibly win the Northwest Division and maybe finish as a fourth or fifth seed in the West my cup overfloweth. I still think both of those ‘could’ be attainable if Cam Payne comes back fairly soon and gives the Thunder some legit backup point guard play. I also think down the road Presti needs to deal Enes Kanter and replace him with a two way small forward who can actually play on both ends of the floor. If Presti can attach Kyle Singler’s departure in that trade as well—so be it.

Putting all this aside OKC won a tough, grinding come from behind 132-129 OT win on the road against the Denver Nuggets on Friday night inside the Pepsi Center. OKC is not a pretty basketball team. They’re currently flawed in their construction so it’s not like these games are going to be pretty or artistic. But there will be spurts of pure brilliance by Russell Westbrook which makes you hope some of this team will make sense at some point. Add to that, Westbrook alone on most nights is worth the price of a ticket or taking the time to watch the games on television.

This night was no exception. With five minutes left in regulation, the Thunder were down by 13 points and apparently headed for their fourth straight loss. Truth be known if not for a bad foul by Steven Adams on rookie Jamal Murray with 8.3 seconds left in regulation the Thunder would have won this one in regulation. Three Murray makes from the free throw line sent this one to overtime where Westbrook and his super young Thunder hung on for a 132-129 win which was a huge win for this team given where they appeared headed after a sequence of tough luck late game narrow losses followed by the blowout loss in Sacramento. OKC could very well still be headed for that lonely dark spot as this season unfolds, but I’m holding some hope in Cam Payne’s return along with a Presti deal which brings the team a legit small forward.

For the Westbrook File on this night it was his sixth triple double of the season and forty-third of his career. The numbers are just giddy audacious as I type 36-12-18. For the record, those 18 assists are the most in a sxingle game by any player in the NBA this season.

But it wasn’t just Westbrook. Victor Oladipo once again mini-Westbrooked with 26-4-7. I could care less whay some of the white millennial bloggers write, at some point Victor Oldipo is going to become a helluva basketball player—I’m just not sure when. But he will.These periodic flashes of mini Westbrook-like play from Oladipo give some silver lining hope to my notion this Thunder team will hold off Utah and Portland to win yet another Northwest Division banner.

Other silver linings. Rookie Domas Sabonis and newcomer Joffery Lauvergne both had solid games on the road—which is very encouraging coming from young role players. They were a combined 6-7 from three and that’s the primary reason Presti was able to trade Ersan Ilyasova for Jerami Grant. Another silver lining—Anthony Morrow scored 10 points, made both of his three point attempts and is showing some signs of possibly waking from his coma and coming back to life. Jerami Grant’s play as a small four forward in the waning minutes as Billy Donovan finally went small as it made a defensive difference for the Thunder is what I’d describe as a baby silver lining in this ball game.

Granted—this win came against an injury decimated Nugget team which isn’t much even when healthy, but any way this Thunder team can win against any city with an NBA franchise needs to be the mantra in those sideline huddles currently. Since none of us will ever know what the Trump Doctrine is, let’s just focus on the Billy Donovan Doctrine right now…namely win ugly, but just find a way to win more games than the Rockets, Grizzlies, Trailblazers, and Jazz. But especially the Jazz and Trailblazers.

OKC improves to 9-8 with the Detroit Pistons coming to town tomorrow evening. I have no idea if Reggie Jackson is playing or not. The Pistons aren’t a team I watch all that much. But know this—I didn’t boo Reggie Jackson last time he returned to Oklahoma City and I’m hopeful the OKC home crowd has come to a more benevolent understanding of Reggie Jackson and the NBA as a whole.

10-8 and first place in the Northwest Division is all I’m thinking going into tomorrow night. Find a way, Thunder–find a way.

Not a good two day pre Thanksgiving west coast swing for the Thunder. On Tuesday night they lost to the LA Lakers for the first time since March of 2014. Not much better tonight in Sacramento as the now 6-9 Kings led wire to wire and did not lose a single period against the suddenly reeling Thunder.

The final score read 116-101. As I sat there watching I never had any feeling Oklahoma City was going to win this game because they had no answer whatsoever for Demarcus Cousins who double doubled with 36 points and 13 rebounds.

Darren Collison had 21. Rudy Gay had a nice second half for the Kings. Ben McLemore made a couple of shots and basically that was enough to beat a Thunder team which all the sudden is 2-7 in their last nine games.

Same story for the Thunder as Russell Westbrook had a line of 31-11-9 with only three turnovers. Westbrook got to the free throw line and lived there, but it didn’t matter because he didn’t get much of any help from the rest of his team excluding perhaps Victor Oladipo and Andre Roberson. Oladipo had 18 points and six boards. Roberson did some nice things with a 10 point, 5 rebound game, but you need more than this.

OKC’s bigs had no answer for Demarcus Cousins and it was too easy for him. Usually, in past games against the Kings you could always count on a Cousins meltdown as the Thunder would once again beat the bumbling Kings. But on Wednesday night, the Kings clearly were the better, more poised team and it was relatively easy for them.

For this OKC team to have any chance they have to grind defensively and this team has quit grinding defensively. OKC’s best games have been against the Clippers and Rockets when the defensive effort was there. The defensive effort isn’t there presently.

OKC needs another player in a bad way. Someone Westbrook can lean on and who can lessen some of his load. Opposing teams are sloughing off of Roberson and basically taking away the paint from Westbrook and Adams.

When the season started it was obvious OKC would need something from either Singler or Morrow coming off the bench at the small forward position. Both have been massive underachievers to this point. Alex Abrines evidently can only play decent in home games. These three guys were being counted on to produce some three point shooting for the Thunder, but as a whole have been nonexistent. Add Roberson’s inability to shoot and the lack of Thunder spacing is a problem.

Russell Westbrook can’t win games by himself. That’s not going to work. Billy Donovan and Sam Presti need to figure something out. Cam Payne will help when he gets back, but OKC needs a small forward who can actually make a basket.

The once 6-1 Thunder are now 8-8 and reeling against bad teams. Not a good sign.

OKC is in desperate need of some players stepping up and getting a win in Denver on Friday night.

Nick Young not only traveled before he shot the game winner, he intercepted the initial pass from his teammate Lou Williams for whom the pass was intended.

For the first time since March of 2014, the LA Lakers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder in a basketball game. But then again, if you removed the 27 foot game winner from Nick Young where he obviously traveled at least twice the streak would still be intact.

OKC did still have five seconds left of which they didn’t use wisely as a double teamed Russell Westbrook had to hoist a 30 footer with two seconds left. Not a good look. For a reason I don’t understand, Andre Roberson was actually on the floor in those last five seconds even despite the fact he can’t shoot a basketball which in turn allows a defense to double up.

Final–LA Lakers 111-OKC Thunder 109. Both teams now stand 8-7 and have one game remaining against each other this season.

In retrospect, OKC didn’t lose because of the no call walk by Nick Young or the horrible last shot by Westbrook, but rather the fact they couldn’t defend the three point shot against the Lakers. LA was a torrid 14-27 from beyond the arc as OKC consistently lost their men on the perimeter.

Russell Westbrook single-handedly brought the Thunder back from a 14-point fourth period deficit with 17 points in the last frame going 4-7 from beyond the arc after not making a three in the previous three periods. OKC came all the way back and took a 109-108 lead on a Steven Adams put back of a Westbrook miss before the late game winner by Young.

Westbrook didn’t triple double, but had another impressive line with 34-8-13. Steven Adams had a career high scoring night with 20 points while adding 6 rebounds. Victor Oladipo added 14 points, but didn’t get enough shots. Andre Roberson and Domas Sabonis were unimpressive.

Off the bench, Enes Kanter had 10 points, but struggled catching the ball cleanly. Joffrey Lauvergne had another very solid game with 12 points and 7 boards. Jerami Grant had an excellent first half with 9 points on 4-5 shooting, but never shot the ball again in the second half. Anthony Morrow missed his only three point shot and is still in search of his first made three of the season. Alex Abrines didn’t do much either to help the cause.

OKC had 29 assists which is excellent, but as the game came down the stretch the ball didn’t move much from beyond Russell Westbrook.

OKC drops to 8-7 and is now 2-6 since it’s 6-1 start. The ball needs to move more in late game situations. It can’t just be Russell Westbrook against the world especially if Andre Roberson is on the floor in late game offensive situational possessions. Steven Adams should be touching it more especially since he’s turned himself into a 90 per cent free throw shooter who makes clutch free throws.

Second night of a road back to back in Sacramento tonight. Thunder need a win. It’s that simple.

The Lakers are 7-7 coming off a loss to the Bulls on Sunday night. They come into tonight with a two game losing streak, but to date this season have been a pleasant surprise. Here’s first year head coach Luke Walton post game presser following the Bulls loss. His voice sounds much more like Phil Jackson than his father Bill Walton.