I was completely absorbed by the first half of Clemson vs. LSU for the Super South 5 National Championship so I honestly didn’t watch much of the Thunder first half at Minnesota.
But when Joe Burrow connected with Thaddeus Moss for a TD right before half to extend the Bayou Bengals lead to 28-17… I focused on the Thunder the remainder of the night because I pretty much knew unless Burrow had suffered some broken ribs on the TD pass to Moss it was over.
Which it very much was as the Bengals cruised home to a 42-25 win for the national title. In fairness to OU, this was the kind of loss I expected the Sooners to suffer in the Peach Bowl until the grass smoking suspensions and the injury to Turner-Yell diluted an already thin defensive roster.
As far as the Thunder, they bounced right back from the bad home loss to the Lakers with a solid road win over a Minnesota team which was without Karl Anthony-Townes.
Seven Thunder players scored in double figures with Big Gallo leading the way with a thirty point night. Shai had a remarkable 20-20-10 triple double which of course evokes memories of Westbrook in his Wild Thing mode ‘somewhat.’ I just hope Shai doesn’t become enamored with triple dubs to the extent we start seeing some whoring for rebounds in certain situations.
The triple double is fine, but here’s what I primarily take from this game more than anything…since the 8-12 start of which the Thunder were 1-7 on the road…this team is 9-3 on the road on their way to this remarkable turnaround.
Last week the Thunder were ranked by ESPN as the No. 11 team in the entire thirty team NBA. I would guess with a win over Toronto at home on Wednesday night the Thunder will move even higher in the poll.
Even with the injury loss of valuable sub Nerlens Noel these past few games the Thunder just keep chugging along following the lead of Chris Paul.
Of course the question remains…what will Presti do at the deadline? Does he go all in like Mike Rizzo did with the Nats and shore up his team in the bullpen or does he start unloading with some sort of deal for Danilo Galinari and a future piece to put alongside Shai?
I mean—let’s say hypothetically the Thunder keep trending and are in the top eight seeded teams in the entire NBA just before the deadline?
How does Sam Presti make this trade as a GM whose primary roles are twofold: 1 to contend for a championship, and 2 to make moves which sustains the long-term viability of the team in OKC.
It’s a tough call for sure with Galinari becoming a free agent this summer, but if there’s a window to a run then how do you do this to your fanbase?
The Toronto Raptors are in town on Wednesday night with a hopefully healthy Pascal Siakam on the floor. With a win, the Thunder could improve to 24-17 and hit seven games over .500 for the first time this season.