I’m sitting here at the laptop thinking and wondering what’s the right thing to write after what I just witnessed. I’m not a bad person. I’m really not even a rogue blogger. I’m genuinely a nice dude, but even nice dudes can only witness so much shitass basketball in half of an NBA season.
Before I say a few things about Billy Donovan and his ‘team’, I want to write several positive things about Russell Westbrook first though. Thank you for staying. Because if you hadn’t stayed no one in Oklahoma City would have any reason to watch or attend NBA games. I think at times some have taken you for granted, but this blogger hasn’t. So seriously…as a passionate basketball fan–thank you.
Oh, boy. I can at this point moving forward with this recap be grateful my mother doesn’t read my blog. When I was a kid playing sports there was a time my mother caught me talking shit to an opponent after a baseball game. She grabbed me and told me if I couldn’t say something nice, then keep it to to myself. But I think given the level of this Thunder performance she would grant me an exception on this game.
Okay, Luke Walton was missing Lonzo Ball, Jordan Clarkson, and Larry Nance. From my perspective, Ball and Clarkson are/were two of the Lakers top three players before the trade today. Billy Donovan was missing Westbrook, Carmelo, and Andre. Not to be disrespectful to Carmelo and Andre, but as we all saw on Tuesday night in Oakland…they weren’t missed in that ballgame against the reigning world champs.
Even without Westbrook, there was still Paul George, Steven Adams, Jerami Grant, and you would hope enough from your role players to if not win this game against an equally decimated Laker team, at the least make it watchable and competitive.
But what I just witnessed was an absolute competitive disgrace. No competitive heart. None. Nada. Nothing. Putting my mother aside, I’m calling this a disgrace. When you play sports, you know there are going to be certain times when it’s not your night, but you at least want to summon within you the competitive fire to compete. None of that was present on Thursday night from the Thunder and then I see Billy Donovan smiling and hugging Luke Walton after the game.
I guess I’m just old school. I guess that’s why I can’t come to terms with how a douchebag like Donald Trump became POTUS. I feel like Tommy Lee Jones right now in that final scene from No Country for Old Men. But I’ll write this before I get off my blog tonight…if I were a one of the Thunder players minus Paul George, Jerami Grant, and perhaps Nick Collison—I’d be taking a very hard, deep look in the mirror tomorrow morning. I seriously would. I’d think of something one of my parents told me as a kid about competing.
As far as Billy Donovan. I think he’s probably a wonderful husband, a marvelous father, and was an excellent coach at Florida. He’s just doesn’t do all that much for me though because I’m an emotion and fire guy—and he does nothing to inspire me as a fan of the Thunder.
In closing, I think all Thunder fans should realize how grateful they should be Russell Westbrook is still around to carry the Thunder on his back night in and night out.
As I’ve written numerous times in here, the NBA is a star driven league and the No. 1 Rule of Coaching is player makes the coach.
Given from what I saw from Billy Donovan tonight he took it to another level. I won’t write more. My mother wouldn’t want me to.
Recap over. I made an honest effort not to write the word fuck two hundred times. Give me that.
Thunder host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday evening.
Hope you play, Russell.