Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Still going with the music-fest. I got sidetracked a bit by the Clippers-Nuggets Game 3 which was quite a game.

Love this song from the Honky Chateau album. Probably my favorite Elton John song.

Since I’m not ready for college football…I think I’ll do a musicfest today and up until midnight to celebrate the coming of autumn.

This song…whoa. I mean…whoa. To be able to play lead guitar at an elite world class level is my dream in the next life.

I didn’t really plan on putting this on my blog. But I played the song down below and it evoked some old feelings in me.

Now that I’ve written a country crossover song myself…’I Saw The Mullet King’–I know what goes into writing a song. It becomes part of you like your heart and lungs.

This is my favorite country crossover song of all-time. I saw this incredible video and decided this has to be front and center on my blog. The Lakers and Rockets can wait. We know how that will go..oh, Russell why won’t you listen to me. Good lord.

Hope you take the time to watch and listen.

End of summer. Labor Day week-end. Where did the summer go? Really didn’t seem like a summer with the pandemic, the economic collapse, the police murdering all these people….. but still–you’d like to end summer with a nice week-end, some great food, and some relaxing music.

Hope you have a fun Labor Day week-end. Probably the first time in my life it’s Labor Day and I have literally not given one single thought to the college football season except for the Mullet King running for the U.S. Senate at some point.

Be safe and have some fun.

Marshall Tucker Band…Running Like The Wind. I saw these guys play this song back around 1980 or so in Oklahoma City with a concert they did with Firefall. Epic. Just epic. Love this song. Google the lyrics. Great song. I always play this at the end of summer.

I very much remember Chris Paul winning Rookie of the Year in Oklahoma City when Katrina sent the New Orleans team here. As an NBA fan having both Chris Paul and David West on those teams was special.

His brother almost rented the house across the street from us after a somewhat bizarre divorce took place. But in the end Chris and his brother rented somewhere else in Edmond.

Glad to hear Chris loves Charleston’s. It’s one of my three favorite restaurants in the city area as well.

I wish Chris would stay in Oklahoma not so much to finish his basketball career, but to maybe become our governor or a United States Senator. He would be such a substantial upgrade over the current Trump dimbulbs…I think he would be a great leader.

I hope he doesn’t just limit his future to basketball. Listen to Chris Paul and then listen to the petulant fourth grader currently living in the White House. It’s not even close. Not even.

We can only hope Mullet King Mike Gundy isn’t the next governor of Oklahoma. Don’t laugh…I could very much see Mullet King with his MAGA deluxe mullet cap and his Breitbart t-shirt as the next GOP offering in Oklahoma. Tommy Tuberville West. I’m telling you, don’t laugh. This is Oklahoma.

It was a great NBA basketball season in Oklahoma City. A complete joy to watch the team.

Good luck in whatever you do in the future, Chris Paul.

This is what Houston wanted to look like when they unloaded center Clint Capela and replaced him in the lineup with Robert Covington in mid-season.

I thought Covington was the difference in the Oklahoma City series ultimately. When Harden and Westbrook play like they did in this game against the Lakers they all the sudden look like a very dangerous team.

Great game by the Rockets. Kyle Kuzma -21 for the Lakers. Yikes. I would guess we see the Rockets isolate and attack Kuzma every time he sets a foot on the floor.

Only one game, but a very effective start for the Rockets.

Only one piece of the Final Four is in place with the Tampa Lightening waiting to see who joins them in the Eastern Conference Finals.

That team will be either the Philadelphia Flyers or New York Islanders who will be playing a Game 7 tomorrow I think if I’m reading the bracket correctly.

In the West the Colorado Avalanche and the Dallas Stars square off in a Game 7 later today. Also in the West there’s another Game 7 today with the Cinderella Vancouver Canucks pushing the favored Las Vegas Golden Kinghts to a Game 7 as well.

If you love hockey this is as good as it gets.

I’m going to pass on the NBA for a couple of days to enjoy the fastest, toughest, most skill requiring sport on the earth to take center stage.

With Boston’s elimination….I’m rooting for the NY Islanders and Colorado Avalanche.

This was a very strange basketball game. Surreal is how I might put it. The Vegas over/under for this game was 217 points and it comes in at 206 points. Very interesting.

For the first time since he was abandoned by Kevin Durant…Russell Westbrook has advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs. For the fourth straight season since he was abandoned by Kevin Durant….Billy Donovan doesn’t get out of the first round.

Let me be clear, I’m neither a Billy D hater or lover. Even when he was at Florida he’s not a coach who I was all that interested in listening to in pressers. Even if he was still coaching the Gators in the SEC… he’s not a guy like Bruce Pearl or John Calipari who I’d really want to spend a basketball season with for eight months or so. I don’t care about NCAA violations. I just enjoy listening to interesting, funny coaches if possible.

So…the Thunder don’t advance again without Kevin Durant. And …oh, boy it was there to be had on a night James Harden only scored 17 points on a 4-15 shooting night. It was there to be had… boys.

Russell scored 20 points in 33 minutes and for the most part didn’t turn into a werewolf at just the wrong time for the Rockets. He only went 0-2 from beyond the arc and limited himself to two turnovers. Both wins for the Rockets on the stat sheet. Jim Traber would be okay with this.

Eric Gordon and Robert Covington were in my mind the Rockets’ best two players on the night. What a great pickup for Houston adding Covington to their squad at mid-season.

As far as OKC… you have to call it like you see it. Big Gallo scored only 6 points and was -16. Chris Paul, SGA, and Dennis Schroder were not stellar when it mattered. Some wide open shots didn’t fall at clutch time.

CP3, SGA, and Big Gallo combined only took 28 shots while Lu Dort on a career night took 21 shots and scored 30 points.

I love Dort, but this isn’t quite the role I envisoned for him. But I love his heart and toughness. I can’t believe he isn’t a hockey player for the Montreal Canadians. I wonder if Lu Dort has a crisp back crossover?

Looking back on this series maybe Steven Adams’ role and minutes should have been tweaked a bit. He shouldn’t have even been in the game on the last inbounds play with 1.1 seconds. Only catch and shoot guys should have been on the floor. You know…maybe someone like Muscala or Bazely..

I thought Bazely was good in the first half. Kid has something about him I’m really starting to like. I love when he grabbed the rebound away from PJ Tucker and growled at him. That was a TSN five star moment for me.. I now officially love Darius Bazely.

So..it’s the Rockets vs. the Lakers and the Nuggets vs. the Clippers in the West. Exactly what Vegas thought it would be. The Miami Heat and the Boston Celtics in the East have turned the East upside down. There will be plenty of hoops to watch along with the Stanley Cup games.

I’m not sure who I’m rooting for just yet. Maybe the Miami Heat or the Rockets. I need to reflect on this a little more.

Me personally…I love coaches who wear their hearts on their sleeve. It’s just me. I’m Italian.

As a Thunder fan and blogger I’m at peace within myself this morning. It’s been a long season since that depressing day Sam Presti traded Jerami Grant to Denver signaling what we all thought would be a tortuous season of tanking.

The big tank never happened. Instead if the Thunder beat Houston in Game 7 tonight inside of a bubble the franchise for the first time without Kevin Durant will advance to the Western Conference Semi-Finals for the right to play LeBron and AD.

For me it was perhaps the most gratifying season of OKC basketball since the Thunder’s first season in Oklahoma City when they went 23-59. I loved that season. Watching those kids work there tails off every game to get better is what sports is about for me. It’s the journey and the climb as a team together to reap the rewards.

Then the next season they pushed Kobe and the Lakers to a Game 6 inside the then Ford Center. One of the things I truly treasure as a Thunder fan was being in that building that game as our crowd gave that team a standing ovation. It was something you don’t forget.

I’ve come to love Chris Paul and this team even though I cursed them for the Game 6 performance in what was their worst game of the year. They’ve given us what they’ve got inside of them. As a fan you can’t ask anymore.

But Chris Paul answered the questions perfectly after the game. He said, “We’re human. We’re just like you.”

So here I sit getting ready to go to work in anticipation of Game 7. I’m no longer conflicted. I want Oklahoma City to win the game. Russell plays for Houston. I don’t live in Houston. I don’t have emotional ties to the Rockets.

I’ve come to love the rookies…Dort and Baze. Gallo is Italian just like me.Dennis played the best ball of his basketball life. SGA has a grace to his game which makes me exited about the future. Steven is an author.

And there’s Chris Paul. He never bitched about playing in Oklahoma City this season after the trade. He handled himself as the quintessential pro he truly is.

How can I not be rooting for these guys tonight and completely respect the fact they gave our city a basketball season no one saw coming.

I’m thinking chicken marsala tonight with a nice red wine. I’m going to enjoy the game win or lose. It’s been a journey.

The girls from Italy sent this to me after Gallo’s big Game 6.

Good luck tonight, Thunder.