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This is simple when you really think about it. With LeBron, these Lakers are probably a top five or so seed in the West. Without LeBron, these Lakers are around say somewhere around a No.9 thru No. 12 seed in the West. This isn’t rocket science.

OKC’s Thunder got the Laker version without Lebron on Wednesday night in LA and finally pulled away in the fourth when Russell Westbrook decided to quit shooting the basketball after going 3-18 from the field in the first three quarters of the game.

To Westbrook’s credit somewhat… that flash of genius moment hit him and he only missed twice in the fourth period ending up with a 3-20 night on the same night he tripled doubled, but at the same time registering the fifth worst ever shooting percentage in NBA history on a night he trip dubbed. Truly amazing. Close your eyes and tell me what other current NBA player could do such a thing in 48 minutes of play.

In one game he gave us everything in 48 minutes…Wild Thing for the first 36 minutes and something resembling the best regular season point guard in the game today in a twelve minute final frame.

Jim Traber won’t even know what or how to say it on the air today. It would be best for him at this point if he just followed my lead in observing this human named Russell Westbrook.

But in the end, the Thunder didn’t piss on themselves and did improve to 24-13 with the win. You won’t read another blogger in OKC who still vividly remembers Al Davis as I do so in the end….’it’s just win, baby.” No style points required. Just win because there isn’t a selection committee for the NBA Playoffs.

On the flip side positives abound with Paul George scoring 37 points on a 15-29 shooting night. Steven Adams double doubling. Jerami Grant taking his game up a notch literally every night. Terrance Ferguson looking like he can do this possibly. Dennis Schroeder looking like the Sixth Man of the Year. But what I really like is what I’m seeing from Abdel Nader as he continues to play the Alex Abrines minutes. What I’m seeing is an honest two way basketball player who might actually turn into a player this team desperately needs to solidify the bench. I have no idea what’s up with Abrines…only Thunder insiders like Nick Gallo and Royce Young get those kind of Golden Braille nuggets from the inside. But I’ll be honest… I’m not missing him, no malice intended. He seems like a sweet kid, but OKC needs a player they can depend on moving forward. There’s nothing wrong with being a Spanish folk singer and part time Euro player…I would just do it in Spain and seek inner happiness there an ocean away from Donald Trump.

From a big picture standpoint this was just one win against a team missing not only their best player, but the league’s best player.

The LA fans booing of Paul George was kind of comical, but nothing compared to what OKC fans do with Cupcake every time he re-enters Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Westbrook of course…seems oblivious to it all. Nothing frazzles him . He could go 2-50 and still be snug in his own little universe of Bad Little Dude. Don’t we all wish we could be that secure about ourselves and find the humor in it all? I’ve come to terms with Russell. He helps kids read with his foundation. He does good things for the community. He gives away his shoes to a new kid after every game. He may not ever win shit NBA wise, but in the big picture from a human standpoint….how can you stay mad at him for more than 48 hours?

His place in Oklahoma City history is secure…NBA championship or not. You would think there will at some point be a Russell Westbrook Drive close to Mickey Mantle Boulevard in Bricktown. And Westbrook should feel good about it and he should rest assured there won’t be a Cupcake Circle or a James Harden Crosstown Highway.

This is Russell Westbrook’s town and his team.

The Thunder visit Portland on Friday.

It was a great ending to bowl season for the Big 12 with Texas thumping the Georgia Bulldogs in the All-State Sugar Bowl by a 28-21 count. This game was really wasn’t that close. Long story short…Texas physically handled the overrated Georgia Bulldogs. All told…the Big 12 went 3-1 versus the SEC this bowl season with the only loss coming with OU’s 45-34 loss to top ranked Alabama. O State beat Missouri while Baylor beat Vanderbilt in the other Big 12-SEC head to heads. I still firmly believe if Marquis Brown had been healthy OU would have come down to a last possession game with Alabama once they weathered that horrific first quarter. It was not a good week-end for either Marquis Brown or Antonio Brown for that matter.

I’m sure Jim Traber will have plenty to say this week about the meltdown in Pittsburgh as the Cleveland Browns along with the Baltimore Ravens appear to be poised to assume the crown in the AFC North as the fall of the once mighty Steelers in Pittsburgh has unraveled. Mike Tomlin has lost control of his football team. At some point…I’ll have to write about that Ravens-Browns game on Sunday.

But back to the Big 12…Iowa State lost in a close game to the PAC 12’s second best team in Washington State and West Virginia got handled by Syracuse as their QB Will Grier didn’t play.

All told the Big 12 went 4-3 in bowl season. After watching the bowls this is the way I rank the conferences right now… 1 SEC, 2 Big 12, 3 ACC, 4 Big Ten, 5 PAC 12. If you subtract Clemson from the ACC—it is a nothing football conference. A one team conference. The Big 12 will be tough next year. Kansas, K State, Texas Tech, and West Virginia will all have new head coaches. Texas will in my view be the conference favorite with Oklahoma being picked to finish second unless they get a graduate transfer at the QB position in say Jalen Hurts from Alabama. Why not? Iowa State will have Brock Purdy. And one would hope Spencer Sanders will show his potential at O State with great playmakers around him in wait.

I do wonder where Jalen Hurts will end up though. He was a Texas high school kid. He has a year left as a graduate transfer if he wants to do it. I don’t see him staying in the SEC if he does play another year. Spencer Rattler as a true freshman at OU… I’m not sure about. And I don’t know if Austin Kendall gives the Sooners what they need as far as a dual threat QB which will be needed to compete with Mini Tebow, Brock Purdy, Spencer Sanders, and the Brewer kid at Baylor.

Holgorson is headed to Houston so it will be interesting to see who lands the West Virginia job.

I loved the Bevo thing with UGA. It set the tone for the game. Pauli was sitting next to me watching when this unfolded. She went berserk growling at Bevo. Pauli is a warrior…old UGA not so much. Pauli would have gone after Bevo no doubt and maybe set a different tone for the overrated Georgia Bulldogs with all those five star recruits.

After blowing a six point lead with 1:51 left in Sunday’s game in Dallas, the mercurial Russell Westbrook regained his senses and led the Thunder to a wire to wire 122-102 blowout of the Dallas Mavs.

If ever two games in two nights highlighted why Russell Westbrook doesn’t have a ring this might be a primer of sorts. It was vintage Wild Thing in the blown game in Dallas, then vintage Russell Westbrook as an iconic generational point guard who should at least have two rings already as we hit Day 1 of 2019. These two games highlight what Westbrook brings to the table at his worst and at his best.

At his best, Westbrook is the best point guard in the NBA. At his worst I’m not sure I’d have him in my top seven points guards in the game today. The gap is that significant, especially when you get to the post season and each game is magnified by bad decisions being made by teams’ point guards. The NBA is no different than the NFL in that you’re not going to win the big trophy if your quarterback habitually makes bad decisions at just the wrong time.

I don’t write this as a fan of the Thunder per se, but more of just a fan of the NBA. As a witness who’s passionately watched the league for around fifty-five years now both in the pre three point era and the current era of basketball.

One thing hasn’t changed during either era, that being your point guard can’t play like an out of control youth level rec player when all the marbles are on the table. That can’t happen. I’m not exactly sure what or how Jerry West phrased his closing argument to Kevin Durant on that fateful phone call to the Hamptons, but I’m guessing I have it fairly close.

Clay Bennett and Sam Presti have put all their chips in the middle of the pot betting at some point Russell Westbrook’s light switch will go on. That he’ll have that flash of genius moment when he realizes he has five seasons or so left where he could become an NBA championship winner.

Watching Westbrook somewhat reminds me of the hockey player Alex Ovechkin. Until last spring, Ovechkin, like Westbrook, was a perennial flameout in post seasons for the Washington Capitals. Great individual stats. Regular season MVP’s. A scoring title or two or three. A perennial all-star. A secured place in the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto (another reason I’d like to live there).

Ovechkin’s teams could never get past the opening rounds and if they did they always came up short when it mattered. They always found a way to lose. Always. They were viewed as the league’s premier underachiever. A franchise which had wasted the storied career of Ovechkin.

Same thing last season as they lost their first two home games in the first round to the Columbus Blue Jays. Then something magical happened, Ovechkin changed his game. He pulled back on offense and focused on his defense and on his checking game. He took his immensive set of offensive skills and used them at just the right clutch moments when his team needed them most. He gave up some points for hits, for rubs, for screens, for backchecks, for assists, for all the little things which transform a perennial choker into a flowering world champion. And it worked.

The Washington Capitals shocked the hockey world by winning their first ever world championship. Ovechkin finally had his ring. His city had their moment. It was glorious and the Caps are still riding that crest this season as one of the NHL’s best teams even after the coach left the team after their Stanley Cup moment.

As I watch Westbrook–I know winning matters to him. I know it does. I just can’t figure out why he’s taking this long to come to terms with what it will take from him if he wants to become a champion like Ovechkin.

And again, I don’t think it means all that much if Billy Donovan is the coach or someone else is the coach. It doesn’t matter. This is Westbrook’s deal. This is how he decides if he wants to be grouped with Cousy, Magic, and Isiah Thomas or along with Steve Nash and John Stockton.

When I watch the Thunder now I don’t look at wins nearly as much as I observe what Westbrook does to facilitate this team becoming a legit championship contender with all this payroll.

This is or at least should be Russell Westbrook’s season of awakening.

No more excuses. This isn’t on ownership or Sam Presti. This isn’t on Billy Donovan. This isn’t on Cupcake. This isn’t on Oklahoma City.

This is on Russell Westbrook.

Given the odd fact these two teams play each other again tonight in Oklahoma City…I think I’m going to wait until I do a blog entry on last night’s abysmal loss to the Dallas Mavericks. This is one of those times I don’t want to knee jerk…especially since it’s New Year’s Eve and my resolution is to quit ranting about how Russell Westbrook plays in the last four minutes in games against good teams. I’m taking a deep breath per say and going to enjoy the last day of the year.

But I do want to tackle it because it’s a prime example of why Russell Westbrook isn’t ever going to win anything if he can’t figure it out within himself.

I need to be the adult.

I need to think about what I’m going to write because me just writing fuck four to five hundred times isn’t what’s needed right now.

Russell Westbrook needs an intervention. Maybe a divine one.

Granted, this was a game the Thunder won against the lowly (9-27) Phoenix Suns by a score of 118-102 on the road Friday night, but beyond that initial fact it was a game in which I was actually somewhat impressed by how the Thunder finished the game in the fourth period.

It was a game where the Thunder had to overcome the absence of Paul George due to a contused quad and then lost Terrance Ferguson due to some sort of illness after he played his normal rotation in the first period. Add to that, since apparently Alex Abrines is only going to make sporadic appearances this season due to his never ending physical frailty…the Thunder were playing the Suns without three rotational players.

So for me, just winning the game period with this scenario was a good thing for the Thunder especially considering the formidable contributions made by Dennis Schroeder and Abdel Nader.

Schroeder had to start in place of Paul George and struggled mightily until the fourth quarter. But then when it became money time his light switch clicked and he scored 15 of his 20 points in the fourth when the Thunder were finally able to dispense of the worst team in the Western Conference. I had Schroder as my No. 1 Star of the Game just ahead of Westbrook who was excellent scoring 40 points on a 17-29 shooting night. Combined—the guard combo accounted for 60 points on the night which was needed since the NBA’s Player of the Month was sitting with that contused quad.

Besides winning the game, the thing which might give me some hope moving forward was how well Westbrook and Schroder managed the game together from the point in that pivotal fourth period. It was like watching Harden and Westbrook in that magical run in 2012. But of course this game wasn’t against Dirk’s Mavs, Kobe’s Lakers, or Timmy’s Spurs– this was against the lowly Suns. But still, it’s something you can maybe cling to if you’re into rainbows and butterflies. But again, these Suns won’t be around when the Western Playoffs begin in April as much as we all wish they could be the Thunder’s first round opponent.

Abdel Nader for the second straight game got minutes. This time though he got 33 minutes in that Billy Donovan had no other options given the fact his was down three rotational wing players.

Nader was superb. He scored 18 points, hustled on the boards, didn’t do anything stupid I could detect and was my No. 3 Star of the Game. I thought he was excellent. He has a much better body than either Ferguson or the frail/anemic Abrines so who knows…maybe this could be the start of something positive for the Thunder this season if Nader could take over the Abrines role and give the Thunder some toughness and production with those minutes. Nader kind of has a body type like Shane Battier but I won’t get ahead of myself.

I’m totally good with the minutes Diallo and Ferguson are getting in relation to their level of play…keep that coming. Abrines is the dude I have circled in red as a hockey coach. As in — how do I make my team better using those minutes in a different manner. To me, Nader, Ferguson, and Diallo all appear to be better athletes than Abrines…so if I’m Donovan that’s something I have to think about and clearly Billy Donovan has given that some thought. So…we’ll see.

Jerami Grant and Steven Adams were both good and I’m to the point I don’t worry about either one of those guys as far as them being starters on a team which we hope can get beyond the first round this season. The Abrines spot is the one which concerns me. That was the spot heading into this season I knew the Thunder needed consistent production from night in and night out. He seems like a sweet kid, but you can’t miss games every time someone bumps into you or breathes on you with some germs.

The Thunder improve to 22-12 and for the moment nudge back into second place in the West.

So…well see. As you can tell–I’ve come to terms with Wild Thing and this non-profit called the Thunder. One step at a time…see the big picture as a human. But I do find it extremely odd that in this year when my wife and I are starting to talk about the possibility of moving to Denver in the future…that the Denver Nuggets and the Thunder sit atop the Western Conference standings.

Is god sending me a sign beyond Kendra Horn winning the 5th Congressional District in otherwise dumpster fire Trumpland Oklahoma?

Could be.

The Thunder play the Mavs on Sunday.

Best day of the college football season looms tomorrow with the national semifinals. I’ll leave it at that for right now. Hollywood is apparently good to go.

BEAT ALABAMA!

There was a very interesting Op-Ed written in the NY Times by Elizabeth Drew just yesterday posing this thought in writing.

I don’t know. It’s a tricky path for Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, and the Dems which will require great nuance and at some point some semblance of patriotism from around ten GOP senators in the U.S. Senate. The House should be a slam dunk. No problem. The GOP Senate might never come out and do the mea culpa they should have done nearly two years ago.

So I don’t know.

Clearly at this point Caligula should be impeached. Not because I think Mueller can prove collusion with the Russians per se, but more to the point it is clear the United States is being governed by a morally bankrupt creep who makes Nixon look like Justin Bieber. This is not who we are. This is not why the rest of the world has looked at us with envy since 1941. This is not the New World Order as the world changes into something new and different almost every day.

America is a conceptual vision. An American Dream in essence guard railed by a masterful constitution which in theory assures humans the opportunity to live a life of freedom attached with doing good things which make the world better around us. Doing things which insures the next generations have the same opportunities. The same dreams…and the same dreams for their children and grandchildren.

Can Caligula endanger all this with two more years now that the adults in Gary Cohn and Jim Mattis are no longer around to remind him he shouldn’t blow his nose on his shirt or fart during a meeting with other world leaders or grab Kellyanne Conway’s vagina in a staff meeting? Or to lie on an average of twenty times a day either on Twitter or on television. The Trump base has lowered the national bar to historically low standards for a sitting POTUS.

Because in the end that’s what you have here regardless of what ideology you embrace at the end of the day. It doesn’t matter if you’re a liberal or a conservative…. pragmatic moderate of a Dreamer. It shouldn’t and won’t matter in the end.

Because what we all have is a president who can’t tell the truth. A president who acts like a creep. A president you wouldn’t or at least shouldn’t want serving on your HOA, Little League, or School Board.

Our president is a pathological liar.

He panders to a base which in essence lost the GOP close to five hundred state legislative seats in state houses at the mid term. In two years, the one-thousand state seat houses the GOP picked up during the eight Obama years were cut in half under two years of Caligula. Nancy and Chuck may want to think this thru… two more years of Caligula and the Dems could be on the plus side of state house seats and the governor mansions. Just a thought.

I repeat…Kendra Horn won the 5th Congressional seat in Oklahoma… as a Dem.

They’ve used their Steve Bannon puppet all they can to this point. Two Supreme Court appointees. An individual and corporate tax cut which will add another $1.5 trillion to the debt the next ten years under the guise of fiscal conservatism. This is what Paul Ryan calls fiscal conservatism. Really?

But in reality Mitch McConnell has gotten everything he can get from Caligula. Like two whores who have used each other and now feel awkward in the after silence of not knowing who whored the other better. It is what it is. The current White House and Senate look more like brothels than institutions of freedom and democracy. But then again…the Greeks and Romans already did this.

So maybe Elizabeth Drew has a point or maybe she doesn’t.

Her Op-Ed lives and dies on the premise at some point around ten current GOP senators will put patriotism above political whoredom just once in showing Caligula the helicopter pad.

I hate to tell Elizabeth Drew this, but I have to in my Op-Ed of sorts on here.

Ms. Drew… I have no idea what alternative universe you’ve been living in, but there aren’t two GOP senators let alone ten who will do the right thing as far giving Donald Trump the gong.

Because in the end–it’s simple and George Will and every other honest conservative writer will agree.

Whoredom begats whoredom.

This made me cry in a very good way. Thank you, Andre Roberson.

My father was a lieutenant commander in the United States Navy. That’s why I was born in San Diego and then found myself back in Oklahoma City when he entered law school at Oklahoma City University. My father-in-law was a bird colonel in the United States Air Force and my wife’s godfather is a U.S Air Force retired general as well. I thought of them all yesterday as Donald Trump once again embarrassed our country with his latest rally taking place not in Alabama or West Virginia, but to our troops in Iraq. As an American…I cried watching only parts of it before I couldn’t stomach anymore.

How far we’ve fallen as not only a nation but as a culture since Bush 41 is genuinely staggering. The lack of duty, the absence of empathy, the complete abdication of human decency on multiple fronts are painful to observe.

I hope America wakes up in time.

I watched the game in a jam packed family room with family and friends. I kept my thoughts to myself about the Thunder heading into the game and after the game. Who needs another Grinch when you have Donald Trump already?

Fairly entertaining game with Clay’s Bennett’s version of the NBA United Way posing as a Western Conference elite team. It was a good game because without Chris Paul these Rockets like the Thunder are not two of the four teams I have circled as legit O’Brien contenders on December 26th.

But in the end the Rockets without Chris Paul made the plays and beat the Thunder by a score of 113-109.

There’s no need for angst. If you’re the Houston Texans or the Kansas City Chiefs that’s who you are. That’s who these Thunder are. A nice team which will be entertaining at times in the regular season but in all likelihood another quick exit by late April.

I use the Christmas games as my first marker of sorts to evaluate teams, then redraw the day after the trade deadline if somebody did something of consequence.

What a perfect Christmas game for the Thunder to prove the payroll was worthy of the luxury tax consequences. What an opportunity to show they could be something different. But in the end it’s hard to buy the facelift Sam Presti put together this summer really making that much of a difference post season-wise. But they really are very nice guys.

You couldn’t ask for a better non-profit organization to do an assortment of good deeds for a community like Oklahoma City.

But an NBA championship contender?

No.

Isn’t it odd the most talented quarterback in the NFL and the most athletic point guard in the NBA both lead teams this season who aren’t going anywhere of consequence this season in Green Bay and Oklahoma City. How odd these two small markets with marquee players at their sport’s most important positions aren’t going to figure to be relevant beyond the regular season for the second straight season in Green Bay and the third straight season in Oklahoma City.

The Nick Gallos and the Royce Youngs of the Thunder Universe will try to spell it differently, but in the end they won’t be able to because it’s a truth which makes you gulp with a sense of partial sadness attached.

In the end this is Sam Presti’s Doctrine of Sustainability in Oklahoma City. To be respectable on the court, but to be even better in the surrounding community in Oklahoma.

To do good things from a human standpoint to show the good in the human condition. To show the sense of empathy to others that the world doesn’t see from the current POTUS.

In the big picture of all things make this clear, I’m not railing at anyone by writing up the Thunder’s Christmas game in Houston in this manner.

I love what the city leaders have done downtown with all the MAPS projects. I’m proud of how they’ve transformed the city. I’ll always love the Thunder. I love the baseball park downtown which is a replica of Camden Yards and hosts the LA Dodgers’ AAA team. The Riverwalk is awesome. What they’ve done with the Canadian River in turning it into a national rowing attraction is a miracle. I can’t wait for the new Oklahoma version of Central Park even if it won’t be Washington Park in Denver. Just to have the vision and civic will to do it impresses me.

Clay Bennett and the people in Oklahoma City have performed a sequence of miracles in Oklahoma City which have made the county a tolerable place to live even if you can’t ignore the rest of the dumpster fire state for its lack of vision.

So as I sit here the day after Christmas I do indeed realize there’s quite a bit of good things going in Oklahoma City even if the Thunder aren’t a viable championship contender.