Utah Jazz in town tonight. The weather has gone from balmy to somewhat Christmasy (word?). I love being able to wear shorts, fish, and hit a golf ball in December, but I do like the cold weather ‘just’ the week heading into Christmas.
I’ve tried helping Billy Donovan motivate these guys on my blog, but to no avail. Even Tramel is doing his best by helping to keep the zebras honest on opponents’ three point baskets. This is the only group to date who haven’t responded to the Al Pacino inspirational speech. I don’t know about these guys. They must smoke weed in the locker room at halftime is all I can surmise at this point. I’ve never seen such a lethargic group in sports coming out of the halftime locker room.
So…I’m going to throw in some Whitney Houston Xmas music on here for some game day relief for our team of dysfunction. Maybe some of these guys will get some inspiration from Whit and actually play hard. Who knows…maybe Carmelo will get a boner and have a little bounce in his step. At this point….I’m trying everything in Dr. El Prez’s arsenal of motivational ploys.
Sigh. We have looked into the mirror and viewed the enemy. The enemy is us. Somehow this pile of human junk bond got himself elected POTUS on our watch. I mean, it’s on us. I knew America had fallen significantly, but I had no idea we had fallen this far. Do your best. Be kind to others. Have empathy for those who need it. Try and live the Golden Rule and be a good Samaritan. Lord knows, we need to be decent to one another in these times of the American/Roman Empire burning in decline.
Maybe the election in Alabama with the idiot knucklehead pedophile Ray Moore was a turning point. I don’t know. I know America is in a state of decay and rot currently. This isn’t what made the country great. This isn’t American Exceptionalism. This is just avarice and greed. Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan would be embarrassed.
The Greatest Generation didn’t win WWII and implement the Marshall Plan for this. Courageous men and women didn’t win the Cold War for this. Brave pioneers didn’t risk everything for the sake of racial equality for this. But here we are.. and hopefully America will weather this storm and find itself again.
The best bang for your basketball buck isn’t in downtown Oklahoma City this basketball season. The basketball storyline in Oklahoma isn’t OKC’s faux claim of having a Super Team which will challenge for an NBA championship.
The best basketball experience in the state this season resides in Norman, Oklahoma with Lon Kruger’s Sooners and his phenomenal freshman point guard Trae Young.
OU improved to 9-1 last night with an easy win over Northwestern State, Louisiana. The Sooners have wins over Wichita State, USC, and Oregon on their nonconference resume so far. The Sooners close out their non-conference schedule this week-end with a game against Northwestern from the Big 10. OU’s lone loss came against Arkansas in the Portland tournament which boasted an elite field of teams.
If you haven’t gone to see Trae Young in person you need to because he leads the nation in scoring and last night tied the NCAA record with 22 assists in a single game. It would not be hyperbole at all to claim Young could very well be a leading candidate for national player of the year honors.
Young played his high school ball at nearby Norman North and was on everyone’s covet list as a high school recruit, but decided to stay ten minutes from home. Originally, I thought Young would at least play two seasons of college ball, but I’m not so sure right now he’s not a one and done.
But it’s not just Young on this Sooner team, Lon Kruger has put together a nice compliment of players around Young who should make the Sooners an entertaining watch once Big 12 play starts after Christmas. The Big 12 is rugged, even TCU with Jaime Dixon is ranked and tough. There are no easy outs in Big 12 hoops.
So while this is a Thunder blog, I’ll be keeping an eye on Trae Young and the Sooners. The Thunder dysfunction is too much. It’s wearing me out. It’s almost worse than the Trump presidency. So, for my mental health I think I’m going to add OU hoops on here this season so as I don’t go completely bat fuck crazy blogging on Sam Presti’s Little Miss Sunshine Experience.
This would be a time I would agree with Russell Westbrook’s father. That being, ‘The ball is your best friend’.
With Steven Adams sitting his second game in a row under concussion protocol, and with both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony in essence playing like a pile of dog shit, Russell Westbrook had no other options left if he wanted to get the Thunder to 15-15 for the season and to 7-3 for the month of December.
Before I get to Westbrook, let’s start with the two superstar additions Sam Presti made to this ball club this summer. Paul George went 3-13 from the field and committed three really bad turnovers. It was horrible. Chief Enabler Billy Donovan said otherwise in his post game presser, but it was horrible. It looked as if Paul George and his agent have already packed it in and are in negotiations with Cleveland, Boston, or maybe even Houston. Who knows for sure? But Paul George was a no show.
Carmelo went 2-6 from the field and for the second straight game had me wishing he was still in New York and Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott were still in Oklahoma City.
But of course…it’s okay for players being paid in excess of $20 million to not show up on the first game of a three game home stand. We know it’s okay because Fox broadcast pom leader Michael Cage explained to all of us the first game of a home stand is really still a road game. Really?
Being a Thunder fan this season is almost unbearable. This is like nothing in the Thunder Era in Oklahoma City. I wish Sam Presti would read my blog because when you have a passionate fan like myself wanting to set this team on fire then you might have a problem fan base wise heading down the road.
The games are depressing to watch. The team is not getting better thirty games in. In all candor, I wish Oladipo, Sabonis, Kanter, and McDermott were still here and the team was just working its ass off, playing hard, and giving hope they could get to the second round of the playoffs this season. I would have been okay with that. Like I wrote on here somewhere…my second favorite Thunder team was the first one, the one which went 23-59. I loved that team because they rallied behind Scott Brooks and as a collective group of young guys worked their asses to become a better team every night.
Back to this game. Russell Westbrook was back to being like reigning MVP. He scored 38 points on an efficient 16-28 shooting night. He just played. He had no other real option given the fact the No.2, No. 3, and No. 4 options got paid for doing nothing in Game No. 30 on the schedule. All three of these dudes should donate last night’s paycheck to a charity. Seriously.
I thought Andre Roberson and Alex Abrines did some nice things on the night, otherwise I gave every other Thunder player a C- or worse on the night.
I’m tired of hearing Billy Donovan make excuses for these guys in his pressers. He sounds more like Mike Gundy explaining why he can’t beat OU than an NBA coach whose job it is to motivate his team to be playing to their full potential and getting better.
Motivation is the No. 1 thing a really good coach does in any sport. Let me quote Vincent Thomas Lombardi on the art of motivation in relation to coaching…
“Coaches who draw a play on a board are a dime a dozen in this business, show me a coach who can motivate his players game in and game out and I’ll show you a coach winning seventy per cent of his games.”
On the night, OKC had 13 assists and yet still won over a Denver team which will probably make the playoffs. OKC won this game for one reason…Russell Westbrook.
I have no idea what Sam Presti is thinking currently. I have no idea if he’s concerned. Given what I hear from Billy Donovan and all the Sean Spicer wannabes on the Fox broadcast…maybe he’s good with all this. I have no idea.
But I know this, I’m not a knee jerker type. But this is some ugly, ugly basketball. At times, unwatchable. I know it’s tough to watch these guys, and I know if this continues Sam Presti will have some problems with his fan base at some point. Oklahoma is a tough ass place to live. It’s not a place for the soft of heart. People here expect their teams to have a work ethic and a sense of pride in their craft instead of playing like a group of entitled pussies. We can handle 23-59, we can’t handled the entitled pussies template. And at the end of the day–if Sam Presti can’t figure it out…I’m pretty sure the fans will.
The Utah Jazz visit Oklahoma City on Wednesday night.
——————
The year after 23-59. This is what the Thunder fan base is about.
Best day of the NFL season yesterday. The Pats win over the Steelers in Pittsburgh was easily the game of the year. It met the hype and from my perspective the Pats pretty much punched their ticket to another Super Bowl appearance. Putting the call aside on the overturned touchdown, what would make any Steeler fan think they were going to stop Gronk the next time the Patriots touched the ball. He and Brady at are a different level right now, otherwise the Pats could be beaten.
My Packers were eliminated yesterday in Aaron Rodgers return from the broken collarbone. Aaron threw three interceptions and looked rusty. Aaron usually doesn’t throw three picks in a month.
NFC looks wide open to me with the Vikings, the Rams, and the Eagles all looking like teams on the rise. Know what these three have in common? Sam Bradford at one time in recent years was their starting quarterback. Kind of sad for Sam.
I could care less about the national anthem issue. I wish it wasn’t happening, but I somewhat understand it. I find it amusing that white people who voted for Trump are outraged by what some of the players have done, but have no patriotic qualms whatsoever in regards to Caligula and his henchmen colluding with Russians in an American presidential election.
How can any intellectually honest person reconcile embracing both of these positions? It’s absurd and highlights the incredible hypocrisy in our country.
I’m hoping some of these people at some time google Cold War and Russians…you know so maybe they could understand Russia’s role in being the chief adversary of the United States.
Here’s Tom Brady talking about the win over the Steelers. This is the best part of the NFL season…when I start watching every game. I’ll sing the national anthem as well. What others choose to do is their personal decision. Maybe if these white people ever lived one day as black or brown they might have some empathy for it’s like to be a non-white American.
If you’ve ever played sports you knew the Thunder dug themselves a big hole last night when Russell Westbrook lost his mind and allowed that game to go to three completely unnecessary overtimes in Philly. It was obvious, or at least it should be, they would have no legs tonight in New York. They didn’t. It was obvious. And the Knicks without their best player in Kristaps Porzingis toyed with the Thunder on Carmelo’s forgettable return to Madison Square Garden.
The final read 111-96 in favor of the Knicks. Carmelo Anthony was terrible going 5-16, while on the other end of the floor glassy-eyed Michael Beasley looked All-World in going off for thirty points against the gassed Thunder. I know Michael Beasley. He played one season at K-State for Frank Martin. He has a nice offensive skill set, but not this nice.
The Thunder Fox narrative will be that the Thunder won two of three on this eastern road swing. Moral victory. Yeah, I’d certainly have taken two out of three heading east, but again there was no need for the Thunder to have entered this game with the three overtimes tied around their necks liked chained weight. No need.
Here’s the thing though. With still over two minutes left in New York, Paul George nailed a three from the top of the key to bring the Thunder within 101-95. Ballgame on. Thunder get a stop. Russell Westbrook takes the ball accelerates to Mach I speed and blows himself up at midcourt with a completely unforced turnover. Ballgame over.
That sequence in a nutshell is why the Thunder aren’t really going anywhere except maybe beyond New Orleans, Denver, and Portland in the Western Conference standings. I’m still not totally sure about Minnesota, but I’m not sure the Thunder are smart enough as a team to overcome the T Wolves for the Northwest Division championship.
That’s a fairly damning thing I just wrote if you’ve ever played sports or coached sports. That being, wondering if a team is smart enough to overcome themselves. I don’t write shit like this to be snarky. This is an obscure blog. I don’t need to stir the pot like Berry Tramel to create traffic. I don’t give a fuck about traffic or selling adds. This is my basketball diary. I don’t pander to millennials or Boomers. It’s just me, baby.
But here the Thunder sit at 14-15 with this fatted, bloated payroll Sam Presti has put together and I have serious doubts whether the Thunder have enough smarts and heart to aspire beyond possibly challenging the T Wolves in the Northwest.
Somebody must have gotten to Antonio Daniels on the Fox postgame show. All the sudden he’s tame and lost his edge. He looks like Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest after Nurse Rachet had him mentally spayed.
Et tu, Brute. Dude, you can’t be my Thunder soulmate anymore. It might have to be Tramel.
Anyway, the Thunder now enter an incredibly easy stretch of schedule where they play seven of eight at home. Only once in this stretch will they be a Vegas underdog. That being on Christmas evening against the streaking Houston Rockets. I’ll be there sitting low near midcourt per a Christmas present from my loving son. I can’t decide if I should wear my Fear the Beard t-shirt or not. Probably not.
In closing, a positive. I thought Patrick Patterson really looked pretty good tonight versus the Knicks. That’s a good thing because in seeing Carmelo’s old worn ass tonight it’s fairly evident the Thunder will need Patterson to be what we saw tonight moving forward.
Denver Nuggets without Paul Milsap in Oklahoma City on Monday night. If OKC loses this game even the Fox drones have nothing to say in defense of the effort.
I’m so disappointed in Antonio Daniels.
My challenge to the Fox crew. Tell the truth. In the end, you’ll feel better about yourselves. Especially you, Brute.
Thunder assistant coach Maurice Cheeks was honored last night in Philadelphia as one of the four greatest players in 76’er history. A statue of Cheeks was placed outside the Sixers training facility in Camden, New Jersey. Maurice Cheeks joins Billy Cunningham, Hal Greer, and Wilt as one of the greatest in Philadelphia history.
Cheeks is probably my favorite point guard of all-time because of the way he played the game and the quiet dignity he brought to the table. Kind of like a Barry Sanders version of a basketball player.
The Sixers were my team until we got our own team in Oklahoma City. Just a great player and as a Thunder fan it makes me feel good seeing him involved with our team.
I watch Russell and I keep waiting for that 1983 season like Maurice had where that moment gets through to him that you can’t win the championship by yourself. You just can’t. It’s math, Bad Little Dude. Make the other four guys around you better. You have nothing else left to prove individually. Oscar surrendered. You won. This is stupid. I know you father told you growing up ‘the ball is your best friend.’ That might be okay in youth sports, but this isn’t youth sports anymore.
Anyway, I didn’t mean to get on Westbrook’s ass again on here.
If you’ve never seen this clip of Maurice Cheeks helping Natalie Gilbert finish the national anthem—you might enjoy it.
What does an honest person write after witnessing this basketball game?
Do you write the truth? Or do you pretend OKC did some great things in winning a triple overtime thriller which never should have gone beyond regulation in Philadelphia on Friday night?
For the record, OKC defeated the Philadelphia 76’ers 119-117 in triple overtime on Friday night on the road. Russell Westbrook assisted Andre Roberson for the game winning back door layup with 9.6 seconds left in triple overtime. Patrick Patterson preserved the win by blocking JJ Redick’s three point attempt with 1.2 seconds left in the third overtime. Both good things. Both occurred when OKC should have long before been in the locker room getting ready to head to New York for tomorrow night’s game against the Knicks.
Here’s the truth. OKC didn’t survive the 76’ers. The truth be known, they survived the dysfunction of Russell Westbrook the basketball player.
There are many things I admire about Russell Westbrook. He’s an ultra competitive motherfucker. He’s a good husband. Appears to be a wonderful father. He’s a world class big brother to Ray Jr. He calls his mother every day. He’s completely respectful to his father. He was loyal to Oklahoma City. These are all things I admire about Bad Little Dude. But here’s the thing, he’s not winning a Northwest Division championship, let alone an NBA championship until he learns the basketball isn’t his best friend. His best friends should be his teammates and until Russell Westbrook learns this he’s not winning anything from a team aspect. Nada. Nothing.
For forty-three minutes on Friday night, the Thunder played beautiful team basketball. The ball moved. There was flow. The Thunder led by 11 points. Then it was there to be seen by anyone paying attention. The inner demons of Russell Westbrook took over and it became ugly.
In those first forty three minutes, OKC had 25 assists, in the final 20 minutes, which included three overtimes, the Thunder had three assists as Westbrook decided he needed to beat the Sixers by himself.
You want to know why Kevin Durant is in Golden State? This is why Kevin Durant now plays in Oakland. Because whether Durant on his own, or through his handlers, or by that late conversation with Jerry West, came to the correct conclusion that he would never win an NBA championship with Russell Westbrook.
And that’s the truth. It hurts me to write it. But’s it’s the truth.
Sucks doesn’t it?
OKC improves to 14-14 with the win and is currently in forth place in the Northwest Division and the No. 8 seed in the West.
The Thunder did win tonight, for sure. But in the end, they lost. I’ve written this before, and I’ll write it again here. Even Kobe knew when to trust Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Big Shot Bob Horry.
You wonder if by Westbrook making that last pass to Roberson it was a learning moment or an indicator of fatigue.
Pray for Billy Donovan. It’s not his fault. He makes $6 million. Russell Westbrook makes $28 million. Superstar driven league…duh.
Truth hurts.
So, in the end, a night of irony for me. My favorite team in the East, the Sixers, are 14-14 and at best a probable first round exit. My favorite team in the West, the Thunder, are 14-14, and a probable first round exit.
OKC in New York tomorrow night for Melo’s return to Madison Square Garden.
We’ve found out multiple things about this team of Sam Presti’s 27 games in midway through December so far. Tonight, in Indianapolis, we found out when pushed against the brink they actually have some heart. We found out Billy Donovan is actually a decent ball coach when his guys play hard and at least make the attempt to play the game the right way. We found out if these guys will only work hard and move the ball they might not be a Super Team, but they could turn themselves into something decent come April.
On a night which had Paul George returning to Indiana and many doubting Sam Presti’s trading of Victor Oladipo for Paul George, the Thunder played their collective asses off and won a hard fought 100-95 game over the Indiana Pacers.
So many good things to write about. Where do I start?
I’ll start with team defense. Isn’t it amazing that even without Andre Roberson tonight, the Thunder held one of the league’s better three point shooting teams to a 35.4% night from beyond the arc. Isn’t that amazing considering on Monday night against the feeble Charlotte Bobcats or Hornets or whatever the fuck they call themselves in Charlotte you could go from allowing a bad team to shoot 70% to holding a good shooting team to 35%. That’s what playing hard will do for you. Defense isn’t all that complex. It’s effort. It’s communication. It’s head on a fucking swivel. It’s read and react. This isn’t molecular science.
Playing the right way. The Thunder moved the ball tonight. The ball moved. That iso bullshit which Westbrook and Carmelo embrace when they get lazy didn’t manifest itself tonight. The Thunder had 26 assists despite shooting their customary 40% from the field. So I don’t won’t hear any bullshit about how you have to shoot over 50% to get to 25 assists. 25 assists a night should be the goal for this team every night. The Warriors move the ball. LeBron’s teams move the ball. The Celtics move the ball. The Spurs move the ball. The Rockets move the ball. You think it’s just a freakish coincidence the best five teams in the league move the ball and play hard? Note to Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony…SMARTEN THE FUCK UP.
At this point in my rant I’m pulling out my read marker and highlighting for Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. IF YOU TWO DUDES EVER HOPE TO WIN A RING THIS IS THE WAY YOU HAVE TO PLAY.
Okay. Deep breath…exhale. Excuse my moment. I’ll move on.
Steven Adams was fabulous tonight with 23 points and 13 rebounds. With all these alleged super stars on the floor he was the best player on the floor tonight. He ‘might’ have turned OKC’s season into something salvageable if Westbrook will feed him the ball. Think back to that Game 1 loss to San Antonio in 2016 when the Thunder got blown out in Game 1. Think back. Remember who changed the Thunder attitude from that point moving forward to getting within one game of the NBA Finals. Yeah, it was Steven Adams. Red highlighter is coming out again for Westbrook and Carmelo. IT’S NOT AGAINST THE NBA RULES TO PASS THE BALL TO STEVEN ADAMS IN THE SECOND HALF.
Alex Abrines had a really good game and in essence had the game winner with a putback of a wild Westbrook miss with 15.2 seconds left in regulation. Good for Alex Abrines, he showed some mental toughness tonight.
Jerami Grant prior to the leg injury and was his solid self again tonight. My fishing buddy Ray Felton was good. I thought Patrick Patterson provided effective minutes. Same with Josh Huestis. I like Huestis. I like what he brings to the table. Smart kid, maybe that’s why he went to Stanford. Rookie Terrance Ferguson played some real minutes tonight and looked like he might eventually turn himself into an NBA player.
Westbrook, George, and Paul went a collective 10-45 from the field and yet the Thunder won by five on the road against a decent Indiana team which had been surging of late.
So what does this tell us? It tells us there’s no reason for people in Oklahoma City to think about firing Billy Donovan. Billy Donovan isn’t the problem. Changing coaches won’t solve this riddle of sorts. But it’s not really a riddle.
I run an underground rogue blog of sorts. I don’t need access to the team. Brian Davis and Michael Cage have access and you see all what that means.
In closing, I’ll pull out the red marker and just write… IF THIS TEAM ASPIRES TO BE WHAT THEY THINK THEY CAN BE…RUSSELL WESTBROOK AND CARMELO ANTHONY NEED TO ELEVATE THE WAY THEY PLAY BASKETBALL. IN SHORT, PLAY HARD AND SMART.
Antonio Davis.. I love you, bruh. I feel like we’re soulmates on this bus of dysfunction.
Consider this… Charlotte entered Monday night’s game against the Thunder as losers of 7 of their last 8 games sporting a record of 9-16. This was not a team renowned for three point shooting excellence, but on this night the Hornets exposed the Thunder for what they are currently, that being a team with no identity on either end of the basketball floor. On the night, the Hornets shot 17-24 from beyond the arc. That’s 70.2% if you haven’t done the math in your head.
It was actually a somewhat decent first half with the Thunder looking as okay as a team of dysfunction can be, but then once again it was a third period meltdown in which Charlotte won 40-22. The Bobcats lead grew to 20 points. OKC did come back from twenty down to the Memphis Grizzlies, but this wasn’t that Memphis team on this night in that the Hornets actually have a few players who can shoot.
The Thunder take will be Andre Roberson sat this game with a sore ankle and Alex Abrines had to start in his place. No one more than me respects what Andre brings to the table, but as a team you have to be able to adjust. This wasn’t Golden State, Cleveland, Boston, Houston, or San Antonio–this was the Charlotte Hornets coming in as a team going nowhere.
Of all the Thunder losses to date, this might be the most damning because it came at home on a night when the Thunder could have reached .500 with a win over the Hornets. Home court for this Thunder team had been the last vestige of hope this team could pull their act together and at some point find themselves as a team.
Instead–this Thunder team of confused identity heads east on a three game road swing against Victor Oladipo’s Pacers, my Sixers, and Enes Kanter’s Knicks. If the Thunder come back home after this swing at either 12-17 or 13-16 it will be interesting to see how all around the team react to the situation.
Is this Billy Donovan’s fault all by himself? No, but he is the coach and is being paid handsomely to coach the team. Is it Donovan’s fault this team looks more disoriented on December 12th than they did on the opening day of training camp? Yeah, that’s his fault. That’s what coaches are paid to do. Adjust to situations. Adjust to injuries. Adjust to the schedule. Adjust… and most of all find a way to motivate your players.
But if Sam Presti fires Donovan then who would he hire to coach his faux Super Team?
A coach named Phil Jackson never figured Carmelo out. A coach named George Karl never really figured Carmelo out. What would make a reasonable person think Billy Donovan is going to figure Carmelo out?
So as I sit here … I really don’t know what to think. Will the Thunder respond in Indiana on Wednesday or will they wilt?
Hard to tell, but with a 3-10 road record to date, you have to figure this little three game swing will tell us much about the Thunder’s team character or lack of it.
Good thing for me Lon Kruger has a freshman point guard named Trae Young who might be the best college player in America this season. That’s what it’s come to two weeks before Christmas…that being–hope morphing into reality.