Month: April 2021

Jerami Grant, Hamidou Diallo, Mason Plumlee and Corey Joseph didn’t play for the (16-39) Detroit Pistons.

Likewise….Shai, Big Al Horford, Mikey Muscala and Kid Poku didn’t suit up for the (20-35) Oklahoma City Thunder.

None of this mattered though as Lu Dort, Josh Jackson, Frank Jackson, and Michael Cage took centerstage and if you like watching the best the G League has to offer with a sprinkle of a few NBA level players this game checked every box for a hoops enthusiast.

The final score read 110-104 in favor of the Pistons.

The much maligned Josh Jackson who was a top five pick several years ago by Phoenix before being given up on by the Suns somewhat found his game on this April night in Detroit. On this night he consistently shredded the Thunder’s rim protection to score at the rim in the second half. He would probably have to be the Piston’s MVP in this 17th win of theirs.

On the game’s biggest play he just barely on a review reversal drew a block from Lu Dort to get to the line with three minutes left in the game. Michael Cage of course being the homer he is proclimed it was easily a charge. In pro wrestling we all have our roles… and Michael Cage certainly has his. We’ll leave it at that.

If the name Frank Jackson sounds familiar it should—because Sam Presti cut him from the Thunder at camp this pre-season. Frank Jackson to his credit has somewhat stuck for the time being in Detroit and was key in this game scoring nine straight points in the third period when the Pistons took a double digit lead.

Lu Dort did play for the Thunder and was fabulous. He was the game’s MVP even on a night the Thunder were clearly playing to lose. Lu Dort month by month these past eighteen months has turned himself into a solid two way NBA player. If he hadn’t played in this game the Thunder would have lost by at least twenty points to these lowly Pistons.

Lu Dort was pretty much it for the Thunder with the exception of a few flashes here and there from the mercurial Darius Bazely.

But with the loss Thunder Nation can at least salve the wound from this latest loss with the imagery of Cade, Jalen, or Evan Mobley wearing a Thunder jersey next season.

Glass half full take is the Thunder only has sixteen game left to be fulfilled by NBA contractual stipulations. This will be over in about three weeks and Thunder Nation will have this behind them….kind of like having your wisdom teeth removed.

The Thunder host struggling Toronto tomorrow and have two games remaining against the awful Washington Wizards so I don’t think they’ll end the season on a twenty-five game losing streak. So there’s that blue sky as well.

You can either struggle through these last three weeks or have a sense of humor.

I’m going to have fun.

Have a nice Saturday. The sun is shining.

This is a Thunder game I’m actually going to watch tonight as the feeble Thunder (20-35) travel to Detroit to play the wretched Pistons (16-39) in a 6:00pm CST tip.

I think we’re going to cater at home with some Peruvian food from 1492 and make a special Thunder night of it on another cold dank evening in Deer Creek.

For Thunder fans…..these last seventeen games are the playoffs. Embrace the moment.

This game will have my full attention. This will be like a divisional round playoff game to see if the Thunder are worthy of becoming a Final Four tanker in the quest to secure either Cade, Evan Mobley, or Jalen Suggs in this summer’s NBA draft.

I’m guessing right now Michael Cage in his hotel room is going over all his notes in anticipation of this game tonight in Detroit.

I know I’m a little amped myself. Since the Daily Thunder, the blog I used to run back when it was relevant, announced earlier this week it’s not even going to attempt to write recaps or content any longer… someone has to step in and write some Thunder content in this market. I tried to tell them…but instead they banned me and seemed determined to travel this road.

There is a moral to this story, boys. If you don’t have a Hemingway or a storyteller on staff….just do the plaguaristic Bolts and the provincial messageboard. It’s always wise to know who’s your Jimmy Chitwood and who are your role players…..if you know what I mean.

Let’s glance at the Super Tanker Standings heading into tonight’s game versus Detroit in the race to acquire Cade Cunningham:

1 Minnesota 14-42

2 Houston 14-41

3 Detroit 16-39

4 Orlando 18-37

5 Oklahoma City 20-35

6 Cleveland 20-35

So…the Thunder enter this game as losers of their last eight in quest of running the table and ending the regular season on a twenty-five game losing streak.

Will Lu Dort be allowed to play? Will Kid Poku be able to shake off the mid-arm soreness and play tonight like it’s a Greek B League championship game? Will Jerami Grant and Diallo get carried away and win this game despite the fact Cade would be a perfect fit with the two former Thunder players?

None of us know in the world of NBA tanking.

This is when the proverbial shit hits the fan in the quest to be worst and we see which of the last standing GMs has their heart set on landing Cade, Evan, or Jalen.

I personally think one of those Baylor guards will still be around when OKC has Minnesota’s second round pick to use as well.

I really am kind of jacked tonight for the first time this NBA season as far as the Oklahoma City Thunder.

If I were Presti …I’d have Dort enter the arena tonight walking on crutches with a cast on his right arm…just to let Detroit know they’re winning this game tonight.

LET’S GO THUNDER!!!

So…. this is Game 56 of this Thunder season and for the first time all season I sit here feeling as if the Thunder can acheive something tangible and positive tonight by losing to the pitiful Pistons in Detroit.

That being… better positioning to get better odds to land Cade, Evan, or Jalen.

I wrote before the season that it would be fiduciary malpractice if the Thunder didn’t tank…and low and behold after ignoring everything I’ve suggested to Sam Presti—he’s following me on this one.

I’m making a whole fantasy Thunder night of it hitting a pregame piano bar here at the ranch two hours before tip. The whole smear. A pregame bourbon and a cigar.

Peruvian food from 1492 hasn’t arrived yet …so let’s get to some pregame fun at a Thunder game.

Hope you like the first song.

Song 2—Pregame. Peruvian food still not here. But no big deal. It’s like I have an entire NBA arena to myself. The Peruvian food will get here. I usually save this one for big games only. This is a game we need to lose.

I think I’ll watch this game tonight as it’s been before the NCAA Tournament since I’ve watched the TNT group do an NBA game. This could possibly be a first round matchup in the East….so why not?

It was a cold, dank day in Deer Creek for it being April 15th. So for me this is literally some warmup music before some more cold rain hits our place later tonight. This is what I would describe as a great night to drink coffee, watch a game to unwind, then follow the Chauvin verdict deliberations talk a bit as we head for what should be a guilty verdict.

The jury now has the Derek Chauvin verdict in their hands. I think I’ll write my thoughts on that after the game. I’ve tried to remain calm and balanced in regards to the murder of George Floyd in broad daylight. But I’d like to share my thoughts on my blog in regards to this case.

Bob Jackson took some very tough gut wrenching cases, but I know he wouldn’t have taken in Derek Chauvin as a client. No way.

We simply cannot allow white police officers to murder black people under the guise of law enforcement.

I love this version of Gimme Shelter.

Kid Poku didn’t play still nursing a sore arm from throwing too many sliders. Lu Dort was benched because he might have been able to guard Steph Curry. These were the Thunder storylines in a season which can’t end fast enough for anyone with a half a brain.

Long story short—the Thunder are in hyper Tank mode and with this eighth straight loss have now put themselves in the No. 5 slot for the chance to land a top three pick this summer in the NBA draft.

Steph Curry without fellow Splash Brother Klay Thompson shredded the feeble Thunder defense with a 42 point night in but only three quarters of play with no one even remotely guarding him. In a super nimble ninja tankster move… Sam Presti banished Lu Dort to street clothes the night after Dort himself went off for 42 points against the mighty Utah Jazz.

I watched about three minutes of this bullshit before clicking onto the NBC Cable Sports Network and watched an excellent hockey game in which the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues in a 4-3 thriller.

Chris Fisher on the Thunder telecasts must be thrilled with his career right now. He left his job doing play by play for USC to become the Thunder television announcer. He could have done the calls for the Mobley Brothers this season, but instead finds himself covering the dumpster fire Thunder with Michael Cage still not understanding the Thunder are tanking.

First year head coach Mark D must be equally thrilled having all this on his coaching resume. It’s a sad story.

I would assume Sam Anderson from Boom Town fame is still out there lurking in the Daily Thunder shadows watching all of this with a smile on his face.

Me? I’m okay. I’ve adopted the Portland Trailblazers and Miami Heat. The OU Spring Game is just around the corner and the glorious Stanley Cup Playoffs are just around the bend.

Can the Thunder lose seventeen more games in a row to close out the season on a twenty-five game losing swoon?

I don’t think it probable, but I wouldn’t rule it out either.

Of course the Thunder lost their seventh game in a row with a 106-96 loss to the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night in Salt Lake City. No surprise there as the tanking Thunder fell to 20-34 and into the seventh slot for the upcoming NBA draft this summer.

As I’ve written on here before—I don’t cover tanking teams on my sports-life blog. I only cover people who are trying to win championships. That’s why I don’t cover professional wrestling, Oklahoma State football, or the Dallas Cowboys either.

Life is short and I don’t know how much time I have left on this sphere of being. The Cupcakes at the Daily Thunder cover the Thunder ad nauseum as if the reader is four years old…so that market niche has already been filled.

But last night while I didn’t watch the game per se…I did keep track of Lu Dort’s 42 point night against the team in the West with the best regular season record….the Utah Jazz.

As I’ve written on here earlier both Lu and Kenrich Williams are my two favorite players the Thunder still have left on their roster who still play in games. SGA, Big Al Horford, and Mikey Muscala don’t play in Thunder games any longer…but the Daily Thunder have per Sam Presti’s permission let it be known these three may actually appear in a game sometime in 2023.

Lu Dort’s 42 point game puts him in an elite club per Thunder Era trivia. He becomes the sixth player in the Thunder Era to score 40 or more points in a game.

Lu joins Kevin Durant, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Paul George, and SGA in this regard.

Super rookie phenom Kid Poku didn’t play against the Jazz because of some arm soreness….sigh. My seventeen month-old grandson Little Robert has more toughness than Kid Poku. Good lord.

Glass half full approach is the Thunder only have eighteen more games they have to fulfill per the NBA bylaws to bring this season to a close in Oklahoma City.

If you’re going to lose then lose big is what I say. Lose the last eighteen to close on a 25-game losing streak and see if you can land Cade, Evan Mobley, or Jalen Suggs with your own pick. Maybe see if you can steal Jared Butler or Devion Mitchell with a late first round pick via the Heat as well.

I’m now going to adopt my two teams I’ll be rooting for the rest of the NBA season since we don’t have legit NBA hoops in Oklahoma City this season.

I’ll take Portland with Terry Stotts because I love Coach Stotts. I’ll also take Tyler Herro with that smirk of his as the Miami Heat try to get back to the NBA Finals.

Lu Dort…I love you, kid. Keep playing hard on both ends, buddy. Same with you, Kenrich. Don’t become NBA pretty boys.

Sam Presti, dude…I know you tried to acquire Tyler last season, but you need a white boy with a smirk to go along with Lu, SGA, Kenrich, Mikey Muscala and whoever else you draft or acquire this summer. First time I saw Tyler I knew he was John Marshall all the way in a previous life. Just saying.

It was a very busy week for me. The grand kids came in from Denver and were in a word….delightful. They got Baptized by Dr. Miller in Tulsa yesterday and it was a wonderful day.

I haven’t blogged a word in close to a week and I honestly can’t remember the last Thunder game I watched and made a comment on of sorts.

I watched some of the Frozen Four this past week…congrats to UMass. I watched a bit of the Masters until Xander went full blown Tin Cup and tried to stick an eight iron 180 yatds on the 16th hole.

So…to get back in the flow on here a little …maybe a little Lindsey Graham-Donald Trump romantic music for all the Lindsey Graham-Trump hopeless romantics out there.

Mike Pence…deal with it, dude. Donald may want to hang you, but otherwise he’s just not that into you.

This should be a great hire for OU basketball. I’m very impressed Joe C was able to sale Porter Moser on leaving Loyola to to become the new Sooners’ head coach.

This isn’t a rebuild. OU basketball since 1947 has played in two NCAA championship games, four Final Fours, seven Elite 8’s, and multiple Sweet 16’s.

Bruce Drake, Dave Bliss, Billy Tubbs, and Kelvin Sampson won conference championships at OU. Jeff Capel is the only OU basketball coach to be fired in the modern era and he coached a NPOTY and got his team to an Elite 8.

OU basketball success for a football powerhouse in my view only falls behind Florida and Ohio State in this regard.

Joe C in Porter Moser gets a ‘young’ energetic coach who has proven he can win the right way.

Porter Moser in Joe C gets the best athletic director in the country who broke his teeth in the business being an associate basketball AD at Maryland. Hoops mean something to Joe C. Name the current ADs who have a football national champiomship and a basketball Final Four on their resume.

Coach Porter has already added PK Brown to his staff to recruit the state of Texas. The transfer portal I would think will be a big part of Coach Porter selling OU to recruits all over the country.

If you follow Big 12 basketball you now know how good the high school basketball in in the state of Texas has become. Even Gonzaga’s Drew Timme was a Texas high school kid.

If I’m Coach Moser the first call I’m making is to Devion Harmon…then some of the other players still on the roster (I hope) as in EJ Harkless, Jalen Hill, Moj Gibson, Victor Iwankor, and maybe Alondes Williams. I don’t see Brady Manek’s skill set being a match with the way Coach Moser plays defense.

I’m already excited about OU basketball next season. But in the end you have to recruit and win games. I think Joe C got a coach who can do both.

When my American Lit teacher Juanita Elijah took my Dan Jenkins books away from me back during my formidable years at John Marshall High School… she in essence turned me onto four American writers as substitutes for Dead Solid Perfect and Semi-Tough.

She knew I was somewhat limited so she steered me towards Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, John Steinbeck, and Jack London.

Jack London is probably my favorite because of Call of the Wild and White Fang. Steinbeck is second favorite and then Ernest Hemingway.

My favorites by Hemigway are The Sun Also Rises, Old Man and the Sea, and A Farewell to Arms.

I never would have read these books if not for Juanita Elijah.

PBS is airing the Ken Burns documantary on Hemingway this very week. Like most Ken Burns films…it’s spectacular.

Hemingway’s ending was of course tragic as he took his own life.

Very interesting person. I think the film is effective in getting beyond the myths of Hemingway and revealing as who he was as a human.

It’s a must see both from a literature and historical standpoint in that Hemingway was the most influential American writer in the previous century.

Be sure and take the time to watch it on PBS.

Footnote clarification: If you voted for Donald Trump twice or Mr. Pillow once White Fang was written by Jack London…not Ernest Hemingway. Carry on.

I’ve had to wait two years to play this since Virginia edged Texas Tech in a classic overtime win in 2019.

Such a stunningly easy win for Baylor as they basically knocked Gonzaga out with an intial 9-0 run and led by 35-16 in the first half as well.

Baylor left no doubts as to who was the best team in college basketball this season as their deep balanced team lined up and ran Mark Few’s team out of the arena.

Baylor’s three guard combo of Jared Butler, Devion Mitchell, and Casias Teague were in a word awesome as they carved up Gonzaga in every imaginable way.

The storyline in this game was Gonzaga couldn’t guard Baylor and couldn’t keep the Bears off their defensive boards. Gonzaga looked like a slow white team which played in a weak conference…while Baylor looked like the best team in the rugged Big 12.

Some are saying the UCLA game took too much out of Gonzaga. I would counter with the fact Gonzaga never played any tough games this season in a cupcake league and they ran into a buzzsaw on Championship Monday by the name of the Baylor Bears.

This was the Big 12’s first national title in hoops since Kansas did the trick in 2008 when they escaped Derek Rose and the Memphis Tigers.

This game was a highlight reel of what Texas high school basketball has become on the national stage.

I feel sad for the Gonzaga kids, but I mean in my view UCLA was for the most part the better team on Saturday night. I’m not dogging Gonzaga, but I think this speaks volumes to the league they play in as opposed to some of the tough Power 5 leagues.

I loved watching the tournament this year especially since we don’t have legit NBA basketball in Oklahoma City this season.

My three favorite games of the tournament were 1 Oral Roberts vs. Ohio State, 2 UCLA vs. Alabama, and 3 UCLA vs. Gonzaga.

Congrats to Coach Scott Drew … he’ll never have to be dogged again as to the question if he’s a championship level coach.

Baylor….THIS IS YOUR ONE SHINING MOMENT!

First off…Happy Easter. I hope you are at peace with your loved ones.

What a basketball game last night in Indiana!!!

Best game of the tournament, best game of the season, and the Chuckster might be right in that it could have been the best college game in the last decade.

Gongaza appeared to be beaten at the end of regulation, but these guys behind Andrew Timme and Jalen Suggs just a found a way in the last six minutes of play to extend their unbeaten perfect season versus Baylor on Championship Monday.

Bravo to both teams for a wonderful evening of basketball. It helps wash away the stain the Thunder’s pathetic season of on again then off again tanking. How fitting it is CJ McCollum on the eve or Easter once again showed Sam Presti where his team is currently on the NBA food chain. If CJ and his father were in town today…we’d invite them to Easter dinner again.

I have to write this to Coach Mick Cronin of UCLA… bless you and your players for your inspirational six game run in this tournament which was spawned in the play in game versus Michigan State.

Sir– your players beat Michigan State, Michigan, Alabama…and came within a whistle of beating No. 1 Gonzaga. Your team played with a combination of smarts and toughness which makes old timers like me proud to be a fan of the game.That was the best exhibition I’ve seen of TSN (Toughness, Smarts, Nasty) in quite some time. Just beautiful, sir… your father is proud of you and well he should be.

As far as I’m concerned regardless of what happens on Monday night…your team won a share of the national championship on Saturday night.

Bravo…bravo, bravo!!!!

As Lombardi once said, “We would like to win all the time, but sometimes we don’t. But if we gave everything we had in the tank and came up just short….we can live with that result.”

Monday night…I would have to go with Timme and Suggs after what I just witnessed. Baylor has a solid team, but I like Gonzaga by about 6-7 points on Championship Monday.

I can’t wait to play One Shining Moment and then talk about Joe C’s very impressive basketball coach hire at OU.

Enjoy the the day and be one within the spirit of goodness and kindness.