Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

I attended this game with my son last night. Originally, I was very excited about seeing Joel Embid and a respirited Philadelphia basketball team in person. All that was never present in this game as Joel Embiid has a torn meniscus and is done for the season. OKC easily dispatched of this Sixer team by a count of 122-97 in a game which did have a few silver lining emotional moments for Thunder fans though.

Silver lining No. 1 was Russell Westbrook getting his 35th triple double of the season in pursuit of Oscar Robertson. The opening minutes of this game were extremely painful to watch as Russell basically did not shoot the ball in an attempt to get his teammates scoring the ball. It was awful as we saw Adams, Roberson, and Gibson pretty much play some of the most ugly offensive basketball imaginable. Fortunately, for Russell, Enes Kanter had a big night scoring 24 points which made up for the three I just mentioned plus Alex Abrines and all four basically played very poor level games against a very bad Sixer team at home. It’s one thing to suck on the road against a good team, it’s another thing to suck at home against the dumpster fire Sixers. Pick it up, boys.

Back to silver lining No. 1. Russell was good enough in this one to overcome some of his teammates and notch a line of 18 points, 11 rebounds, and 14 assists. He got his triple dub in the third period and he didn’t play a minute in the fourth period. It was a nice, easy night for Westbrook and he now needs seven more triple dubs in the last eleven games to pass the Big O. Again, nice night for Kanter. He gave Russell some hope in the first half that he actually has a teammate who can make a basket at the NBA level of play. But that isn’t my Silver lining No. 2.

Silver lining No. 2 is Nick Collison. As a passionate Thunder fan, I unabashedly love Nick Collison. If I were ever good enough to be an NBA player, I’d want to be a player like Nick Collison. His game brings so much passion and honor to the way the game should be played. It put a lump in my throat as Nick got eight minutes of playing time in this game. Nick is near the end of his playing career, but there is something in the way Nick plays basketball which endears me to him as if he were my favorite lab of all-time. These eight minutes were my favorite eight on Wednesday night as Nick played crisply in garnering 7 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists with the first assist being a classic Collison backdoor cut pass. BTW, Nick got a louder ovation than Russell’s 35th triple double which made me feel good because it reaffirmed everything I feel about Nick Collison is shared by my fellow Thunder fans. Long paragraph, but from the heart.

Victor Oladipo scored 16 points and was so-so. If I’m Billy Donovan I know I need much, much more from Oladipo. Much more and with more consistency. Doug McDermott scored 13 points and was okay. Semaj Christon played some solid minutes and showed some toughness which I liked.

I don’t know if Steven Adams has broken up with his girlfriend or something, but he needs to start elevating game on a par level which equals his $25 million pay tag. Seriously.

OKC improves to 41-30 and stays in the No. 6 slot for the time being. The Thunder get a nice little break as they don’t play again until they visit Houston on Sunday. Maybe they can all go to the gym together and practice their shooting, especially guys not named Westbrook, Kanter, and Oladipo.

As an OU basketball fan, I saw a great deal of Nick during his Kansas days. I hated him. I hated him for being such a good player wearing that Kansas blue. But as the years have passed, Nick Collison has a place in my basketball heart right there with Westbrook, Harden, Wayman Tisdale, Mookie Blalock, Dave Sieger, Hollis Price, Blake Griffin, and Buddy Hield. If you didn’t see Nick play at Kansas, you missed something.

As Adam Schiff has correctly stated what we have so far is a circumstantial case against Donald Trump for treason. But as every good lawyer knows a circumstantial case is proven by taking countless threads and together constructing a rope which ultimately holds the test of the truth. With each thread added, the rope becomes stronger. In and of itself not one single piece of evidence may be that ‘gotcha moment’, but together they present a portrait of the truth, unless of course you’re a Birther or are currently on some runway with aluminum foil taped to your ears.

Below is today’s AP story on Paul Manafort and his previous connections to Russia before he became Donald Trump’s campaign manager. Below that is Paul Manafort being interviewed on Morning Joe the first day of Republican National Convention. Keep in mind, it was during this convention in July in which the GOP changed their position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and subsequent U.S. sanctions.

Sean Spicer and Kellyanne Conway might want to watch this as it appears they ‘believe’ Paul Manafort is just another fantasy in the liberal media’s bias toward Donald Trump.

Schiff is a former federal prosecutor and led the Dems presentation in the Comey/Russiagate hearing on Monday. Pretty interesting set of statements along with a logical chronological timeline for what may have happened with Trump, Manafort, Michael Flynn, Roger Stone, Jefferson Sessions, and Carter Page… in their dealings with the Russians. If this can be proven some people will be going to federal prison. This could make Watergate seem tame in comparison, but we have to see if all this can be proven and if James Comey and the FBI can roll one of these guys to testify for immunity.

I thought Schiff did an effective job with his opening statement on Russiagate with the hows, the whens, and the wheres in a logical/believable story. This is going to be a long process for sure.
Given all the ‘Lock Her Up’ chants Trump and Flynn conducted during the campaign this could have an ending with a ton of karma attached.

Here’s Trump just a week ago still encouraging some of his idiot followers to get amped with the ‘Lock Her Up’ chant. Trump’s lawyer, and we can be sure it won’t be Jeff Sessions, better start conveying to Mr. Trump to maybe keep his mouth shut and start acting like someone who might be indicted on criminal charges at some point. Just a suggestion.

Keith Olberman…this might be the time for some Olberman ranting on my blog.

Unless you’re just a complete political partisan, the Comey hearing yesterday in D.C. shouldn’t have caught anybody by surprise. So– here we are with a situation which makes the Richard Nixon days seem pale in comparison. We’re talking about a newly elected president basically colluding with the Russians in a quid pro quo deal to alter an American presidential election.

But if you voted for Trump, how could you possibly be surprised? BTW, to Trey Gowdy, if you’re looking for the leakers, maybe the staffs of Preibus and Pence would be a smart starting point.

It was very simple as OKC’s five game winning streak came to an end on Monday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena–if an opposing team can’t make threes against the Golden State Warriors they’re usually not going to win.

Such was the case as the Warriors shot 15-33 from beyond the arc while the Thunder were an abysmal 4-21. Ball game. With Kevin Durant sitting with a sore knee it didn’t matter as Klay Thompson and Steph Curry were more than enough as Golden State eased past the Thunder by a score of 111-95 in a game which was basically over at halftime as Curry buried a half court shot at the buzzer which put the Thunder in a 39-59 hole at the break.

Klay Thompson was once again brilliant playing in Oklahoma City as he scored a smooth 34 points featuring seven made three pointers.

Bottom line, 95 points scored isn’t going to beat these Warriors very often even when they don’t have Durant on the floor.

OKC’s offense was a mess for most of the first half. Russell Westbrook struggled as did every one of his teammates. Nobody really played well offensively for the Thunder and it was especially hurtful that three point specialists Alex Abrines and Doug McDermott went a combined 0-10 from the field.

Westbrook’s line was 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists as he stayed locked in at 34 on the triple double list with twelve games remaining.

Golden State has now won seven straight games over the Thunder dating back to last year’s Western Conference Finals and it has become painfully apparent OKC as a team doesn’t shoot well enough on most nights to hang with this potent Warriors team which features three of the game’s three best pure shooters in the league. All four Thunder losses to the Warriors this season were by double digit margins and in none of the games did the Thunder have a chance to win in the fourth period.

A turner might have been turned in Toronto, but the turner wasn’t even close to being turned on Monday night against the Warriors who quite frankly seemed to toy with the Thunder with relative ease.

OKC drops to 40-30 with the loss and hosts the Philadelphia 76’ers on Wednesday night.

And, here of course, for the more cerebral Trump supporter who’s still reading William F Buckley there’s always this to fall back on. I wonder how many Trump supporters even know who Buckley was.

Two months into the Donald Trump presidency and he’s exactly what we thought he would be, namely a junk bond of a president who shamelessly panders to the part of his illiterate white core which isn’t in the uber elite status in this country. He doesn’t need to pander the uber elites because they’re just along for the ride which will make them even richer. And the amazing thing is, many of these poor whites will be the ones hardest hit if anything Trump has proposed to date actually becomes law– unless of course you’re in that upper five per cent of three hundred and thirty million Americans.

The silver lining so far, nothing Caligula Lite has done or said ‘so far’ has become a law. Trump’s nuanced Muslim ban is once again being put on hold as it well should be because it specifically punishes a specific religion. Plus, the fact Trump couldn’t keep Rudy Giuliani off television screens basically telling the world Trump ask him to devise a Muslim ban. Sigh.

We’ve witnessed Trump embarrass this country with almost every other nation with the exception of Russia, Israel, and perhaps Japan. We’ve witnessed fourth grade level diplomacy with Mexico, Canada, Australia, Great Britain, Germany, France, and China. We’ve witnessed a president who seems more suited for a sport fucking spree in a furniture store rather than being a man with enough depth to tackle complex issues around the globe. But, hey, it was right there on film and we all saw it and yet 82% of white evangicals still went with the furniture store sport fuck junk bond con artist. Yawn. Color me jaded at this point.

It is what is. I’d love to sit at a table with these people and discuss all of this, but it’s not like I’m holding my breath or anything. I mean, really, who amongst us hasn’t ever taken a married woman to a furniture store and tried to sport fuck her like a bitch and then bragged about it to something called a Billy Bush when we were sixty years of age at the time.

So, here are one day removed from Mitch McConnell’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Neil Gorsuch, beginning his confirmation hearings. This should be the focus of the country right now, but how could it be with Birthers, Voting Conspiracy Wingnuts, and Wire Tappers all convinced Donald Trump is any and everything but what he actually is which is a delusional, narcisstic, pathological liar who will be used as much as possible by McConnell, Ryan, Priebus, and Pence as much as they can possibly use him without destroying their own party.

You see, I really don’t think Donald Trump is a Republican or a Democrat. He doesn’t need to be. He’s a junk bond, he’s a subprime mortgage tranche, he’s a credit default swap, he’s a rogue, he’s a hustler, he’s a con artist, and he’s the president of the United States because 70,000 or so lost white souls in the Rust Bucket said ‘fuck it nothing is going to change for me’ anyway. Why not–what could it hurt?

In closing, we clearly have two nations within one border. The United States being those who opted not to disgrace themselves by voting for Caligula Lite, and then those who think the prudent choice was to select a robber baron of a prez who will take us back to the 1930’s if he, Bannon, and Sessions have their way.

So–really, Trump is exactly what he appeared to be during his campaign. How could anyone be surprised?

Here’s two videos. One for the Trumpers, and one for those who might read a book occasionally. It’s up to you to decide which is for you. Besides, there’s always Sean Hannity if reading requires too much effort.

This is my favorite scene from The Big Short. Maybe a good time to revisit the story. Economic cycles and bubbles never leave us. Just saying. Make sure you keep your ass covered as much as possible. Don’t be stupid.

OKC’s Thunder enter this afternoon’s game one-half game behind the LA Clippers for the No. 5 seed in the West. During this four game winning streak the Thunder guard tandem has clicked as one and showed why they could be one of the best guard tandems in the league heading into post season. Russell Westbrook is the MVP of the league, but for OKC to continue to trend their game upwards–Victor Oladipo is the gear which gives them the chance to be relevant in post season.

Usually, I’m pretty much absorbed with the NCAA Tournament, but not yet this basketball season. Maybe when we get to the Sweet 16, I’ll be interested. I don’t have time–I’m watching Russell Westbrook chase Oscar Robertson and basketball history. I’m a purist, this thing Westbrook is doing shouldn’t be taken lightly. He’s been phenomenal this basketball season and goes after No. 35 on Saturday afternoon at the Chesapeake Energy Arena against the Sacramento Kings.

For those who don’t know the Westbrook story this might be an interesting watch.

Anyway, Thunder going for their fifth in a row on Saturday as Russ goes for No. 35. Who has time for the NCAA Tournament?

For the fourth straight game, Victor Oladipo and Taj Gibson started together and for the fourth straight game the Oklahoma City found themselves in the win column while playing its best basketball of the season at just the right time of the year.

With the 123-102 win, the Thunder find themselves sitting at 39-29 and peaking with a relatively manageable schedule on the immediate horizon.

It was a surprisingly easy win for the Thunder as they led almost coast to coast. It was so easy Russell Westbrook notched his 34th triple double of the season with 3:56 left in the third period. It was so easy OKC led by as many as 32 points at one point in the mismatch. It was so easy Russell Westbrook didn’t need to play in the fourth period.

It was another stellar Westbrook line with 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 16 assists. It was vintage Westbrook with only 17 shots attempted. It was a no sweat game which found seven different Thunder players scoring double figures and 33 assists for the Thunder. OKC shot 53.4% from the field and 56% from threes going 14-25 as a team.

For the fourth straight game, Victor Oladipo was excellent as his line was 23 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists.

With the return of Oladipo and the insertion of Taj Gibson into the starting lineup the Thunder have turned themselves into a legitimate basketball team which doesn’t just stand around watching Russell Westbrook.

OKC has fourteen regular season games remaining and suddenly finds itself within a game of the Clippers and the No. 5 seed.

With the two straight road wins OKC improves to 14-20 on the road and with the addition of Gibson appears to be a much calmer, poised group.

To reach the 50 win plateau, OKC would need to close out the season going 11-3. With Kevin Durant’s knee injury and LaMarcus Aldridge’s heart situation all the sudden the West doesn’t seem as stacked against the Thunder as it was not that long ago.

Is this Fool’s Gold or has the Thunder turned a legitimate corner?

If they continue to play like this then it’s not crazy talk to visualize fifty wins.

The Thunder host the Sacramento Kings on early Saturday afternoon which should provide great odds for Westbrook’s 35th triple dub and the Thunder’s 5th straight win.

Playing the right way and winning are fun things. It was a very fun night for the Thunder and its fans in Toronto as the hope of a turner corned makes every Thunder fan think maybe there could be more to this season than just Westbrook chasing Robertson.