Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Simply amazing. Maybe they’ve reached an accord for Carson to be the Surgeon General in lieu of the endorsement. Only back in Iowa, not that long ago it was Trump saying these things about Carson. Lawrence O’Donnell may be going too strong with the Hitler comparison, but imagine Richard Nixon with the entertainment skills and maybe that’s more of a fair historical comparison. One thing for certain, there’s never a dull day in the presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. I wonder if at least fifty percent of his followers know who Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew were or are familiar with Watergate.

 

 

 

Obviously–someone in the Trump campaign staff pulled the candidate aside sometime before the debate this evening and said something like, ” We have this thing won if you just don’t go out there and act like an idiot tonight.”

And…it appears Canidate Trump got the message as he actually ‘almost’ appeared semi-presidential several times during a debate where he and Marco Rubio didn’t compare penis size or other things Kardashian viewers turned Trump supporters usually need from one of these debates to feel whole.

It was by far the most civil GOP debate so far–and for good reason. If Trump just doesn’t go out and do something incredibly stupid such as possibly naming Dennis Rodman as his running mate he’s probably going to be the GOP nominee.

But just so were clear on this–Trump wasn’t fooling me a bit with this good boy behavior. Lest we forget Trump the Fool from not that long ago.

Sigh.

 

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 120 — LA Clippers 108

Behind Russell Westbrook’s monstrous triple double of 25 points, 11 rebounds, and 20 assists–OKC’s Thunder got a much, much needed win over the LA Clippers at the Chesapeake Energy Arena on Wednesday night. With the win OKC improves to 44-20 and increases its lead for the No. 3 seed to two and a half games over the Clippers.

It was night for reflection on Wednesday night as Clay Bennett sat next to an empty chair where Aubrey McClendon always sat at Thunder home games. There was a pregame moment of silence for Dion Waiter’s younger brother who was killed earlier this week in Philadelphia. For me at least, there were multiple things running through my mind which still made it entirely difficult to focus in on just the basketball aspect of Wednesday night. Yet, the Thunder behind Westbrook and Durant took care of business in a game they needed badly.

Does this change anything about the Thunder? I don’t think so. Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland still appear to be better, smarter ball clubs more tooled for serious runs at the O’Brien Trophy. While OKC looks to be in a grouping of teams with the Raptors, Clippers and maybe one other team from the East who have nice parts, but still not enough to win a championship.

But still, it was a night which somewhat calmed all the tragedy which has beset this franchise since the All-Star break. It was a night to be human and fully understanding of the fact basketball players are indeed humans with feelings and hurts just like the rest of us.

That won’t play big with the metrics crowd, but at the end of the day what’s in a player’s head and heart always out trumps there current real +/- or PER. Always.

Durant had 30 points, 12 rebounds, and 7 assists and was almost as outstanding as Westbrook. Ibaka continued to score in double figures and had 15 points. Adams was functional. And of all things—Andre Roberson was pretty darn good going an unthinkable 6-7 from the field.

Kanter scored 14 points in 17 minutes. Kyle Singler continued his solid play. Cam Payne did get in the game, but looked extremely rusty. Both Morrow and Foye played, but both continued to struggle from the field with their shot.

In all seriousness, from this point forward, I’m wanting to be kindler and gentler in my recaps. I won’t lie, this is personal for me thinking this could possibly be the last of Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City. It goes beyond just basketball. It goes to the core of I live in Oklahoma City and I fully know what Kevin Durant has meant to this city and this state as a whole. I understand what Aubrey McClendon meant to this city and that empty chair next to Clay Bennett left an indelible impression on me which only a person who lives in Oklahoma City can fully understand.

Don’t get me wrong, I could never live with myself being a sappy homer like some in this market, but however this goes, I just want to make sure I take in the human side of what’s left of this basketball season and enjoy it to the utmost.

Thunder host Minnesota on Friday night.

Now–onto that GOP debate in Florida tonight.

Mike Jackson

One last thing today on the GOP race, then I guess at some point I have to write something on here related to the Thunder-Clippers game tonight.

Very prescient interview back on June 18, 2015 between GOP operative/consultant Steven Schmidt and Joe Scarborough. This needs to be on here as we watch this unfold.  btw… Schmidt ran the McCain-Palin GOP presidential race in 2008. Very interesting guy.

 

 

 

Donald Trump won Michigan over both Ted Cruz and John Kasich who had a very tight battle for second place. Marco Rubio was of no consequence in Michigan, Mississippi, Idaho, or Hawaii. In a word, Bubble Boy is done and in reality has been ‘done’ since Chris Christie and Trump decided to put him away. I would assume Rubio will go through March 15th as a favorite son candidate in Florida and then suspend his candidacy unless he pulls off a miracle in the Sunshine State which had close to a million voters taking advantage of the early voting procedure.

Kasich finished with 25% of the GOP votes in Michigan, but has already stated if he doesn’t win in Ohio on March 15th he will be done as well. So much for being qualified, smart, well mannered, and inclusive. Maybe it would have been different for Kasich if he’d named one of the Kardashians as his running mate. Don’t laugh.

So in essence, this would leave Trump and Ted Cruz as the only remaining canidates still battling to reach the magic number of 1,237 delegates at the GOP Convention in Cleveland.

There has been some talk of the GOP establishment trying to broker the convention so as they don’t have a spoiled, petulant brat as their candidate, but from my thinking in doing this they  would severely damage their own party even if it would be a noble gesture for the country and humanity.

I just don’t see this happening. But here’s the way it’s done if at some point Trump’s behavior between and now and the convention becomes irrational to the point the same people who created Sarah Palin decide it’s time to pull the plug on Donald Trump. But of course we know that won’t happen. But still.

Clearly you can tell by now I don’t want Donald Trump to be president of the United States. It’s not about ideology because he doesn’t have any. It’s not like I’m a liberal because at earlier junctures in my life I voted for Gerald Ford, Reagan once, Bush 41 twice, Bob Dole…and then something in me changed as I watched what was happening to the GOP as a party. Namely–it became a selfish, immature, freakish, dysfunctional collection of different movements who care more about their specific desires than the overall good of the country.

I have no real defining ideology. I just want our leaders to be qualified and honest. I have no check list of social issues a candidate has to pass beyond those, except I think foreign policy experience is fairly important if you’re going to be commander in chief.

Hence, it’s been easy for me to endorse John Kasich although realizing the odds are stacked heavily against him given the current culture in America. Imagine what I just wrote–namely, that the most qualified candidate who’s a very nice human being and someone you’d want your son to emulate has virtually no chance in this election because of what we’ve become as a country.

I saw this last night on the Lawrence O’ Donnell show and wanted to post it on here today before the results start coming in from Michigan later tonight. Spot on, Lawrence O’ Donnell.

 

With nineteen games left in the NBA regular season, the Thunder are 43-20 and still possibly the fourth best team in the NBA if they can pull themselves together during the stretch run. I don’t envision enough ‘pulling together’ for OKC to beat the Warriors, Spurs, or Cavs, but more the pragmatic hope the Thunder can play well enough to win a first round series and then play the Spurs to the hilt in a second round matchup. Anything beyond that with this team is wishful thinking.

Another story by Adrian Wojnarowski surfaced last week reiterating Golden State’s very strong intent on pursuing Kevin Durant at the conclusion of this season. Warrior GM Bob Meyers could make it work by not resigning Harrison Barnes.  Durant could leave to be the No. 1 guy on a team of his own outside of Oklahoma City or Golden State as well. Or he could sign a one year extension in OKC and make one last effort with Westbrook to win a championship together.

Still hard to tell what will happen, but this remains somewhat certain to me–OKC needs to pull itself together enough to the point where the way they finish makes Option No. 3 a plausible alternative for Durant.

OKC looks like they’re probably headed for maybe a 56-57 win season. In itself that isn’t awful, but it’s more the way the team has regressed which should be more of a concern. The Thunder look like they’re an ocean away from winning an NBA crown simply because it appears Sam Presti has never been able to find the missing piece to replace James Harden as the sixth man and hybrid guard closer with Westbrook. Granted—OKC has defensive issues, but the inability by Presti to find a reliable player for the shooting guard minutes continues to haunt the Thunder.

This was a season which started with so much hope. So much hanging on a season to see what the Thunder could be if they remained healthy. Yet—it’s been more of a nightmare with the deaths of Ingrid Williams and Aubrey McClendon, combined with the team playing some of the worst basketball of the Thunder era in Oklahoma City since the All-Star break.

The Thunder host the Clippers tomorrow night entering with a game and a half lead for the No. 3 seed. Huge game for OKC to be played in front of fans wondering if every glimpse forward of Kevin Durant is a precious snapshot of his last days in Oklahoma City as a member of the Thunder.

It kind of makes you swallow hard as a Thunder fan. Thinking this could be the end of Kevin Durant in Oklahoma City.

Big day for the GOP canidates on Tuesday in three distinct different regions of the country. It will be very interesting to see the results in both Michigan and Mississippi. Bubble Boy has fallen to the fourth seed. Cruz has closed the gap on Trump, while Kasich is surging past Bubble Boy and closing towards Cruz.

Trump is still projected to win Michigan, but the margin is of great interest as the GOP nears the Ohio primary on March 15th. It’s very simple, if Trump beats Kasich in Ohio, he’s probably on his way to the 1,237 delegates needed for the nomination. If Kasich wins–the road to a brokered convention becomes a real possibility especially with Bubble Boy dropping out of the race after he loses in his home state of Florida.

Like the Wall Street Journal, okcthunderground.com is endorsing John Kasich for president. If you’re the type who wants their candidate to be talking about his dick in debates, constantly denigrating others, and basically behaving like a petulant third grader—this video might not be for you.

 

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 104 — Milwaukee Bucks 96

OKC’s Thunder shot out to a 32-12 first quarter win doing everything right, and did just enough the remaining thirty-six minutes to claim a 104-96 win over the 26-37 Milwaukee Bucks.

This clearly wasn’t a piece of art, but OKC did win the game and did somewhat salvage this four game road swing  by beating two bad teams and losing to two good teams.

As is the case in so many of the Thunder’s games they struggled at the shooting guard position. Andre Roberson, Dion Waiters, and Randy Foye played a combined 54 minutes. In those 54 minutes they scored 5 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, had 4 assists, and were a combined -10. This was clearly one of Dion Waiters worst games and we’ll not go any further there, and this was against a Bucks team which won’t make the playoffs.

Cam Payne was a healthy DNP once again amidst all of this. Go figure.

Durant scored 32 points and pulled down 12 rebounds. Westbrook tripled doubled. Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, and Enes Kanter all scored in double figures and were part of the Thunder drubbing the Bucks by a 54-34 margin on the boards.

Kyle Singler wasn’t horrible.

I wouldn’t draw anything from this other than OKC beat another bad team riding the fumes from Durant and Westbrook, but it’s a win and OKC needs to feel good about itself so you won’t read me bitching about the 21 turnovers and some dubious decisions made on the floor. Maybe at some point we just come to terms this is what the Thunder are.

LA Clippers in town on Wednesday night where a Thunder win gives them a comfort margin once again.

I need a dog and a hot blonde video to keep my mind off the basketball. I’ve come to terms with this team.

 

 

 

There are twenty games left in this regular season and I’m not sure what I feel about the Thunder currently. Obviously, I don’t feel they’re a viable championship contender, but it goes beyond that in many ways.

OKC has lost six of its last eight games and has looked lost in doing so. It’s a team which looks unfocused, mentally lazy, and quite frankly appears to be lacking leadership from its two superstar players. But the human side of me wants to give them a break because of what has happened of late with Monty Williams and Aubrey McClendon. I mean,  basketball players are human just like us. I know that doesn’t fit into advanced metric stats, but players are still human.

But starting this afternoon in Milwaukee, OKC needs to pull its head out of the collective fog and start playing some basketball. The Clippers lost yesterday to Atlanta, so with a win OKC could build its lead back to two games over LA for third place in the West.

In these last eight games OKC has been horrific from a mental standpoint of just making sound basketball decisions. Any high school coach worth a grain of salt  would  blush if this were his team doing these things. It appears Billy Donovan has no ability to reign Durant and Westbrook in when they loaf on defense, take bad shots, or make a low percentage pass opportunity at just the wrong minute in a fourth quarter situation.

I suppose this explains the Thunder’s addition of vet journeyman Nazr Mohommad as the fifteenth player on the roster. No, he won’t play because he’s too old, but I guess what Presti’s admitting is that maybe hiring a first year NBA coach in Billy Donovan has provided some drawbacks. Nazr Mohommad as a bench/locker room superstar whisperer isn’t doing a lot for me, but it’s really none of my business.

Tramel maintains Perk filled this role previously along with Derek Fisher back in that NBA Finals year of 2012 and beyond. Probably so, but my take is Durant and Westbrook are now in their ninth and eighth years in the NBA respectively. Plus, I thought this was the role Nick Collison would fill given the generous two year contract extension he was given last summer. Can’t Nick simply tell them to “Grow up.”

So–I’m kind of lost here, is there no one in the Thunder organization who can simply say to Durant and Westbrook–“Pull your heads out of your ass and play like you’re capable.” I guess not. I guess that’s not allowed in the current NBA collective bargaining agreement and this is precisely why so many coaches aren’t needed on an NBA bench non-withstanding Greg Popovich or Phil Jackson.

Regardless of what city/cities Durant and Westbrook find themselves playing in during the coming years, take some professional pride in the mental aspect of your games. When the collective analysts at TNT and ESPN are laughing at you–it’s time to take some notice for your own sake.

Milwaukee isn’t a playoff caliber team, but they have some nice young players in Parker, Middleton and The Greek—so OKC better be ready for a basketball game this afternoon in Milwaukee.

One other thing, I have no idea why Billy Donovan has gone so totally on board with Randy Foye and benched Cam Payne because it’s not like this shored up OKC’s defense. Maybe getting another capable point guard/hybrid guard along with Westbrook would help with some of the decision making.

Either way–OKC needs a win in Milwaukee today in a very bad way.