Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

As an American, I’ve never seen our country more divided. Perhaps, the immediate post Watergate era might compare. But what I’m seeing now runs even deeper. We’ve reached the point where literally two countries exist within the borders of the United States. No one listens to one another. The middle ground within our country has evaporated. Conquer and destroy has become the political norm.

I find it stunning Steven Bannon will be serving as perhaps the most important aid to Donald Trump in the White House. It doesn’t matter which party you belong to the thought of Bannon formulating policy should be repugnant to you as an American. After taking step after step since the presidencies of JFK and LBJ to make America a more inclusive nation, it appears white America has given the okay to return our country to the 1950’s or perhaps even further back.

There was no mandate to do any of this. Donald Trump lost the popular vote by almost two million votes. The only possible mandate I can decipher is like Bernie Sanders said way back when ‘we’re all tired of hearing about Hillary Clinton’s damn e-mails”. America became weary of the Clintons. The mandate was Hillary Clinton offered nothing inspiring as a presidential canidate. The slogan ‘It’s My Turn’ wasn’t nearly enough.

So as this NBA season moves along I think I might interweave some of the Trump Phenomenon with the Thunder season for the simple reason the NBA is predominately a black professional sports league of three-hundred and fifty of the most gifted athletes in the world and we’re seeing history being made. I find what the coaches and players say very interesting. Unless, I missed it, I’ve yet to read much of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s thoughts on all of this even though he enacted a lifetime ban of LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for racist comments.

Of all the people I’ve listened to discussing the election of Trump, Gregg Popovich’s comments most align with what I feel about all this.

On Wednesday night against the Rockets, we got a glimpse of what the Westbrook-Oladipo backcourt can look like when they play in balance with synergy making each of their games better. Tonight inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena, we collectively sneaked another look at what could become one of the league’s best backcourts both offensively and defensively. For whatever it’s worth, OKC took care of the under talented Nets 124-105 to improve to 8-5 on the season.

Against the Rockets, Westbrook and Oladipo went for a combined 59 points. Tonight it was another high level performance by the backcourt duo as they went for 56 points. Even more to the point, both were extremely efficient with their shots.

Westbrook triple doubled going 30-11-13 on a 13-21 night. Oladipo mini tripled doubled with 26-5-6 while hitting 11 of his 17 shots. In his last two games, Oladipo is a combined 23-35 for 55 points. Not to be too much of Captain Obvious here, but when Victor Oladipo brings this level game to the arena with Russell Westbrook, the Thunder have a chance to be pretty good. When he doesn’t bring his ‘A’ game, Westbrook has to do too much and the Thunder lose their ball movement becoming too one dimensional.

In all, the Thunder had six players in double figures. Steven Adams had a solid night with 15 points, 6 boards, and two blocked shots. Enes Kanter scored 13 points in thirteen minutes. Jofferey Lauvernge had his Thunder career high scoring 13 points on a 6-9 night. Alex Abrines had an alpha shooting flash in the first half hitting three bombs in a row then went fizz in the second half.

A decent game by Andre Roberson even though he was somewhat plagued with foul trouble. Domas Sabonis had a tough shooting night, but as always if you watch his game closely he does a lot of little things right which help the team. My bullishness on Sabonis remains intact.

The Thunder improve to 8-5 and in these last two games have gotten themselves pointed back in the right direction.

Not really much to add because the Nets are team with not much overall talent which the Thunder should beat at home and did.

I’m anxious to see Cam Payne added to the mix of guards on this team. Westbrook, Oladipo, Roberson, and Payne will be a compelling guard foursome to watch as Christon’s minutes become sparse when Payne gets a clean slate of health. You would think Billy Donovan could throw some small ball lineups out there which could hang with any team in the league running the very mobile Adams as the lone big. I’m hopeful Payne is only a couple more weeks away from returning.

Very solid season so far for the Thunder, take away the disappointing home loss to the Orlando Magic and they’re 9-4 and one of the surprise teams in the league.

Next up, Indiana Pacers at the Peake on Sunday evening.

Victor Oladipo Media Day Interview–September 23, 2016

I feel like I’m one of his parents putting a scrapbook together or something. For whatever it’s worth, I don’t wear socks either. Wife saw I was sockless at our son’s wedding and almost elbowed me to death. Whatever.

A great night for Russell Westbrook and the state of Oklahoma.

Whether Russell Westbrook stays in Oklahoma beyond 2018 is irrelevant. When this franchise and this city needed a morale boost he decided to stay. Beyond 2018 who knows? I don’t worry about it. I enjoy watching him play and it’s been very interesting seeing him grow into the man he has become.

Congratulations to Russell Westbrook and his family.

Greatest player in the history of the game in Oklahoma tonight to introduce Russell into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Should be a special night for Russell, Michael, and the state.

How appropriate. On the eve of Russell Westbrook being inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame he goes to the rim with an epic left handed dunk for the game winner in a thrilling 105-103 Thunder win over James Harden and his Rockets.

If the Westbrook dunk isn’t the epitome of Westbrook then I don’t know what is. Some might say he should have held the ball and taken the foul which was coming. But there was an opening to the rim and in true Westbrookian form he went to the rim with no conscious whatsoever and left with an epic game winning dunk. Hello Oklahoma Hall of Fame and Michael Jordan.

This game wasn’t pretty or a piece of art, but more to the point it was a must win game for this young Thunder team which hopes to be relevant and in contention for a No. 4 seed in the West come April.

Westbrook’s line went 30-7-9 with a 9-20 night from the field. Unlike the game in Detroit though, this time he got some offensive help from Victor Oladipo. Oladipo was outstanding in this ball game. This is the Oladipo the Oklahoma City Thunder need night in and night out. Oladipo double doubled with 29 points and 10 rebounds on a 12-18 shooting night from the field. A far cry from his 4-17 performance in Detroit. If OKC gets this version of Oladipo moving forward they will continue to be relevant for the No. 4 seed in the West, if it turns out to be the Detroit version it will be a long season.

Now to Andre Roberson. What do you say about this person/player? He absolutely sucks shooting a basketball, yet he’s clearly OKC’s most valuable defensive player. It was vintage Roberson against the Rockets as he did a stellar job on James Harden limiting The Beard to 13 points on a 4-16 night. Plus, and this is probably the key to this Thunder win more than the epic Westbrook left-handed Jordanesque dunk, Harden didn’t have his ass parked at the free throw line all night. Offensively, it was vintage Roberson as he went 0-5 from three, 2-11 overall, missed a critical gimme late game layup, then of all things made the bucket which gave OKC a 102-100 lead. If Dickens were writing this recap it would have started with it was the best and worst of Roberson all wrapped into one basketball game.

Steven Adams and Domas Sabonis didn’t do a lot offensively, but both played what I’d describe as overall efficient games in spite of single digit offensive nights. Especially Adams on the defensive end as his play with Roberson on the pick and roll defense of Harden was key to the Thunder winning this game.

Kanter played limited minutes because of the style Houston employs so it was one of those nights where Kanter was somewhat useless considering he’s getting around $17.5 million this year. On a bright side, both Jerami Grant and Alex Abrines had positive games with both hitting two threes and making a positive impact on the game. Like most young role players they both play better at home, so maybe this is what we’ll get from these two at home on more nights than not as we at some point in Oklahoma transition into winter.

But make no mistake about this, it was OKC’s effort, hustle, and defense which won them this basketball game. Houston scored a total of 13 points in the fourth period. Take away Eric Gordon’s three point make with one second left and the Thunder held the Rockets scoreless from the field in the game’s final six minutes. So having thought about this long and hard and ignoring his offensive output in this game, I’m making Andre Roberson my No. 1 Star of the Game and somehow I can’t believe I just did it, but I did and I don’t feel bad about it.

OKC improves to 7-5 with the New Jersey Nets coming to town on Friday night. It should be a win, but as the Orlando Magic game showed, nothing can be taken for granted or assumed with this young Thunder team.

Russell Westbrook being honored tonight by the Oklahoma Hall of Fame with one Michael Jordan doing the honors. Hope Michael enjoyed the left-handed dunk and the wink.

No Reggie Jackson, no Andre Drummond, and like the Thunder the Pistons were playing their third game in four nights. It didn’t matter. Detroit cruised to a relatively easy 104-88 win over the Thunder on Monday night.

It was the Thunder’s fourth straight loss. Losses against Golden State, Toronto, and the Clippers aren’t bad losses. But a home loss to the Orlando Magic and a double digit road loss to a Pistons’ team minus their two best players raises some serious concerns. The primary concern being — Russell Westbrook needs some consistent offensive support from Steven Adams and Victor Oladipo on a nightly basis.

Westbrook was Westbrook on Monday night. His line was Westbrookian… 34/15/8. Consider he did this with only 21 shots from the field. Only one problem, he didn’t get much help. Steven Adams scored four points, but was outplayed by Aron Baynes. Victor Oladipo scored nine points, but was outplayed by Kentavious Caldwell Pope. Andre Roberson and Domas Sabonis both had bad nights. Putting it bluntly, not one of the other Thunder starters helped Russell much if at all.

As a team, OKC shot 37.5% from the field and were 5-27 shooting threes.

OKC’s second leading scorer was Jerami Grant with 11 points. Enes Kanter was OKC’s third leading scorer. This simply won’t cut it if OKC aspires to be any type of seeded playoff team come April. Adams and Oladipo were recently extended new contracts because they need to be OKC’s second and third best players on a consistent basis.

In OKC’s first ten games the team played hard. Competed and gave fans some hope. This wasn’t the case last night in Detroit. But then again, OKC lost in Detroit last season on a night when Durant and Ibaka took a rest night off.

The Thunder now stand 6-5 and a better sense of reality of this team has set in perhaps. Clearly, the first pressing issue has to be Russell Westbrook getting some consistent offensive support from Adams and Oladipo. The Thunder will never get consistent offensive support from Andre Roberson because it’s not in is game on a nightly basis. When you had Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka — his lack of shooting was an issue. Now it’s more than just an issue because teams are completely clogging the middle to take away the Westbrook-Adams pick and roll.

With Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka, the Thunder could get away with Roberson’s lack of offensive skills. But with this team, not so much.

The Thunder return to game action on Wednesday night to host James Harden and his Rockets. One would expect great games from both Westbrook and Harden. The question is which will get the most help from their teammates.

No one should be shocked or upset with OKC standing at 6-5 eleven games in. Best case scenario with this team is either a four or five seed as presently constructed with everything going well. But if Russell Westbrook can’t get any help from his teammates in road games it’s going to be a long, frustrating season for both Westbrook and Thunder fans alike.

Houston Rockets at the Peake on Wednesday night. No reason to not give James Harden the same reaction they Serge Ibaka. James Harden didn’t so anything wrong. He just wanted his own team to quarterback.

Serge Ibaka got a warm twenty-five second ovation from his former home crowd, then turned in a career high 31 point night which included a mid-baseline jumper from the right against Steven Adams which splashed with only half a second left.

OKC used a timeout, moved the ball up court, but came up short on a desperation pass at the rim from Nick Collison to Russell Westbrook.

Orlando Magic 119 — Oklahoma City Thunder 117.

This begins a week of Thunder reunions with some of its former star players. The Detroit Pistons with Reggie Jackson in Detroit tonight. James Harden returns on Wednesday with his Houston Rockets. We’ve already seen the first version of Kevin Durant in Oakland while last night we saw Serge Ibaka at his very best with a sprinkle of former Thunder forward Jeff Green added for good measure. Maybe those five should just assemble their own team and see how far they could go with a starting five of Durant, Green, Ibaka, Jackson, and Harden. You could almost make the argument that stating five would be almost as potent as the Warriors since the Warriors would be without Durant and probably still with Harrison Barnes.

Russell Westbrook was outstanding offensively scoring 41 points on 14-21 from the field. Westbrook triple doubled with a line of 41-13-18.

The Thunder came out with little energy and scored but 13 points in the first period. Westbrook had but five points in the first period, but scored in double figures in the remaining three periods. At one point the Thunder trailed by as many as 21 points before gradually chipping away and had several single digit leads coming down the stretch.

But the Magic always responded with Ibaka, Elfrid Payton, and Evan Fournier all having big offensive nights. With the game tied at 117 and the shot clock off, Serge Ibaka delievered a clutch game winner he never would gotten to attempt when he played alongside of Durant, Harden, and Westbrook.

In the end, it was a bittersweet night at Chesapeake Energy Arena as the Thunder dropped to 6-4 while Serge Ibaka had the greatest moment of his professional career.

Oklahoma City in Detroit tonight for the second night of a back to back.

This was an exit interview in the literal sense in that Serge was traded to the Orlando Magic not long after for Victor Oladipo, Domas Sabonis, and Ersan Ilyasova– who is now Jerami Grant if you’ve paid attention to Sam Presti’s transactions. So, yeah, Sam Presti did pretty good on this trade.

Serge will always be one of my favorite Thunder players. Good player, good human. Always had a smile on his face and something nice to say. I’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t get a standing ovation tonight during intros.