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Oklahoma City Thunder 111 — Houston Rockets 107

With so much going on in the world yesterday it was hard to write a recap last night about a basketball game, but better late than never.

OKC’s Thunder won their fifth straight game by make making the plays it had to in the fourth period and doing just enough to beat the Rockets in what was an entertaining game from start to finish. I wouldn’t call it a great win or a great performance, but it was encouraging from the standpoint Russell Westbrook scored 14 of his 21 points in the fourth period and got to the rim when the Thunder needed him to for some big baskets when it mattered.

For Westbrook it was another triple double with him going for 21 points, 13 rebounds, and 15 assists. It marks his 15th triple double of the season with eleven games remaining. Russell Westbrook is my No. 1 Star of the Game.

But it wasn’t just Westbrook. Kevin Durant had 23 points along with 7 rebounds. Serge Ibaka had a line of 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 blocked shots. Enes Kanter double doubled with 10 points and 10 boards. In essence, OKC got 69 points and 38 rebounds from its top four producers. Not bad.

Dion Waiters was excellent. He had 17 points and did some things defensively. It was by far his best game since the death of his brother. It was one of those Dion games where you wish he could he could bottle it and bring it to the team three out of every four nights instead of one out of every three. If OKC got that consistently from Dion Waiters they’d be more of a threat to win a championship.

Randy Foye played 24 minutes and didn’t score a point, but I’m not going to gripe about it because he’s given the team some good things of late.

I like what Donovan is doing of late in making sure both Morrow and Payne get some minutes. Even if they both only get around ten minutes, it’s good to see them contributing and staying involved within the flow of the team. I’m hoping this continues.

OKC improves to 49-22 and with the fifth straight win there’s some optimism the team can find itself and hit post season with a stride. But in the end it will all be about defense and finishing fourth quarters. Can OKC be good enough in these two specific areas to win four games against the Spurs in the second round?

But I’m not going to dwell on it today. The skies are much brighter in Thunder Nation today than they were on March 11th when they lost at home to the Timberwolves. The gloom and tragedies have somewhat abated for the time being.

Eleven games remain in a regular season which could possibly be Kevin Durant’s last season in Oklahoma City. But it’s more of a time to embrace the season with some renewed hope and see if the Thunder can grow as a team as they hit the goal achieving portion of the season.

Mike Jackson

Unfortunate—Lindsey Graham, Paul Ryan, and Mitch McConnell don’t have the balls to do this. Instead these knuckleheads are proposing either Tom Coburn or Rick Perry as an alternative candidate at the GOP convention. Unbelievable. Coburn has no interest whatsoever and would garner no interest from voters whatsoever. While Rick Perry already ran for the office this cycle and was one of the very first ones Trump chased home to his mommy. I have to tell you—these GOP establishment types are too much. Is it any wonder the GOP has lost five of the last six presidential elections?

One of the few times in this campaign Donald Trump has actually had to speak like an adult for extended minutes. Caucuses and primaries in Arizona, Utah, and Idaho tomorrow. Back on the trail — hope I can squeeze the Thunder-Rocket game in there somewhere tomorrow night.

 

Amidst all this GOP presidential dysfunction, it’s nice to be able to lose yourself in March as your favorite college basketball team makes a run in the tournament. The Sooners find themselves in the same region with defending champion Duke on the other side of the bracket. What a storyline this would provide if OU plays Duke in the regional final with ex OU head coach Jeff Capel sitting next to Coach K as his assistant head coach.

Don’t get me wrong, Lon Kruger has done a fantastic job, but I liked Capel and wished it would have turned out differently in Norman for him. People forget OU made two consecutive NCAA Tournaments with Capel and NPOTY Blake Griffin. OU even made an Elite 8 appearance before losing to eventual national champion North Carolina.

Duke is my second favorite college team after OU, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed the winner of the West Region will be either OU or Duke.

How can you not love Coach K? He’s the one those GOP operative knuckleheads should write in for president at the convention in Cleveland. Or maybe even a Kasich/Coach K ticket.

 

Lon Kruger’s Sooners advance to the Sweet 16 with an 85-81 win over VCU on Sunday afternoon at the Chesapeake Energy Arena for their second consecutive appearance in the Sweet 16 under Coach Lon Kruger.

National Player of the Year Buddy Hield led the way with 36 points and literally carried the Sooners on his back the last ten minutes of the games scoring 21 of his team’s last 26 points.

OU moves on to the Western Regional in Anaheim where they will play Texas A&M in the Sweet 16. Oregon plays Duke in the other regional semi.

The Sooners advanced to the Sweet 16 last season, but lost to Michigan State.

This marks the fourth straight NCAA appearance for OU since Lon Kruger took the job and re-established the program back to previous heights attained by Billy Tubbs and Kelvin Sampson.

All three Big 12 teams which made the second round advanced to the Sweet 16 as Kansas and Iowa State advanced as well.

 

 

 

It was good to get away from the GOP presidential race for a few days. I fully understand what Michael Lewis went through when he wrote ‘Losers’ in 1996. The human brain can only absorb so much from Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham, et al. I swear—I feel like I’m becoming Maureen Dowd writing Op-Ed pieces on the NY Times instead of just of an average dude in Deer Creek, Oklahoma running a modest OKC Thunder blog. Yet, as an American I feel I can’t turn my head away from this bullshit and just ignore it.

So—here’s the famous Sheriff Joe Arpaio introducing the next GOP presidential nominee to an Arizona rally this week-end where of course there was protesting, some violence, and arrests. If you believe Barack Obama was born in Kenya, is a practicing Muslim, that Mexico will foot the 8 billion or that the United States Congress would actually allow the construction of a wall, that 11 million people will be rounded up and deported,  that the Department of Education will be abolished on Day 1 of a Trump Presidency, or that tariffs of up to 45% on  imports be imposed which would kickstart another world wide economic shutdown—this might be in your wheelhouse.

Hey, but you know what, the first time Sheriff Joe laid eyes on Donald Trump he knew he was the one. Sigh.

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 115 — Indiana Pacers 111

Good game in Indianapolis last night as the Thunder held on to eke out their fourth straight win in a span of six days. For a while it appeared OKC would choke away a ten point fourth period lead, but a Paul George missed three at the end allowed OKC to secure a nice road win.

As I watched the Spurs beat the Warriors last night it seems clear to me why both of these teams would beat the Thunder in a seven game series. Namely–much better team defense, both smarter teams, plus both possess a mental toughness I just don’t see in the Thunder. BTW–it was a great game to watch in San Antonio last night as it was played at playoff-like intensity with the Spurs winning 87-79. It was all about defense on both ends. Defense wins championships and that’s why there’s a significant gap between OKC and the Warriors, Spurs, and Cavs.

But on a more positive note—OKC has appeared to steady itself from the onslaught of personal tragedies which beset the team coming out of the All-Star break.

Kevin Durant was really good last night going 33 points, 13 rebounds, and 8 assists. He’s my No. 1 Star of the Game. Westbrook had a 14-11-14 triple double which is his 14th of the season. But here’s what I’d say to that as a Thunder fan/blogger—I’d trade two-thirds of those triple doubles for a Russell Westbrook who would make better decisions in the second half of fourth periods. Another words, a closer. Nobody writes too much of this in the local OKC media because I guess that Thunder media guy lurking at the pressers and in the locker room only wants Nick Gallo like questions asked. I guess if you ask too tough a question he’ll strip the local guys of their Junior Cub Thunder Reporter press credentials. That must be it.

But I’ll write this and some might  say no way, but Russell Westbrook has yet to prove to me he can close by himself in post season in his career to date. He needs a co-pilot like Harden, Derek Fisher, or Reggie Jackson to come out of the bullpen and get the last three outs. I could care less what the numbers show during the first forty-two minutes of a game, it’s in those last six minutes in which NBA games are decided.

Which brings me to Randy Foye. He played well again last night and garnered 29 minutes while Cam Payne struggled playing ten minutes and Dion Waiters had a very tough evening in 18 minutes. I still don’t think Foye is a player who gets the Thunder to the next tier of team above them, but I’m a fair guy and he deserves a nod for his positive play these last few games.

Enes Kanter was great night and his play has been trending as well. Another double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds. I have no idea what is going on with Serge Ibaka, but again, I’m a fair guy and Kanter deserves a positive mention for his play of late.

So–OKC has now won four games in a row and has climbed to 8-8 since the All-Star break.

I have a confession, as I was watching the Warriors-Spurs game last night I  visualized Durant playing Harrison Barnes’ minutes last night and if that would have been enough for the Warriors on a night when Steph Curry and Klay Thompson couldn’t find the bottom of the basket. I’m almost fairly certain that same thought crossed Warriors’ GM Bob Meyers mind as well.

Another observation from that game was LaMarcus Aldridge has found his comfort zone with the Spurs which isn’t good news for OKC in a second round matchup.

But in closing—it’s good to see OKC competing better and winning games again. The reality is OKC is the fourth best team in the league and will not have home court advantage in either the second or third round of post season against two teams who have yet to lose a single game on their home courts this season.

Houston Rockets in town on Tuesday night. Maybe Presti could talk Morey into a deal with Ibaka, Waiters, Payne, and McGary going to the Rockets for a co-pilot named James Harden. Just a thought. Because in essence the first trade didn’t work for either team big picture.

Mike Jackson

Golden State Warriors at the San Antonio Spurs in a game which will take center stage on the Saturday Night ABC Game of the Week. The Warriors enter 62-6 trying to cement their place in history, while the Spurs enter 58-10 and 34-0 at home on the season. Something will have to give tonight.

The teams have only played once this season with the Warriors routing the Spurs 120-90 in Oakland back on January 25th.

These same two teams will play each other two additional times in the regular season as well. Spurs at Warriors on April 7th, Warriors at Spurs on April 10th.

So while I get on the Thunder about being a collective 1-6 versus Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland we’re about to find out just how good these Spurs are as they enter tonight 2-3 combined against Golden State, Cleveland, and OKC.

Vegas has the Spurs listed as a 3.5 home favorite tonight.

In other games of relevance, OKC is a 3.5 road favorite at Indiana, while Cleveland is a 2.5 road favorite against the Miami Heat. Three games to keep an eye on tonight.

Oklahoma City Thunder 111 — Philadelphia  76’ers 97

In all candor I’d have rather been watching what chain Donald Trump was pulling on the GOP establishment in this twenty-four hour news cycle, but alas the tireless job of a Thunder blogger is to show up for work even on a night when the opponent is the feeble Philly Sixers.

Unless you’re one of those insecure, vapid types on Daily Thunder or whatever Nickie Gallo calls his blog—this is one of those nights you put up the score, maybe work hard through two ‘graphs and call it a night.

This was a game which even if OKC had wanted to lose they couldn’t have because I’m sure somewhere on Jerry Colangelo’s computer is an e-mail from the clueless Sam Hinkie exhorting the Sixers to draft Ben Simmons this July and add another misfit to the rebuild process. So—in essence this was a game Philly needed to lose for the ‘process’.

How could you possibly not make the NCAA Tournament field in this day and age and be considered to be the No. 1 pick in the draft? Just visualize Simmons with the other misfits. Embiid will never play. Okafor will never defend. And Simmons will never shoot. Go for it, Hinkie.

Anyway—there was never any drama in this one as OKC improves to 47-22 on the year and 20-13 on the road.

Tomorrow night in Indianapolis against the Pacers.

The end.

Mike Jackson

OKC takes a modest two game winning streak into Philly tonight to play the still league worse Sixers. At 9-59, the Sixers once again are the NBA’s worse team. The Sam Hinkie nightmare is close to being over in Philadelphia.

In December—the Sixers hired the very respected Jerry Colangelo to in essence start making the basketball decisions. Unless I’m reading this wrong I’d assume that means Sam Hinkie’s days of losing more games than any team in the league just to keep drafting flawed centers are over.

As I wrote earlier in the season, I grew up being a Sixer fan living in Oklahoma City. What Sam Hinkie has done as general manager is a virtual disgrace. The Colangelo decision was made basically because owners around the league urged NBA commissioner Adam Silver to do something in Philly because the credibility of the league was taking a  hit because of Hinkie’s continued tanking with no tangible results being shown. Sixers fans wouldn’t be at all guilty of going over the top in filing a class action lawsuit against the Sixers claiming legal ground for restitution for actually paying money to watch this piece of shit dumpster fire.

At the time of Colangelo’s hiring, the Sixers were 1-21 and a combined 38-148 in  two and a fourth seasons.

As Sixer fans, we collectively still wait for Joel Embiid to play a game in the NBA. We wonder if Hinkie blew it drafting Jahlil Okafor as a low character guy who can’t play defense. Nerlen Noels shows glimpses here and there, but the freak show continues in Philly.

In Colangelo, the Sixers get an executive who on four separate occasions has won the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Plus, he along with Coach K have been the face of the Team USA basketball.

Some were saying Hinkie would be the next Moneyball GM falling in the footsteps of Sam Presti at OKC. But here’s the difference, Presti actually knows how to draft basketball players and put a roster together–even though he still hasn’t put the right shooting guard alongside Durant and Westbrook since the Harden trade.

But with Colangelo now making the basketball decisions in the NBA’s fifth largest market it appears the days are winding down with Sam Hinkie and Sixer fans might start seeing some NBA level basketball again at some point down the road.

If OKC loses to this team tonight the season is effectively over.

There—that’s my preview on tonight’s game in Philly.