Nuggets Run Free in Win Over Thunder, 127-124

The final play of the game pretty much reflects the defensive effort given by the Thunder on Thursday night in a 127-124 road loss to the Nuggets. With 1.3 seconds left and coming out of a timeout and a side out inbounds, Russell Westbrook lost Gary Harris and allowed Harris to hit an open three point shot to send the Thunder to its second straight road loss.

This was a night which illuminates what the loss of Andre Roberson will mean to this ball club and what Billy Donovan’s limitations as a bench manager will mean as well.

Let’s not mince words. We all knew the loss of Roberson would be tough. I wrote as much. But I had no idea Billy Donovan would go full Rain Man mode and do something as inherently stupid as play Alex Abrines 29 minutes in an NBA basketball game. Twelve minutes is questionable, 29 minutes is a felony.

An NBA head coach has 240 minutes in a regulation game to orchestrate minutes and do it in a way which gives his team a chance to be successful. That’s part of the job description.

I had to leave the man room twice. And this was with the volume already turned down on the Fox telecast. Only God knows what I would have done to my flat screen if the volume had been turned up. Jesus Fucking Murphy….are you kidding me?

It just numbs the mind. Simply numbs the mind. Even if it was just a ploy to get some other NBA team to give the Thunder back a piece in return for Abrines in a trade—the Thunder needs wins to fight for a higher seed right now.

It would seem pretty simple to me even with Terrance Ferguson getting sick right before tip and only playing four minutes. Here’s what a coach does who knows he’s trying to reset his team’s defensive identity with the loss of Roberson.
What he does first is SHORTEN HIS FUCKING BENCH for this road game. Then, he looks to Jerami Grant and Josh Huestis on a night like this to absorb heavy minutes. They’re both young, give them some extended roll. See what they got inside them.

If you want to showcase Abrines for a possible trade do it in easier home games against the Pelicans and Lakers.

But no, what Billy Donovan opted to do was put his worst defender on his entire roster on the floor for 29 minutes against a Denver team which can shoot the three ball. And on this night Denver lit the three ball light 15 times with Gary Harris getting the game winner when Russell Westbrook didn’t stay with his man.

I mean, give yourself a chance. Calibrate your best defensive options on how to replace Andre Roberson’s defensive minutes. GIVE YOUR TEAM THE BEST OPTION FOR SUCCESS. That’s what coaches are supposed to do. If nothing else, limit your exposure to Abrines to home games against non-playoff teams. Fucking think about what you’re doing out there. Is that too much to ask?

On a bright note, Paul George was utterly fantastic scoring 43 points on a 19-26 shooting night. PG was great. Easily the best player on the floor last night. I loved when he barked after hitting the three which should have sent the game to overtime at 124 apiece.

So…this Thunder bunch is once again sagging and now 30-22 and have missed another glorious opportunity to draw near to the Spurs and Wolves by losing two games against teams they should have beaten.

Tonight, it’s the Pelicans at home without DeMarcus Cousins. What are we to expect? Thirty minutes from Alex Abrines?

Who would know…who would know?

But we know this… Billy Donovan can’t just buy his underwear from KMart in Cinncinatti, Ohio. That can’t happen because coaches in Oakland, Houston, San Antonio, and Minneapolis don’t just buy their underwear at KMart.

The State of the Union

I honestly didn’t watch Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech. I don’t watch reality television shows.

The state of our union is very simple…it sucks. Our country cannot govern itself. We basically have three generals in essence babysitting a president and a government which cannot get anything done. Take away the nuclear confirmation of Neil Gorsuch and the Robber Baron Tax Reform Act and nothing has been done.
As per the Dave Chappelle Doctrine, I’m okay in that I have assets, as far as you Trump supporters who live month to month–you’re pretty much fucked unless you loaded up on Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and Google. Good luck with the Caligula-Elmer Gantry grifter rallies.

As far as the Dow, it moved from around 6,500 to 18,500 during Obama’s eight years. As far as job creation, after the financial crisis of 2008 was somewhat leveled out…the U.S. economy created around two hundred thousand jobs a month during the Obama recovery… which is about what the Trump economy is creating currently. As far as GDP…during the Obama years the GDP moved between 2% to 2.5% growth depending on the month. During the Trump presidency, there have been a few months of 3% GDP growth, but other months have hovered around the 2.5% marker.

As far as healthcare, nothing has been done except the mandates have been abolished. In no way has healthcare been addressed. Nothing has been done with America’s trade treaties. Nothing has been done with the Dreamers and immigration and as we all know…Mexico won’t be paying for the Wall-you people living month to month with shitty healthcare will pay for the Wall if it ever happens. Nothing has been done in regards to infrastructure. Oil has risen to $65 a barrel, yet the U.S. is still a net importer of oil even with the survival of the shale industry after the market assaults from the Saudis. We do actually export more natural gas and are a net exporter of this commodity, but as any person in Oklahoma should know–natural gas is a depressed commodity selling at half of what it needs to be selling at for it to have an impact on a state like Oklahoma which is governed by idiots. Coal is not coming back regardless of how many times Joe Manchin kisses Donald Trump’s ass. That isn’t happening.

As far as the national debt, $1.5 trillion over the coming years was just added to the $20 something trillion of debt which the U.S. was already carrying. Funny, how deficit hawks such as Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell had no problem with any of this.

ISIS has been somewhat subdued, but that was already taking place in the final year of Obama’s presidency. America is still waging war in Afghanistan seventeen years later and will not be leaving anytime soon. But Caligula did drop a bomb on an empty airfield in Syria.

America unilaterally pulled out of the Climate Change Accord and now sits with two third world countries on the roster of countries not buying into climate change, globalization, free trade, math, and science.

As far as how America is perceived by the rest of the world, for the first time in my lifetime the United States is not perceived as the beacon of democracy in the world. You can’t be the greatest democracy in the world if your president assaults the media, his own FBI director (Christopher Wray), his own Attorney General (Jeff Sessions) and his own party in power (the GDP).

The only thing you can be perceived of is a country which has gone bat fuck crazy and is being governed by the American Freedom Caucus a.k.a the Tea Party. Is there anyway Sarah Palin might be available?

Our government will probably close for the second time in less than a month on February 8th. Nothing will be done about the Dreamers, which is somewhat poetic in that the American Dream is currently on hold except for a miniscule portion of the American population.

But, hey, I’m okay. Dave Chappelle is okay. We’ll just let you Darwinian free market thinkers who voted for Donald Trump figure it out on your own.

Good luck with that.