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There is no moment in team sport even close to the finals seconds of a team clinching the Stanley Cup. The Knicks winning their championship was special, but unless you’ve been around hockey and fully grasp the sacrifices each player along with their family has traveled to make this moment special….you just couldn’t understand.

The families of dedicated players literally have to change their lives for their loved one to advance in this sport….and it’s not an inexpensive sport to play. Sacrifices are made from every member of a hockey family.

Hockey requires dedication from the onset in developing the very special set of skills which allow a player to ascend to this level. Ask yourself…how many humans in the world even ascend to the level of making an NHL roster? There you go. It is a select group of men because being a hockey player isn’t for sissies, dummies, or those lacking life journey grit and character.

It is a special human journey. Maybe kind of like becoming a Navy Seal or something of the like.

Anyway…I cry at this moment every hockey season. But it’s a very positive cry.

These Carolina Hurricanes of Rod Brind’Amour are our deserving 2026 Stanley Cup champions. Like the NY Knicks, this is a group which won 53 regular season games and was in most peoples’ top two or three entering these playoffs. I had Colorado, Carolina, and then Vegas on my short list of favorites entering the playoffs.

Also, like the NY Knicks, this is a group of excellent young men nary a knucklehead in the group. This is a group which makes you feel good about the final outcome.

The first three games of these Finals were spectacular, but very sloppy as both teams turned over the puck, and committed numerous defensive puck support errors which just can’t happen at this level. I’m sure watching the film was painful for the players between games in that regard after the first three games.

Coach Brind’Amour did a tough thing though in benching his veteran No. 1 goalie Freddie Anderson and replacing him with the younger Brandon Bussi. It’s funny in hockey…when you change goalies sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it send that clear ringing message of total team defensive accountability for sixty minutes….from the net outward.

This time it worked to prefection as Carolina tightened up across the board and in essence won the final three games of these Finals displaying near perfect hockey at every level of the game.

What I mean by this is Carolina dominated 5 on 5-even strength play, easily had the better power play, was dogged almost to perfection on the penalty kill, and had their goalie stand on his head just enough to win the final three games in somewhat dominant fashion.

But most of all…did the unthinkable as a speed team and outchecked the Vegas Golden Knights into submission the final two games.

The old veteran Jordan Staal won his second Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe trophy which is okay. I get it…it’a nice story. The goalie Bussi is a nice story in that I’m guessing he was the runnerup for the award.

But if you want to know who Rod Brind’Amour’s best two-way hockey was in this series …I’m guessing Coach B would tell you it was defenseman Jacob Slavin.

Jacob Slavin becomes only the second American hockey player to ever win the Olympic gold medal and the Stanley Cup in the same year.

And so that’s where I need to end this with a song for Jacob Slavin, the Carolina Hurricane, and their fanbase for winning the Stanley Cup for the second time in their existence.

Great job, guys. But you know what they say about repeating. Just ask Shai and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Best wishes.

Mike J

Usually, my brain and soul of sport would have been wanting the Spurs to win Game 5 and turn these Finals into either a six or seven game affair.

But that wasn’t the case last night in Game 5. I wanted the Knicks to end it on the road and validate their claim as the rightful 2025-26 NBA champions.

Mission accomplished as the hard working Knicks prevailed yet again in another close win by a score of 94-90 to claim their first NBA championship since 1973. Plus, these Knicks become the first team ever to win the NBA Emirates Cup in December and then go on to win the NBA Finals in June.

I tell you this as well…there’s some giddy motherf–kers over their at AT&T’s advertsing department as for the second straight NBA spring they correctly plugged in the correct threesome to carry their team to NBA immortality.

However… I don’t see AT&T coming back to feature Chet in the coming years as the telecommincations giant wants to project strength, market share, courage, and fatedom in their clever ads. Clearly…AT&T with their NBA ads has overtaken Budweiser and their horses as the best ads in American pro sports.

I mean, wow…these Knicks behind their MVP workhorse Jalen Brunson, who litereally carried his team to its rightful destiny with 45 points, were an afterthought with many bettors heading into these Finals.

Jalen Brunson was so good on this night the Knicks clinched even with Karl Anthony-Townes scoring but two p0ints in 23 minutes of play.

This was Jalen Brunson’s rightful coronation as the blue collar-lunchpail champion of the NBA versus the pampered superstar from France who quite honestly became a bore to observe in this series with each passing game.

Greg Pop and Tim Duncan are going to have pull Wembyanama aside and in the privacy of three person conversation explain to Wemby what it takes to become a team leader with class and dignity like Jalen Brunson and Shai posess.

These Knicks ended up winning nine road games in a row in these NBA Playoffs, and unlike the Thunder of last season, they were not the benefactors of crippling injuries to the likes of Michael Porter Jr, Aaron Gordon, and of course…Tyrese Haliburton in the Game 7 of the Finals.

This Knick team won a real championship without an asterist attached. These Knicks went 16-3 overall in these playoffs, wheras the Thunder went 16-8 in their championship run last season.

I only have only two stars in this game…1 Jalen Brunson, and 2 Dylan Harper of the Spurs. Dylan’s father is the great Ron Harper who personified toughness during his NBA career. I loved Ron Harper. As Dylan beccomes a superstar in this league the Spurs will need that type of charcter to balance the brattish, entitled behavior of Wemby.

De’Aaron Fox was my circled player in red in this series and unfortunately for this young man he was horrific in these last two games. In Game 5… Mitch Johnson allowed him 37 minutes and De’Aaron responded with 7 points on a woeful 3-15 shooting night.

The image of De’Aaron’s horrible decision at the end of Game 4 will unforunately highlight his career as a player who was a star in Sacramento, but withered under the pressure of the bright lights when it mattered most.

I will seriously be surprised if De’Aaron is a member of the Spurs roster next season. He failed miserably in what he didn’t give the young Spurs what they needed most, clutch game ending veteran leadership. Like…Chet, De’Aaron and his soft, feeble, flaccid, overcompensated game…. are probably better suited for the soft plethora of games played in the Eastern Confernce.

So a great Finals for the NBA as this series had enormous viewership and was won by a deserving team with some hard-knocks, blue-collar likeability.

Congrats to the World Champion… New York Knicks.

And of course…Kendrick Perkins had them picked all the way…sigh.

MJ is goin’ fishing in Alex, Oklahoma on this rain-soaked wonderfully cool June Sunday morning.

Erternal love, grace, and mercy.

Mike J

No Trump at SoFi… which was a good thing. I have no idea how strong of a team Paraguay has, but I was extrmely impressed by the overall playmaking and athleticism of Team USA.

There’s couple of dudes on Team USA who genuinely caught my eye in this game.

Again…I have no expertise in international soccer, but Team USA has a couple of dudes I might suggest to Sam Presti for shadowing Wemby if it needs to come to this type of out of the box thinking down the road.

Great win.

USA, USA!!!!

I’ve already written on here this wasn’t the end of the Thunder being a championship contender with a window still open on that regard.

So, yeah, I’m pretty much on board with Sam Presti’s comments. He’s going to have to make several difficult decisions to keep the Thunder under the second apron. But if JDub can put an end to his chronic hamstring issues next season I think the Chet issue will take care of itself.

From my view…I’ve always stated JDub is the best athlete-two way player on the roster…and that includes Shai. His body type and freakish reach would have been beyond valuable in game planning for Wemby.

For me…Chet, putting aside the emotional flameout versus Wemby was always a roll of the dice because of his frail, feeble body type and his penchant for games missed due to injury.

I just don’t think at the end Sam Presti will be able to afford a max deal on a player who’s body isn’t suited for the marathon run of an 82-game regular season and deep playoff runs.

I just don’t seen any common, pragmatic sense attached to that doctrine. Kind of like the risk-reward. Think back to all the championships Michael Jordan won with nothing but run of the mill centers on those Bull teams. Think about the four rings Steph won with run of the mill centers on those Warrior teams.

What I would do eventually with Chet is trade him to an Eastern Conference team and get a couple of guys or one guy who can play the center position with the body type and mobility to play the pace the Thunder want to play with their defense in regards to pace and creating turnovers into transition points.

There’s no need for any rocket science here. Just a solid nuanced retouching of the Thunder roster.

Sam Presti and Coach Mark shouldn’t panic…just get JDub healthy.

Mike J

The stench of Donald Trump wasn’t in the building for this Game 4. Instead, it was Taylor Swift frolicking on the floor with her friends, and Jerry Seinfeld giving concerned basketball looks out at the court every now and then as if he were coaching the Knicks.

BTW…if the NBA banned Donald Sterling from ownership of the LA Clippers, then how is it even remotely possible Donald Trump was allowed to soil these NBA Finals for a game with the world watching in Game 3?

Moving on from that though. I’m not a prophet, preacher, or a politician. I’ve come to disdain both parties equally. So please don’t take any of the above as a political statement of any manner…because it’s not.

Scoff if you must at my claims of destiny and fatedom, but what else could it have been in this historically amazing Game 4 stunner as the NY Knicks came back from 29 points down to win this game and take a 3-1 series lead heading back to the Alamo.

This marks the single largest comeback in NBA Finals history. Think about that one, Coach Jerry Seinfeld.

This game was stunning to take in for its entirety of 48 minutes of play. The beginning was beyond surreal as Karl Anthony-Townes had a nightmarish beginning with two fouls in less than two minutes.

The Spurs couldn’t miss from beyond the arch and there was absolutely no reason to think or believe this series was going to be headed back to the Alamo tied at 2-2. None.

But these Knicks with their leaders Jalen Brunson and OG Anunoby are a resilent bunch. They don’t quit. They just keep plugging along kind of like the tortoise and the hare, and this basically was the tortoise and the hare if you really think about it.

OG is the strong, silent type and finally with the AT&T commercial on his acting resume is beginning to get his due for the excellent basketball player he is on the NBA stage. Nothing flashy. Just rock solid dead solid dependable. Not a superstar. Just one of those guys a coach loves to have in his locker room.

What a game!

The Spurs and their coach once again put their youth on full display in the second half as they kept chucking threes that didn’t fall in the second half. For me…I gave Mitch Johnson a D- for his inabilty to adjust his team’s offense in the final 24 minutes.

If the threes aren’t falling it should be a simple mantra with a guy like Wemby on your team…get to the rim, and get to the free throwline. Instead…they kept jacking threes and didn’t adjust to the changing flow of the second half.

OG had 33 points and the game-winner in 41:28 minutes of play. Jalen Brunson was on the floor for 44:57 in this game and finished with 36 points. OG had the game-winner…so on my sheet he’s the No. 1 Star and Jalen is the No. 2 Star of the Game.

After KAT’s disastrous beginning in this game…. he did eventually get somewhat going and in 25:25 on the floor went 4-5 from the field, grabbed 10 rebounds, and miraculously finished with a +17 rating. KAT is my No. 3 Star in this game. Again…the AT&T commerical. Those three dudes are my three primary stars of the game.

My No. 4 Star was a cameo performer in the AT&T ad. That being one…Jose Alvarado. I loved his toughness and hubris. It was needed on this night as Landy Shamet went o’fer in Game 4 as Jose was oustanding in 15:38 of play.

That’s my recap other than to say I thought De’Aaron Fox was brutal in the final minutes of play. If you’ve noticed…in the the three Spurs losses…De’Aaron has not been a positive influence on the game for the young Spurs. His role is supposed to be that of the calming veteran point guard. So far…in three of the four games the opposite in fact has been the case.

De’Aaron will once again be in my highlighted red marker for a key to watch for in Game 5.

I have to admit at this point…it would be cool if the Knicks went on to win this series. Good luck to both teams.

A New York team and a New York movie, right? Sometimes we need to observe a little destiny around us.

Mike J

(Staff Reporter)

Trump couldn’t leave well enough alone and after being booed during our national anthem…the San Antonio Spurs pulled themselves together enough and by far played their best 48 minutes in a game in these NBA Finals.

The series now stands 2-1 in favor of the Knicks and from my vantage point Game 4 pressure should be squarely on the backs of the NY Knicks because if they lose this game the Spurs not only have momentum…they have home court for two of the remaining three games.

But alas, a home team hasn’t won a game to date in this series.

Perhaps….if the crowd and the Knicks hadn’t been distracted by the convicted felon Trump things might have evolved differently in Game 3. We’ll never know. But for certain this was a first with a convicted felon currently occupying the White House being given some sway in a national sporting event.

I mean…the hypocrisy. Adam Silver and his NBA Governors know damn well they don’t want the architect of January th ever owning an NBA franchise. So why treat him in this regard. Would thay have done this for Nixon after Watergate?

So my question is….why give this guy the world stage so to speak?

I thought it was a horrible look all around. But the glass half full take is no one got shot, injured, or killed during a staged assasination attempt, and with the Spurs winning we now have a series.

None of us now know who Kendrick Perkins is now picking in this series, but from my view only again…that’s what I find charming about Perk. MJ loves Perk for certain.

My Four Stars of the Game went this way…1 Wemby, 2 Castle, 3 Dylon Harper, and 4 De’Aaron Fox.

I thought this by far was the best Fox has played in the final four minutes of any of the first three games. Fox closing is one of the red circled keys to the Series moving forward.

Coach Mike Brown of the NY Knicks…WTF? Karl Anthony-Townes only got 10 shots in this game and scored but 10 points. That in no way is the path forward for the Knicks to win their first NBA championship since ’73.

I wonder how Vegas would treat Game 4 spread-wise if they knew Trump is going to attend?

Anyway…kindness, love, and mercy are the path. Not hate.

Mike J

What an amazing thing it will be for attendees of Game 3 tonight in our NBA Finals.

Just the thought of the only living person who could get shelled in a debate by Kamala Harris… must to no end be a thrill to those attending to have the admission process into the venue extended another two hours so as this prestigous person can attempt to clean up the mess he made on Meet the Press yesterday with Kristen Welker.

What a once in a lifetime thrill it must be for those attending the basketball game! To just see in person the village idiot who thought of this War in Iran and closed the Strait of Hormuz. The same village idiot who’s tariffs are now being repaid by his own Treasury Secretary to those unlawfully bilked. The same village who has given us this incredible new look eastern wing of the White House.

And clearly the same village idiot who professes the creation of $1.8 billion dollar federal slush fund to compensate those who stormed our capitol on January 6th and injured 150 law enforcement officers.

Yes…what a thrill it must be those in New York to have Donald Trump in the house tonight in Madison Square Garden.

But not to fret, POTUS 47…you are still loved in Oklahoma by those who’ve never read a book in their lives. They still love you here beyond reproach in seventy-four of Oklahoma’s seventy-seven counties.

POTUS 47… you could always be governor in Oklahoma because the rural MAGAs will love you no matter what…literally. It is truly one of the most amazing occurences I have ever witnessed in my life.

It can’t just be the economy, stupid…because you’ve doubled the price of their fertilzer, increased substantially the cost of their gasoline and diesel. Your Medicaid and Snap food benefit cuts have made their lives tougher and in no way reduced the national deficit because you gave more away to our richest even when they didn’t need it.

What could it be that attracts these people to you in such a fashion that every GOP candidate running for governor in the state of Oklahoma has to suck your you know what?

Could it be you are the dude who created the whole Birther concept?

What else could it be?

From the desk of okcthundergroundground’s CEO, Mikey J.

So much going on right now for me within the world of sports. That incredible Game 3 of our Stanley Cup Finals which I haven’t even put on my blog yet.

Oh, wait. Just your basic three goals in thirty-nine seconds Game 3 comeback from 4-0 down in the third period.

My gritty-grimey Skip Johnson coached OU Sooners baseball team 18 outs away from moving on to the College Baseball World Series for the second time in four years… as they resume Game 2 vs. Kansas today at noon after storm delays last night halted a Sooner 8-1 lead in the bottom of the third with the red-hot Sooners still batting.

Then, of course…tonight’s Game 3 in our NBA Finals with the Spurs one loss away from being check-mated by the New York Knicks in what should be a batshit crazy environment tonight at the Garden.

But…this is a blog named okcthunderground.com and Sam Presti has some serious roster cleanup work to do after Chet’s emotional breakdown versus Wemby in the Western Conference Finals. And remember…the Thunder also have to deal with another dude named Nikola Jokic in the West.

If I’m Sam Presti that nuanced cleanup work very much begins with he and Isaiah Hartenstein’s agent not only bringing Isaiah back for that team option third season, but reworking the deal to extend Isaiah two additional years beyond the ’26-’27 season.

Add to the mix…what should be OKC’s concern about JDub’s hamstring issue becoming similar to what we’ve witnessed from Aaron Gordon’s chronic hamstring issues these past two NBA seasons. There should be some serious thought on the Thunder’s wunderkind GM’s plate right now.

Yeah, so what I’m implying here on the morning of June 8th in the midst of the New York Knicks having a 2-0 lead in the Finals…is this, “Sam Presti you drafted Chet as the 2nd player in his draft class despite the very obvious concerns about that body of his, let alone his psyche. This is your situation.”

I would suggest the nuanced roster restructure begin with the announcement of a new deal for Isaiah Hartenstein.

And you know what…at the end of the day, “It’s a business.”

Mike J

Minus, perhaps our own Kendrick Perkins, who flopped from his intial prediction on these NBA Finals earlier in the season on air…I know of no other human being outside of New York who picked the Knicks to win these Finals, let alone possibly sweep the series.

Thank God for Brian Windhorst at ESPN for outing Perk on his pick flopping and having the integrity to keep Kendrick honest while covering these Finals.

I know most NBA fans don’t put a great deal of stock in the Emirates NBA Cup…but, I mean this is pretty much how it looked in December… only the Knicks won by an even easier degree back five months ago.

AT&T must have felt something from that win because they’ve had their add with Jalen, OG, and Karl-Anthony on the air for quite some time…well beyond the NBA Playoffs beginning. Pretty much like last spring when AT&T featured Shai, JDub, and Chet.

So…if anything—it’s fairly clear to me AT&T has a serious picker and ESPN not as much.

Damn…if the AT&T marketing excecs only knew then what they know now…Caruso would have been in that commercial instead of Chet. Just sayin. I’m fairly certain I’m the only caller on the Sports Animal last week who will at least wait until the trade deadline to not trade Chet. In fairness to Chet and the rest of his career…the Eastern Conference away from Wemby might be a safer haven for him.

But back to these Knicks….they’re just basically playing a wonderful, confident level of basketball in winning 13 straight games in a row overall, and 8 in a row on the road in these NBA Playoffs.

I have to admit…I hope the Knicks win. It’s a wonderful story for Karl-Anthony– who has been maligned pretty much most of his NBA career for his defense as an NBA player. Plus…the things he’s said about his late mother who passed from COVID at the age of fifty-eight in 2020 bring a real sense of humanity to these NBA Finals.

Of course…we’ll have to see if on Monday… Perk now claims he was predicting a Knick sweep over Wemby and the still very young Spurs, who again were picked by Vegas back in September to win 43 regular season games this NBA season.

For me…the key words to date for this Knick story are maturity and togetherness.

Game 3 tomorrow night at MSG in New York where these fans who haven’t won a championship since 1973… will to say the least be amped for the occasion.

Enjoy these wonderful NBA Finals.

Mike J

Jesus…Palomino…Murphy!!!!!!!!!

Those last fifteen minutes of regulation and overtime will become iconic if the Carolina Hurricanes go on to win these Stanley Cup Finals.

Holy…f–king…Batman-shit….that’s why we as hockey fans eat and breathe so as to live for the next Stanley Cup Finals hockey game.

Seth Jarvis will become to Carolina fans what Joe Carter Jr. became to Toronto Blue Jay fans after the Walk-off home run in 1993 to beat Mitch ‘Wild Thing’ Williams.

That’s it. That’s my recap. The video speaks for itself. Greatness should not be marred by unneeded words.

Even though it was stupid to challenge the goal. But the foolish challenge will only add to the lore of the finish.

Bravo.!!!

What a hockey game.

Mike J