Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Sam Presti didn’t lie to us on that fateful 5:00pm presser following the multiple serious injuries absorbed by the Thunder in Game 3 vs. the Clippers.

Mr. Presti said, and I loved it then as I do now: “In this organization we take the punches and walk-over the speed bumps.” BTW… I’v since had a similar shirt made for my own continued Stage 4 journey to keep me in the appropriate state of mind, soul, and spirit. It’s something Lombardi would have said and preached to his players and my love for Vincent Thomas Lombardi is eternal. He shaped me in a sense by his doctrines of life.

So here we are after nine games and the even younger Thunder stand 7-2 and I have them back on my Top Six list to win the NBA championship even without JDub or Chet. Take that, AT&T.

I know Sam Presti won’t listen to me on this one, but that being said, I’m trading Chet to the Warriors for Yaxel Lindeborg, but even without that trade—if Cason Wallace comes back healthy by March 1 to give the Thunder another excellent wing defender and another capable ball handler…my take is watch out for the even younger Thunder come April.

And by all these injuries happening what we’ve seen in essence with the excellent play of youngsters Mara, Stirtz, Peavy, and ‘possibly’ Dix and newly acquired Dalen Terry is the Thunder absorbed these unthinkable blows and have remained contenders AND IN ESSENCE EXTENDED OR LENGTHENED their championship window as long as Shai stays healthy even with or without Yaxel Lindeborg.

Who would have made that statement immediately preceedimg Sam Presti’s injury status presser on that spiritual Friday? Nobody…except Sam Presti and Vince Lombardi. Because when you develop championship culture what happens is what Lombardi preached 24/7, “The harder you work and believe as a group, the harder it is to surrender.”

I wonder if Sam Presti like MJ, has those three books written by former Packer Jerry Kramer which explained the Packer-Camelot mystique which stressed the shared principles of dedication, love, and belief in one another.

I have to admit I’m falling in love with this team and their resolve. I just hope they can avoid any more serious injuries and complete the journey. I hope Coach Mark rests Shai as needed and doesn’t wear him out. Just finish as a Top 3 seed in the West. I think that will be enough to get them where they want to go.

My Four Stars of the Thunder’s easy road win over the Memphis Grizzlies goes like this:

1 Ajay Mitchell: 35 pts, 5 assists, and +33 in 30:28

2 Jared McCain: 21 pts, 5 assists, and 4 STEALS in 29:00.

3 Alex Caruso: 5 pts, 6 rbs, 2 assts, 1 steal and 1 block, +23 IN 19:58

4 Shai: I thought he kind of loafed at times, but was careful knowing the Thunder play tonight versus Washington in a back to back. But even in cruise mode Shai went for 28 points and 4 assists in a lighter minute load of 29:41.

The Thunder host the Wizards tonight with a chance to finsish their first ten games with a record of 8-2 (.800 ball) with a win at home. How Coach Mark designates minutes tonight will be what I’m watching very closely.

Eternal love, sunshine, and happiness.

Mike J

First off, anyone thinking this had to do with our country embracing woke and lit ideology better calm down and rethink this current situation. Woke and lit had nothing to do with this. Trans people playing boys sports had nothing to do with this Democratic rout. The culture wars in this country had nothing to do with this. Did you see anyone making a big deal about Roe versus Wade on television Wednesday morning?

It was the economy, stupid!

Mostly.

This basically had to do with the economic factors which came across many Americans’ lives because of Donald Trump’s monumentally stupid decision to go to war in Iran with no real plan on some form of ending the war without being extorted by the Iranians on the Strait of Hormouth. You can probably add the idiotic tariffs as factors these MAGA dimbulbs instituted as well…especially in Michigan and Maine.

This wipeout had to do with high gas prices, with record high diesel prices, with high fertilizer prices, with across the board inflation, with a great deal of Americans being squeezed to the point they can’t pay their bills, let alone even conceptualize what the American Dream is or what it might be if this country stayed the course with Donald Trump and his GOP gutless enablers in Congress much longer.

Well. yeah, in Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Louisiana maybe the culture war ads did play a role in Trump candidates holding on to those states. But in Oklahoma’s 5th Cogressional District ( purple OKC) the GOP encumbent Stephanie Bice only survived by less than a percentage point because two Independents drained enough votes from her Democratic foe Jenna Nelson.

Maybe Oklahoma will follow Texas as Mayor David Holt suggests, but I doubt that because Oklahoma and its 74 rural counties just don’t seem to be able put the Fox Network away long enough to actually vote in their own self economic interest.

It’s like nothing I’ve ever observed before in my life … this affinity by these people to a pathological liar, a felon, a fake, a fraud, a grifter, and a genuinely unkind human who seemingly doesn’t care about anything other than himself.

But I’ve decided this moving forward…I’m not calling any of these people stupid, clueless, or fake Christians any longer. Some of these types are my neighbors or people I’m around from time to time. What I’m going to do instead is pray for them and love my Oklahoma neighbors who still want to embrace Donald Trump. In the Book of Matthew it says forgive and display mercy to those you disagree with. Contemporary theology also says I can forgive and at the same time choose to not engage with these same people. Visualize MJ disengaging in a Yogananda MJ manner.

It’s pro-wrestling is what Trump and MAGA is. It’s embarrasing to think we have people who embrace this as some sort of political or life philosophy.

Do I think all these people who voted no to Trumpism would have voted no to this bullshit if gasoline and diesel prices hadn’t fueled inflation as it did?

My honest answer is no because this poser movement and this situation in basis has been morally bankrupt since 2017. This GOP party and movement even stayed with Trump after he almost hung his own vice-president and over-turned an American presidential election.

He should have gone to federal prision, instead you people gave him another term.

Nixon would have served prison time for what Trump did. Obama probably would have been hung or shot. Are you people even remotely serious people?

So what I’m saying here is I agree with JD Vance in that if this self-inflicted war had not been undertaken by Trump I don’t think there would have been this type of historical rout from coast to coast.

I don’t think we would have seen what we witnessed in Texas, South Carolina, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, and North Carolina if this were about culture ideology and/or morality.

For God’s sake… if the Florida GOP hadn’t narrowly escaped a senate and gubernatorial loss-the entire eastern seaboard would be blue as I courageously forge ahead with my Election 2026 Op-Ed.

In the immortal words of my boy, James Carvelle…IT WAS THE ECONOMY, STUPID!

So basically… in closing, you Dems better not think this happened because of how you’ve run your party the past ten years either. What happened in my view is that Trumpism was FINALLY viewed by enough of the electorate as the completely and totally morally bankrupt-bullshit doctrine it is… and so why not give the Dems two years and see if they’ve learned anything these past ten years in relation to re-making the middle class in America being the focus and restoring the American Dream as well.

Be kind. Be gentle. Be a good Samaritan who lives the Golden Rule every day. Simply do the work of God and do the best you can. That’s all any of us can do.

Eternal love and grace.

MJ

Before I get into this Thunder win over Cleveland…I want to congratulate my fellow Americans for the manner in which they responded in the mid-term elections.

I felt the GOP would lose both the House and the Senate, but in no way did I see the complete ass-kicking that took place in this country from coast to coast minus of course…Oklahoma, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Louisiana. Some places oblivious to change, right?

However, nationally this was a transformational election which will go down in history similar to what we witnessed after Watergate. And we still have the very real possiblity of both Alaska and Mississippi adding two additional Democratic senators to the Senate. Did anyone even suggest the possibility of a 56-44 United States Senate with the Dems on top?

I don’t think so. Two-thirds of the country can’t pay their bills because of a moronic self-inflcited war and Trump is in Ohio salavating over the GOP candidate’s ass opposing Sherod Brown? Are you MAGA dimwits serious? Go home and stay there in a locked closet for the rest of my life.

It was an ass-kicking so profound even Donald Trump couldn’t verbally stir up the notion of a repeat insurrection. But most of all… we aren’t Argentina, we aren’t Venezuela. We are the United States of America and our democracy is still standing. The guardrails of reason finally showed themselves to be standing. The American people, albeit ten years late…said enough of this clown act to the GOP political cowards.

As our own OKC mayor David Holt said last night in a PBS interview, “The Republican Party must learn from this immediately. We need TWO healthy parties in place for democracy to survive. We currently have the Democratic Party and a professional wrestling circuit run by Donald Trump and Vince McMahon and his wife Linda.”

A word of warning though to that uber left faction of the Dems…”Don’t screw this up. This was more of an indictment of Trump and his clown act than a complete endorsement of some of your views.”

I watched the Thunder game last night, and quite frankly the Thunder easily dispatched of the Cleveland Cavaliers by a score of 124-116. It was not a scintillating game because the Thunder jumped on these guys early and pretty much cruised to their sixth victory of the season versus two losses.

But I want to do my Four Stars of the Game and get ready for a better recap of tomorrow night’s game in Memphis versus the 6-2 Grizzlies.

No. 1…Shai: 42 points in 35:04 of floor time. The Thunder’s quintessential MVP.

No. 2… Ajay: 23 points, 7 rebounds in 32:05. Shai’s new Batman.

No. 3… EL GRANDE: 9 points, 5 boards, 2 assists, and 3 steals. ROY, maybe? If not Yaxel, of whom I would like Sam Presti to acquire in blockbuster trade with the Warriors.

No. 4…Kenrich: Yeah, I love Kenrich and I did give him the nod over an equally deserving Bennett Stirtz, but Kenny Hustle is just playing some sublime Swiss Army knife ball right now…13, 4, and 2 in 28:46.

Bennett Stirzt, dive on the floor a couple of times in Memphis and that might get you on El Prez’s next Top Four List.

Also, I thought Micah Peavy was very solid again for what is needed from him currently… 5 pts, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 steal in 26:29. Maybe, just maybe…Micah can go from being Baby Thunder Swiss Army Knife to Big Boy Thunder Swiss Army Knife after Kenrich retires this summer. MJ is always thinking those 240 minutes in his head.

I’d like to close with Mr. Ray Charles.

God bless our country and our still standing democracy.

Love, MJ.

A great game by the two-time MVP when his team desperately needed a win to change the feel of a tumultous beginning to a season filled with so much hope.

The Thunder needed this road win over a playoff caliber team and as the norm…Shai did what had to be done, and he did it on a night when Ajay and Jared McCain were not sharp offensively. This is why I play that Superman video here and there on the blog.

Shai is just one of these unique athlete/humans who’s parents raised him to be in a word…accountable. MJ loves accountable people…even ones who aren’t NBA superstars. I don’t think you get this attribute from a specific Coach Mark drill. This usually comes from either mom and dad or perhaps a special grandparent.

This is why I love Shai and will gently go through this Thunder season with untethered positivity. I wouldn’t put this on the level of a Stage 4 journey, but it’s a journey which is going to require the mantra…’ONE DAY AT A TIME. BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT.’

This to me this is the the exact opposite of the tanking dynamic nonsense and more what I’m built for as a human/NBA blogger. Shai is the star saying… I’m the leader. This is my job. Let’s all find a way to get to the playoffs as a top six seed and see how healthy we can become by April. Let’s go, guys We can do this.

My 4 Stars of the Game go like this:

1 Shai…43 points in 38:36.

2 Kenrich… 12, 3, and +7 in 31:18, not bad for an insurance policy, eh.

3 El Grande… 8, 9, 2, and 1 and doing little-winning basketball things.

4 Micah Peavy… 8 and 5 in 16:13. Circle the 16:13. Coach Mark needs THOSE 16:13 every night moving forward. Link on a chain, Micah, that’s the mindset.

Josh Dix did play ten minutes and Shai mentioned him in his presser because that’s the kind of gracious leader Shai is. I will admit Josh played better and wasn’t a deer in a headlight liability. But this MJ isn’t Shai. Josh, Coach Mark needs more in those ten minutes versus better teams. Build on these ten minutes.

So if Micah and Josh give Coach Mark 26 minutes of functional basketball every game what does that mean? To me that means Coach Mark and Shai need only orchestrate 178 minutes of winning basketball from the rest of the roster on any given night.

MJ’s metric in that regard says Shai plays 36 minutes, while Micah and Josh play a combined 26 minutes. Simple math…240 minutes – 62 minutes = 178 minutes. Note: if you’re a Daily Thunder reader don’t even even consider this simple, mental basketball formula. It’s called MJ’s PULLING THE LINK ON THE CHAIN METRIC.

Next up for the Thunder…Cleveland again.

Accrued patience and wisdom by all if possible.

MJ

Between the Thunder’s sudden, and catclysmic onset of injuries, OU’s feeble offense, and O State’s non-existent defense … I really needed what the Denver Broncos did in the fourth period yesterday at Mile High coming back from 24-13 versus NFL legend Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs.

It was looking bleak for ‘MJ’s rest of this football season’, but to my great relief my Packers and Broncos have now both stabilized after horrible Week 1’s out of the gate.

The Packers need to keep winning to get in as a wildcard most likely, while the Broncos now for the first time this season stand at 6-2 and have the Chiefs in their rearview mirror.

After watching O State literally give away their game at Ames on Saturday because of a wide receiver I will not name on this blog… telling two game officials to ‘f–k off’ after scoring what appeared to be a game winning touchdown—I feel vidicated for banning any O State football content on this blog after their second consectutive loss to Tulsa in Week 1.

It turns out my intial gut feel was correct and that’s why this is the underground sports blog for discerning sports fans who don’t want to waste their valuable time.

Can you imagine…your team after two seasons of being the worst Division I team in the nation and coming off self-inflicted probation…and your team with this apparent huge road win over Iowa State… ‘you’ then decide to go up towards the visiting stands and taunt some Iowa State fans.

You then are told in no uncertain terms by the game officials to get to your own sideline and you then decide to tell these two refs to ‘please go f–k themselves’ and you take a fifteen yard penalty which completely changes the complexion of the game’s final fifty seconds.

You cannot be serious.

So that ending in Ames coupled with OU playing completey uninspired football versus South Carolina made it a very down football week-end for MJ until Bo Nix and his teammates came up with another one of their miracle comeback finishes yesterday at Mile High to beat the Chiefs 28-24 to take possession of first place in the AFC West.

My Packers once they get Micah Parsons back should be better defensively…so for me right now I needed something as a football fan like what the Denver Broncos provided yesterday evening.

Thank you for a ray of sunshine this football week-end, Denver Broncos.

With gratitude and love, MJ.

What an awful evening of sports on Halloween night in Oklahoma. Just brutal.

The Thunder without four of their top six players for the second game in a row were blitzed on the road. This time by the Houston Rockets who themselves didn’t have Fred VF available to play. Not much to watch there except Shai will have no chance to three-peat with the team we’ve seen on the court these past two games.

Micah Peavy might help a little, but another player will be needed through the Disabled Player Exception. I’m not sure who the Thunder could sign for that $14 million dollar window which has some rigid restrictions attached.

My thoughts on Chet previously make it clear what I think Sam Presti will eventually need to do, that being, trade Chet to the Eastern Conference for a legitimate top tier wing who like Dub allows Shai and the Thunder as a whole to be the best version of themselves.

It’s all about the Window, and this roster with what happened to both JDub and Cason doesn’t have the luxury of Chet if the Thunder want to stay in the Window.

Nothing personal against Chet, but with a diminished Dub coming back, the Thunder simply cannot afford a expensive, fragile player like Chet who can’t be depended on to be the team’s second best player, or even third.

Maybe this is something all of us can do as Thunder fans this season as we watch the Eastern Conference teams. I think it needs to be a younger player and one who would graciuously accept the role of being Shai’s Batman while waiting for his own stardom to evolve.

A perfect example of that might be Philly’s VJ Edgecombe currently being superstar Tyrese Maxey’s third or fourth once LeBron calls it quits.

Nothing against against Ajay, but I think it needs to be a player with a greater defensive presence. The Thunder need defense, athleticism, and high basketball smarts right now.

I’m grateful to see Coach Mark get serious and curtail Josh Dix’s minutes. Josh may be a great young man, but if the Thunder want to at least attain a No. 6 seed in the West those 240 minutes can’t be wasted. I still see enough athleticism in Barnhizer along with his spirit, toughness, and grit that I would keep feeding him 5-7 minutes a game and see what happens. Coach Mark, please jot that down, my friend. You’re gonna have to do some serious coaching, dude.

It’s amazing how quickly this Thunder’s little mini-baby dynasty spiraled downward from being the favorite two weeks ago when ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins suggested Sam Presi was cheating and gaming the season…. to the Thunder now being in a positon where even making the play-in games might be a chore if the Thunder take one more bad injury.

It’s stunning and illustrates how fragile perceptions can be when two or three of your top paid guys go down simultaneously.

I will strive to be gentle, encouraging, and positive because this isn’t like tanking. The Thunder had no control over these injuries with Dub and Cason. Chet is another matter of which now is the not the time to address. See MJ as Mr Positivity if you will.

I’ll be okay as an NBA fan because the Sixers have been my favorite team in the East since childhood, and given I’m now a resident of Deer Creek, Oklahoma and a semi-dual resident of the Denver area… the Nuggets are here for me to slide into my team in the West if the Thunder situation gets any worse. I’m what you would call an versatile Swiss army knife blogger.

Besides… the USA might become Brazil or Venuezuela next Wednesday or Thursday if the election doesn’t go Baby Boy Trump’s way. My guess is–it will start with that nonsense in Alaska and then possibly escalate from there. What a bunch of Democratic dumbasses in Alaska for even giving Trump this opening. This is why I’m an Independent and have never been a registered Democrat… in that they just seem bent on self-inflicted electoral destruction and losing elections to the likes of a Donald Trump.

I may or may not get to OU and O-State football for at the least a week. I’m banning myself for blogging even a sentence on either of those teams so as not to diminish my Yogananda MJ Guru sense of divine love coupled with widsom.

Please enjoy the Emirates NBA Cup and the beginning of the college basketball season as I will be in Norman on Monday double-dipping with both the OU men and women.

It’s all a matter of self-moderation and persepective. Plus, I’ll have Yaxel Lindeborg to watch of whom Sam Presti should have bundled in the recent NBA draft. Would Yaxel be the perfect fit right now for the Thunder or what?

There was a rumor former Jayhawk Ochai Agbaji would become a member of the Thunder, but the Thunder pulled off of him after Chet’s most recent lengthy injury absence was announced. Sam Presti needs an athletic wing for certain. We’ll see what happens with the Thunder’s roster.

Love, MJ.

A very nice story for the Milwaukee Brewers and their saint in baseball heaven…Mr. Baseball, Bob Uecker.

I only watched bits and pieces of the World Series because there’s just too much going on right now to watch everything, and quite frankly, the Tampa Bay Rays don’t do a lot to excite me.

However, I did watch the National League Championship Series when the Brewers swept the two-time defending champ LA Dodgers it just seemed obvious destiny, fatedom, and karma would easily carry the Brewers to their first ever World Series championship.

I’m old enough to vividly remember both Robin Yount and Paul Molitor so it just seems right these Brewers not only won a ring for them, but for Mr. Baseball as well.

MJ loved Bob Uecker. His deadpan sense of self-pointed humor, much like that of the late Bob Newhart floored me. Ueck not only had the ability to laugh at himself, but to laugh with others about the futility of his own baseball career.

I read one of Ueck’s books and laughed from cover to cover. I cherished his role in the hit movie Major League which should have at the least made the Motion Picture Academy award him with a fake Oscar just so as we could hear the acceptance speech.

Uecker for me was a saving grace from the likes of Bob Costas and George Will who both looked like they couldn’t even hold a baseball bat , yet alone get a ball out into the outfield.

But most of all…I’m old enough to have remembered Ueck’s breakthrough performance on the Johnny Carson Show when Ueck in fact became a national thing with his baseball standup where he in essence parodied his own listless major league career.

If only Trump were smart enough to parody his performance as POTUS maybe the mid-term numbers wouldn’t be so bleak looking for the fake Christians. Maybe the numbers wouldn’t be historic lows right there with Coolidge and Hoover, or even LBJ right before he had to say ‘no mas’ because of his perjury in relation to Vietnam.

Next Wednesday should be interesting. Brazil or Venezuela anybody?

Anyway…Bob Uecker is a national treasure. In fact he’s a heavenly baseball treasure and I’m so happy he now has his World Series ring. It just feels right for the baseball cosmos-universe as I envision it as a Yogananda.

If you’re a Trump fake Christian and stumbled upon this piece by accident…don’t curse me and swear. Instead…locate a sense of humor and laugh at yourselves with a sense of pity….because I can assure you everyone else is….in a bleak, tragic, Titantic sort of manner. Learn to laugh at yourself a little bit and realize you’re not nearly as smart as you thought you might be governing the complex world we live in currently.

Eternal love, Mike J.

I’m an optimist and not anything like the OU fans who want to fire a coach or trash a player every week. I don’t boo and I don’t give up on teams unless they give up, and this Sooner team has not given up.

A lot of OU fans probably gave up on Skip Johnson’s baseball team during the last third of the baseball season. They shouldn’t have done that because they in hindsight look incredibly stupid as the Sooners’ as the SEC’s 10th place team jelled down the stretch and won the national championship in somewhat of a convincing fashion.

I’m not in any matter suggesting that’s what is going to happen with this football team just yet. But they can finish strong and close out with a good season knowing they played one of the top two toughest schedules in DI and didn’t surrender.

There was only one cupcake on this schedule and that was UTEP. New Mexico with hot commodity coach Jason Eck hasn’t lost a game since their trip to Norman and should win the Mountain West. The rest of the schedule speaks for itself as Michigan almost took down Indiana last Saturday.

OU’s best offensive lineman Michael Fasusi returned last Saturday and the change in the offense was in a word–substantial. OU’s anemic running game went for a season best 180 yards and John Mateer had by far his best day passing the football with a two touchdown/280 yard game with NO TURNOVERS.

Plus, there were chunk plays galore. Imagine that chunk plays with this Sooner offense. Chuck plays are what transpire when playmakers have some space and time and aren’t running for their survival.

If a reasonably intelligent football person appraised OU’s defense and special teams one would possibly think these Sooners would be 7-1 without the pivotal pick sixes given up in the fourth quarter of the Michigan and Kentucky games. You take those two plays away and OU is probably 7-1 against this beast of a schedule which still has Ole Miss and Florida on the horizon.

Notre Dame would be 4-3 or 3-4 versus this schedule. Miami wouldn’t be unbeaten. Indiana would possibly have two losses. Just saying.

Michael Fasusi is back while the Sooners second best offensive tackle Ryan Fodjie will hopefully be back before the Ole Miss and Florida games. We’ve only seen these two together on the field this season for a handful of plays in the season opener versus UTEP.

I’m glad for John Mateer’s inner spirit sake he’s having these conversations with God in that I’m sure his confidence as a young man and as a quarterback at a program like OU with the incredible quarterback tradition took a beating.

Just be yourself, John Mateer. Shut out the noise and hallelujah Michael Fasusi has got your blind side covered. Finish strong.

So….that’s what blocking looks like. Who could have known blocking makes a difference in a football game?

OU hosts South Carolina this Saturday in Norman.

Eternal serenity, Mike J.

When you have a general manager like Sam Presti who comes out at 5:00pm– two hours before game time and says the things he said…it’s no wonder the Thunder responded as they did on Monday night inside of PayCom with an easy 125-114 win over the Phoenix Suns.

Next guy up. That is the mantra.

Sam Presti said, and I quote: “In this organization we take the punches and walk over the road blocks.”

If MJ had heard that going through his Stage 4 cancer physical therapy…that mantra would have been a T-shirt I would have worn to every workout. Fact of the matter is…I’m going to get a shirt like that made.

“We take the punches and walk over roadblocks, baby!”

I mean, the man told us what we expected in regards to the injuries, that being, both JDub and Cason won’t be playing for quite some time and then he said that.

End of press conference for me. I didn’t even hear the predictable weak questions from Little Nick Gallo and Jenni Carslson. MJ was done and ready to play.

JDub has a fractured lower leg injury and a dislocated ankle, while Cason has a torn labrium. Both players will require surgery or in JDub’s case… surguries.

Add to the fact…Chet sat out the game as well with his patella maintenance issues (sigh). MJ is getting one of those shirts for Chet as well even though Chet ‘somewhat’ redeemed himself against Wemby in the opener.

And yet…the Thunder stood up as one with 60% of their starting lineup missing in the fourth game of the season. It was a beautiful thing to witness. Not only the mental toughness, but the basic professionalism of these guys.

We know they hurt even more than we did as fans, yet… THEY TOOK THE PUNCHES AND WALKED OVER THE ROADBLOCKS, BABY!

I have Five Stars for this game, not three. I would have had six if Alex Caruso had played through an ankle issue in the second half. Not saying Alex needs to get one of those T-shirts, but…… it is what it is. T-shirt list so far…MJ, Chet, and Alex.

No.1 Star–Ajay Mitchell with a career high 30 points, brilliant playmaking and solid defense.

No. 2 Star–Shai. 26 points and had to play with foul trouble. Leadership galore.

No. 3 Star–Isaiah was spectacular with a double, double and some high post passing which would have made Bill Walton proud.

No. 4 Star–Jared McCain scored the ball and hit his threes. His defense will have to incrementally improve with the loss of both JDub and Cason.

No. 5 Star–rookie Aday Mara with his first career double-double. El Grande was great. I still wish though that Sam Presti had been able to bundle both Ajay and Yaxel Lindeborg, but that’s for another time and thread.

The only thing I didn’t like on the night was Coach Mark giving Josh Dix 22 minutes of floor time. To me, you give Josh eight minutes and if he does some things he gets more minutes. Josh had zero points and one rebound and was -7 in those 22 minutes. I think 14 of those 22 minutes could have been used in another manner.

Because here’s what an NBA coach does in every unique game…he orchestrates 240 minutes of floor time in a regulation game to maximize the juice from the pulp, if you know what I mean. That was a saying I loved that Eddie Sutton shared with me once. Maximize the juice from the pulp…that’s what a great coach does.

So…the Thunder in Dallas on Wednesday night and maybe we’ll see eight minutes of recently acquired 6’7″ defensive specialist Micah Peavy and see what he could possibly add to the team in Cason’s two to three month absence.

What the Thunder need is an athletic wing with wing span length who can hit an open three if it’s being given to him. Micah’s a Texas high school kid who played for both Texas Tech and TCU before ending up at Georgetown…so I’ve seen him around some. Maybe he can fill a need. We’ll see.

That’s it for me for the time being.

Love, Mike J.

I’m not going to post the video on my blog because I witnessed the injury and it made me sick. It kind of reminded me a little of the Joe Theisman injury eons ago. It literally hurt me to see Jalen go down in the manner in which he did.

This Monday morning I in no way want to write about the basketball ramifications of Jalen’s situation and how it will effect the Thunder as a team. There is no basketball chat from me on this tough Monday morning.

Instead… I’d rather write about all the human positives which will surround Jalen as he rehabs and makes yet another comeback from injury in his young career.

I know I’m an older person and not a young basketball star, but I think a few thoughts from my journey back couldn’t hurt anyone.

First and foremost….God. Life is like this. It can be glorious and then it can knock you down hard on your backside in a flash. From my perspective everything begins with our own unique conversations and relationship with God.

Faith. When we get knocked down hard its a test of our faith and resolve. Counting back I think I’ve got through at least six of these in my life. Our faith is everything. It cannot be diminished. If anything, it should be strengthened.

Family. JDub has a wonderful mother, father, and family who will be there in the right way for their son. No worries there. This isn’t a concern, but rather a huge asset.

Teammates and inner circle. I have to confess something here…I was pissed at Sam Presti for about a year when I thought he tanked too hard building this team we now have in Oklahoma City. But as this Thunder team has evolved and I’ve witnessed these guys…I have to fully admit they are a wonderful group of young men who represent our city in a manner which goes beyond winning basketball games. Every one of these guys is first class.

Sam Presti and Coach Mark. Again, the people who surround JDub’s life. Sam Presti is the best GM is the NBA, while Coach Mark has grown into at the least one of the three top coaches in the league.

In the matters above…truly JDub’s cup runneth over and we should all take the time to re-read Psalm 23 today and refresh ourselves and renew our perspectives.

I hope all that wasn’t too much, because I’m in no way a preacher or a angel of any sort. Just a human with a few thoughts.

In closing… the fans in this city. We truly love JDub the young man, and the basketball player. And I hope in this order we all keep JDub in our prayers and thoughts moving forward.

The Thunder have a game tonight versus Phoenix. As a team the Thunder will have to work through this in their own way.

Love, Mike J.