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Well, that was an ugly ending to a miserable season for the Golden State Warriors. As if that needed to be written by a guy at the okcthunderground.com. I would say Steph needs to retire and pursue his dreams on the golf course.

Steph looked like a worn out, beaten up Warrior last night in the loss to the Suns. His body to me looks to be exhausted from getting the best defenders in the NBA beating up on him every single time he touches the basketball.

The Golden State dynasty is officially dead although in reality the funeral came in last year’s elimination exit to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the second round. As a huge Steph fan…I’m actually grateful his beaten up body does not have to be beaten up even worse by losing four games to the crazy physical Oklahoma City Thunder wing defenders.

With his incredible performance in Paris at the Summer Olympics when he saved Team USA in the Gold Medal game…he in my mind made the perfect exclamation ending to his increddible basketball career with that performance.

Know when to exit, Steph.

Now…I will add this though… a great deal of this is on the Warrior front office for flaming out on No. 2 lottery pick James Wiseman and No. 4 lottery pick Jonathan Kuminga.

In a world like the Oklahoma City Thunder have under Sam Presti…those two failures by the Warriors’ front office is a significant reason as to why the Warriors aren’t still a contender. Those two guys should have assimilated and grown into players who at the least should now have been in the top five rotation for Steve Kerr.

And where was Porzingus last night? If Chet is soft…WTF is the Unicorn…seriously?

So, in closing…if I were Steph’s Uncle MJ and he were asking for my advice… I’d say if you’re going to play another year it needs to be on a team which is a contender and doesn’t need you to carry the rest of the team. Maybe something like the role Ray Allen played for those two Miami Heat championship teams with LeBron and DWade.

Steph Curry…I love you. I fell in love with you when your Davidson team almost made it to the Final Four in that regional final opposite the Kansas Jayhawks.

I think you’re a better golfer than Michael Jordan as well. I think that MJ’s an overrated chucker on the course. MJ’s better than Charles Barkley for certain, but not in your league as far as golf goes. So…what Uncle Mike is saying here is…do what’s in your heart. You don’t owe the Warriors anything else at this point. They owe you for an incredible journey.

Follow your heart, kid.

Eternal love, Mike J

Great news for those of us in Sooner Nation looking ahead to next football season when the Sooners will once again have the toughest schedule in DI football.

This is actually massive for Brent Venables as I predict Owen along with John Mateer and Kip Lewis will be three of the OU captains next fall. You know…maybe Coach BV will even add crazy man edge rusher Taylor Wein into a captaincy role…we’ll have to see on that one.

It is ludicrous the inept NCAA pushed this matter with Owen Heinecke to the point of which they did. Owen PLAYED 15 MINUTES of lacrosse at Ohio State and his coach was supposed to have red-shirted him to save his year of eligibility.

Note to Owen…maybe you should sue Ohio State and the NCAA for punitive damages for the emotional hardship this has put you and family through. I know some lawyers.

In the Wild West World of current college athletics where NIL and the PORTAL have turned college football and basketball into Soddam and Gomarrah, (MJ’s been waitin’ for the right time to use that one with the NCAA) it is stunning this entity is still allowed to govern college athletics.

You younsters out there…google the Peter Principle. That’s what the leadership of the NCAA is. To be more exact…the Peter Principle on steroids. I used that once at a pathetic HOA meeting in Edmond and got applause from a raccous gathering.

Instead of wasting time on a petty deal like this on a kid who’s already earned his accounting degree and is working on his graduate business degree…one would think and hope the NCAA has much more important issues to address. Like maybe…changing the PORTAL to where the yearly exodus of players which takes place is changed to instill some pragmatic adult modifications.

Owen’s dad played at OU and Owen came to OU as a walkon after the lacrosse experience at Ohio State came to an end. Owen’s story from walkon to difference maker at OU was clearly one of the feel good stories in college football last season.

In closing…I’m thrilled for Owen and happy for our football team to have a role player turned difference maker as a role model for the younger players in the program.

Gotta go get some work done on the mini-ranch as storms are predicted in Deer Creek this afternoon.

Eternal love,

Mike J

I was wrong. The Warriors actually trailed the Clippers by thirteen points in the fourth period before their comeback. So…I wanted to correct that on my content excellent, traffic not so excellent NBA geopolitical, Oklahoma City cultural blog.

There’s always been this narrative in Oklahoma City that if Kevin Durant had stayed after the meltdown to the Warriors in 2016 after the 3-1 series blown lead…that Al Horford would have joined former college coach Billy Donovan the next season in OKC.

Of course…we know how that went. Both Draymond and Jerry West lured Kevin away because both correctly told Kevin he’d never win a single NBA championship with the mecurial Russell Westbrook as his point guard.

And as we all know, both Draymond and Jerry West were spot on. Kevin then went on to win back to back Finals MVPs for the Warriors while Russell proved Jerry West totally prescient by never getting to another conference finals depite playing with Paul George, James Harden again, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Austin Reaves, James Harden again, Kawhi Leonard, and Nikola Jokic. Damn…Russ that’s just about every single generational player from this generation!

So why the f–k are these dumbass Thunder fans still booing Kevin is my rhetorical observation circa 2026?

And btw…I now know I can say f–k whenever the heck I feel the notion given Dimwit POTUS 47’s Easter message to the Christian world. I told you people…it only means Forced Unlawful Carnal Knowledge of which Dimwit POTUS 47 is an authority on the subject.

But enough of that… at least we know the Strait of Hormus is at a peaceful standstill now as opposed to the completely free and unencumbered passsage it was before Benjamin Netanyahu became POTUS 48 without an election even taking place.

But back to the trivia question… Did Al Horford ever play for the Oklahoma City Thunder?

And the answer is… yes.

During the Thunder’s miserable tanking season of 2020-21 when the Thunder went 22-50, Big Al Horford played in 28 games in OKC before leaving for the Boston Celtics where he went on to win an NBA championship to go along with his two NCAA ‘ships he won with Billy Donovan at Florida.

Al Horford’s numbers in those 28 games were 14.2 ppg, 6.7 rbpg, and 3.4 astpg.

So…if the Warriors can get past Phoenix on Friday night it would be a homecoming of sort for Al Horford.

That’s it for me today.

Eternal love as always,

Mike J

Like everyone else who loves the NBA Playoffs… I’m just chillin’ and taking in the NBA Play-In Tournament on Prime. All four of the first round games in the tournament have been excellent with very competitive games mixed with controversy and then a touch of Steph Curry Magic to close out the first round.

Okay…so I hope I have this right…Philly will be our No. 7 seed in the East and will take on Boston without Joel Embiid. Charlotte which should have had LaMelo Ball ejected with a Flagrant 2 vs. the Miami Heat will need to beat the Orlando Magic to play the 60-win Detroit Pistons.

As far as the Ball deal where his cheap play removed Miam’s best player Bam Adebayo from the game in the first half…it sucks for NBA fans. Because Spoelstra’s team would have added some interest perhaps to the East where a Detroit vs. Miami first round matchup could have been insightful to see how legit the Pistons will be in the upcoming days and weeks.

But it is what it is…although it’s unfathomable to me given how much time NBA refs waste with frivolous reviews that this crew DID NOT REVIEW THIS PLAY.

So now it’s Orlando vs.Charlotte for the right to play Cade Cunningham and the Pistons.

Portland somewhat surprised Phoenix and will now face the Spurs in the first round. Golden State came back from a 12-point fourth quarter deficit to beat the Clippers and advance to a winner take all game versus the Suns in Phoenix.

I know Steve Ballmer has more money than any human would ever need, but damn it would suck to be the owner of the LA Clippers. They always find a way to lose even with new players like Darius Garland and Ben Mathurin.

Kawhi has one year remaing on his deal so maybe with those three guys the Clippers can end the Steve Ballmer curse and do something of tangible consequence next season. So when you’re praying for our broken country…pray for the cursed LA Clippers as well. That 4th quarter up close of him late was brutal…like something you’d see from Suzie Wiles after a late night of Donald Trump social posting.

Given the way Steph, Draymond, Porzingus, Santos, Melton, and the ageless Al Horton performed in the fourth quarter…I would have say I’m picking the Warriors to win at Phoenix and punch their ticket for the right to play the defending champ Oklahoma City Thunder.

I’m not in any way going to think about an OKC-Golden State possible matchup until I see the Warriors win at Phoenix though.

I actually like the Play-In Tournament because it gives teams a chance for redemption if they were ravaged by injury in the regular season to get into the playoffs with two wins. And that premise is squarely in play for Steph, Draymond, and Porzingus as they rest in preparation for their game in Phoenix on Friday night which will be must see NBA Prime television.

In closing, having written all the above..I still only have six teams in my mind who can win the NBA Championship once we get down to sixteen teams. My top six goes in this order…1 OKC Thunder, 2 Denver Nuggets, 3 Boston Celtics, 4 San Antonio Spurs, 5 New York Knicks, and 6 the Detroit Pistons. My No. 7 wildcard is Minnesota. Can Anthony Edwards finally do it and figure some things out?

Me having the Spurs at No. 4 is something I’ll probably twist with a bit. We’ll see how it goes given it’s the first time in the playoffs for these youthful Spurs.

Hope you’re luvin’ the NBA post-season life ballin’ on Prime like Mikey J. is doing.

Eternal love,

MJ

What a great Sunday of golf at Augusta! This final round had about everything any golfing fan could want minus a Scottie Sheffler victory rally coming down the stretch.

I write that because I believe Scottie is the most popular golfer in the USA, while at time it seems to me Rory has taken some flack which to me is absurd.

Both of these guys are generationally GREAT golfers. Both minus injury will leave iconic legacies behind them. Rory in fact, was my father’s favorite golfer and I’m sure Dad has a smile on his face and a little extra bounce in his step this morning.

It appeared Rory had this Masters locked up after thirty-six holes when he birdied six of his last seven holes coming the stretch of the back nine. Rory had a six shot lead with a score of -12 after thirty-six holes.

Meanwhile…Trump’s personal LIV toadie Bryson DeChambleau tripled bogied his 36th hole to prematurely end his week-end missing the cut at +7. Not a great week-end for the Divine Pussy Grabber, as his Saudi tour boy embarassingly missed the cut and Pope Leo dissed him again and droped DPG dead in his tracks as far as approval ratings go.

Pope Leo > DVG…not even close.

But…to Rory’s credit after blowing his historic six shot lead after thirty-six holes in the third round…he steadied himself on Sunday with what I thought was some very smart golf minus his errant tee shot on the 18th which caused him to bogey the 72nd hole and only beat Scottie by one shot instead of two.

None of my young guys who I looked for to make a run in this Masters did much. Matthew Fitzpatrick, Goddrerup, and Viktor just never got going. It can happen. But on the other hand…Cam Young and Sam Burns seriously contended at times on Sunday and one would think both will eventually win a major.

Justin Rose…bless his heart. There he was again coming down the back nine on Sunday at Augusta with a reasonable chance to win, but he then missed two short you gotta make putts and once again came up short in his quest for a Green Jacket. I mean… I just wanted to reach into my flatscreen and give him a consolation hug for his dogged determination to win this tournament. Don’t give up, Justin.

So with Rory’s repeat he notched his 6th major title in his storied career to date and is the only golfer this season now with any chance to win a very improbable one season grand slam. Plus, Rory becomes only the fourth golfer in Masters history to repeat along with Jack, Nick Faldo, and the continually troubled Tiger Woods.

Dan Jenkins, buddy…I know you’re up there looking down on me this Monday morning. That’s the best I can do because No One measured up to you as far as golf scribes go. No one. I hope you’re well and maybe you could give a shout-out to my Dad.

Above…one of my favorite scenes from Dan’s iconic Dead Solid Perfect.

I’ll need to write about the Denver Nuggets surprising win over the Spurs yesterday in San Antonio some time either this evening or tomorrow.

God bless and congrats, Rory.

Mike J

Unless the Denver Nuggets can go into San Antonio and win their last game of the season last night’s B League 127-107 win over the OKC Thunder probably won’t mean much other than the Nuggets will have homecourt vs. the Houstons Rockets in the 4-5 matchup in the Western Conference Playoffs.

Amazingly…the LA Lakers have won their last two games and close with tanking Utah on Sunday. Unless the Nuggets can win at San Antonio or even try to win…they’ll end up in a tie with the Lakers. And double amazingly…back win the Lakers were healthy and the Nuggets weren’t LA won that series 2-1.

The Nuggets head to head this season versus the Rockets is 2-1. So…maybe, just maybe this will all workout with the four best rosters still available advancing to the Western Conference semi-finals. On my sheet right now after Denver’s 11th straight win last night my Western Conference most dangerous teams goes in this order…1 OKC Thunder, 2 Denver Nuggets, 3 San Antonio Spurs, and 4 Minnesota Timberwolves.

I know I’m giving Minnesota a bit of break, but they have been to the Western Conference Finals the two previous seasons and they still have a lineup with the addition of Ayo Dosunmu which would make me nervous as an opposing coach if Anthony Edwards can just grow up and become the player he should already be.

If you put Shai’s head and heart on top of Anthony’s body you’d have something even scarier than the now two-time MVP.

Just saying.

I love Shai’s outfit. What I wore at the destination wedding rehearsal dinner in Scottsdale was similar down to the gold chain. John Marshall boys wear gold chains too.

Like I’ve said on the blog before numerous times…you’ll never read me dogging Shai, Lu Dort, or Kenrich on my blog. I will not do that.

Congratulations on another great season, Shai. Dude…you carried these guys…literally. It’s time now for JDub, Chet, and Caruso to reciprocate.

In closing…I’m especially in a state of eternal calm as my recent blood lab frm Wednesday came back with a PSA of .055…the lowest yet in the Stage 4 journey. Trust me…going from 1,212 to .055 has been a journey.

With the grace of God, family, and friends, plus Dr Show and Dr. Lam….it worked out. I need a workout song for early Saturday morning. Don’t ever give up. Ever.

Love, Mike J

Well…it seems fitting that in an NBA season marked by historic DNPs the Thunder will sit Shai and nine other players tonight in Denver. The Thunder have the overall No. 1 seed in the bag and I’m to guess as well Shai probably has done enough to repeat as the regular season MVP.

Denver is precariously sitting in the No. 3 position with but a one game lead over both Houston and the LA Lakers. Looking at the standings in the West I would think the Nuggets would very much like to avoid dropping to No. 4 with the possibility of having to play the Thunder in the second round.

I have no idea how David Adelman and the Nuggets will play this tonight in regards to Jokic and Jamal Murray playing in this game. I woud guess Aaron Gordon for certain is a load management DNP.

To me…it would seem obvious they should play to simply hold onto that very tangible goal of No. 3 to avoid the Thunder for a round. If that’s not a tangible thing at all…then why would you have to date gone pretty much all in with the two Nugget stars and just shoot for the No. 6 seed where the grossly disappointing Minnesota TWolves now reside.

It’s all good for the Thunder right now, like the Iranians with the Strait or Hormuz..it’s the Thunder with all of the leverage over the rest of the league.

What a bummer…another possible marquee NBA game wiped off the slate this season.

I guess I’ll just chill and watch the second round of the Masters tonight on ESPN. That is one thing about golfers…it’s very rare we witness much load management. You have to give these guys credit that given all the torque they put on their spinal cord.

I wonder how many DNPs Chet would have as a PGA golfer?

Take care.

Love, Mike J

I have a busy day. A workout. A discussion with the Oklahoma State Tax Commision on why they misplaced some docments on our return…sigh. Some finish-up limb hauling which needs to be placed in a creative manner out here on the mini-ranch given our still in place burn ban.

But most important of all it’s the week of The Masters at Augusta National which for me is a semi-spiritual rite of spring given that like Dan Jenkins, the only other two golf tournaments I watch are the U.S. Open and the British Open.

I have my own official Masters ball cap which was thoughtfully given to me by Craig Humpreys and Brad and Irma Lund right before my retirement. I save it in a place of reverance and bring it out one week every spring.

Given… I haven’t watched a single round of golf so far this season my take on handicapping this event means absoutely nothing. But from my blind, gut feel position these are the three guys I’m hoping all play well this week and make a run for the Green Jacket:

1 Matthew Fitzpatrick

2 Chris Godderup (OU)

3 Viktor Hovland ( O State)

Two other guys my gut feel tells me to keep an eye on beyond Scottie Sheffler and Tommy Fleetwood would be Bryson D. I’m keeping an eye on Bryson D in that it just seems like the point in his career he might win it all at Augusta National.

That’s it for me today. I need to go have this conversation in person at the state tax commission and hold my comments to myself on how I feel about the goverance of the state of Oklahoma.

Trump’s Dashboard this morning shows WTC back on the rise just under a hundred and the Dow just slightly down in that it doesn’t appear one single shipping vessel is actually moving through the Straight of Hormuz this Thursday morning.

Have a blessed day in Oklahoma you Trump fake Christians and try to live the Golden Rule if you can with the markets as they are.

Love,

Mike J

I mean, there’s not many OU basketball fans left standing with me who watched the John MacLoud days back in the 70’s at the old Fieldhouse. In my junior high days was when I started my OU hoops fandom. And through it all… I’m not if I’ve sure if ever been as confused about a team or a coach as I am currently.

OU’s loss to West Virginia in the championship game of the sketchy MGM Crown Invitational only tells one thing I already knew and admitted on here before…that being, OU being the last team out is irrelevant because its apparent with their loss to West Virginia the Sooners would have been an early exit in the NCAA Tournament.

I’m not sure whether to be happy or sad that new OU athletic director has given Porter another year with even more money than the $6.5 million he was budgeted this past season to get OU more transfer portal talent to get to the NCAA Tournament.

I’m not on Roger Denny at all because he inherited this situation from Joe C. This hire is on Joe C’s legacy books. I do like the fact though Roger D hired a mens’ basketball general manager this previous week from Clemson by the name of Lucas McKay. Clemson was a postive story this season in mens’ hoops.

I also like the fact Roger D didn’t piss away money on a buyout of Porter Moser before he exhausted the process of making sure Porter indeed gets the resources to be successfull in this Wild West era of college basketball.

I like the calm and nuance Roger D has shown so far.. If only the crazy person in the White House could display such calm would be refreshing.

We cannot be naive at this point…mens’ college football and basketball for the most part have become a whore-money games with no real guard-rails.

If OU did indeed spend $6.5 million on this team which just finished at 21-16 overall and 9-12 in SEC games with a season ending NCAA Net ranking of No. 47 in the last poll …a new standard of success needs to be proven next season by Porter Moser and his staff.

As per the Portal right now…OU potentially has four players left who could give the Sooners some semblance of a returning core next season. Those four would be point guard Xsayvier Brown, forward Derrion Reed, hybrid guard Dayton Forsythe, and freshman center Kai Rogers.

So in closing let me say… I like Porter. I think he’s a good man and a decent coach. I do. But in this era of college sports I sadly realize sometimes just being a good human and decent coach isn’t enough.

A week ago who would predicted former Denver Nugget coach Mike Malone would be the next head coach at North Carolina to match with their football hire of Bill Belichick. And right there illustrates what I’m saying…Hubert Davis got North Carolina to NCAA Championship game just several seasons ago with Brady Manek as one of his best players and is now gone because he didn’t win enough to satiate the fandom in Chapel Hill.

I would suggest to Porter to at the very least get to the NCAA Tournament and the Sweet 16 in Year 6 in Norman.

Mike J

My goodness, what an awful Final Four. It seemed after the incredible UConn-Duke ending the entire event just fell flat on its face. I fell asleep with eight minutes left in last night’s game. I cannot fib or pretend on my blog and can’t recap the game.

Tell me why all the sudden college basketball fans needed to see Megan Moroney performing at what is primarily a black participation event attended by rich college white kids? Was this an act of retribution for the Bad Bunny Super Bowl show? The whole thing was confusing.

But in the sense of fairness… I’ll play the Michigan fight song instead of One Shining Moment. I love the Michigan fight song and it is clearly in my top five college fight song list.

So… I’m still getting quite a bit of chatter on my exclusive CEO okcthunderground.com private message box from dogs and cats not only from Ohio, but from pets in other battleground states, blue states, and several purple states as well. I’ve sent Google an email and want to make sure these private messages go into my overall Google traffic count so as to boost future ad revenue in a Trumpian gesture of untethered American greed which would make Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson proud.

So again…that’s my Monday evening recap of how the transfer portal and NIL have finally made Championship Monday unwatchable EVEN for a hoops addict like me.

You poor white people who voted for Trump…hang in there. You’re not the only dumbasses who voted for Caligula. It’s cool. No hard feelings. We’re all just human and in this together. Like on the Titanic.

Eternal love,

Mike J