Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

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

What a game I would say and coupled with the OKC Thunder’s two classic wins over the Denver Nuggets for my nominations for best game of the regular season so far. All three of these games involving Denver have been by far the best pure basketball entertainment of the season.

This game had everything. The Spurs led most of the way and Denver had to hang on several times just to stay in the game to give itself a chance at the end.

These two title contenders behind the defending champ Thunder give us all hope the upcoming NBA Playoffs are going to be special. We’ll still get the Thunder at Denver and then the Nuggets at San Antonio coming down the stretch as all three teams are now down to four games remaining.

The stats were amazing in this game. Jokic’s numbers went 40 pts, 8 rebounds, 13 assists, +12. Wemby’s numbers were 34 points, 18 rebounds, 7 assists, +4.

My MVP vote still goes this way though…1 Shai, 2 virtual tie between Jokic and Wemby with four games left, 4 Cade Cunningham, 5 Jalen Brown, and 6 Jalen Brunson.

Despite what Stan van Gundy opines on Prime Network…I do not have Luka Doncic in my Top 6 of MVP vote getters. He’s a one way player. He loafs on defense on a team which is terrible defensively. LeBron is too old to change this fact. Luka’s a pylon defensive liability when you get down to playing against the best ten teams or so left standing in the playoffs. Well coached teams will isolate either on Luka or Austin Reaves. If I prove to be wrong on this I’ll admit as much.

Ask Sam Presti what it takes to win an NBA championship. A great defense and a player like Shai leading by example every day.

One thing which really stood out for me in this game was Denver’s supporting cast made some clutch plays to help Jokic down the stretch. Aaron Gordon actually defended Wemby just like the Thunder’s stronger players will need to do if these two teams meet. Plus, Aaron made a couple of big shots.

Christian Braun made five threes and looked like the CB from late last season. Tim Hardaway Jr. continued to be a big game dependable scorer. Cam Johnson for the first time I’ve witnssed this season made some clutch threes from that baseline spot of his to warrant him being on the floor. That’s the Cam Johnson coach David Adelman needs to fill the scoring void of the departed Michael Porter, Jr.

But what really stood out beyond Jokic’s excellence in overtime was the fact the Nuggets won this game on a day when Jamal Murry had a subpar performance. It was clearly an MVP performance by Jokic as his Nuggets are now tied for 3rd in the West with the Lakers.

Tell me who the one NBA fan in the world is that doesn’t want to see the Denver-San Antonio showdown in the Western Conference semis to earn the right to play OKC in the Western Conference Finals.

This is what I love the about the NBA this time of the season.

Have a great spring afternoon in Oklahoma.

Mike J

It is what it is, man. All you can do is your best. Time to hit the terrain bike then the cardio weight finish.

Do the things you can control and realize what you can’t change.

Be the best version of yourself and everything else will fall into place. I’m starting to sound like Plato or Socrates or something on here, right?

I still want to write up that Denver-San Antonio game though.

This is a really good workout song for me given I was born in San Diego and plan to visit soon.

Doing the work. That’s all you can do.

Mike J

There will be no video of the mentally detached Donald Trump on this post. Also nothing from the Pope because I’m not a Catholic or a member of any specific church.

I would though like to thank the dogs and cats from Ohio though for their positive, supportive messages they’ve sent me on my private message mail box of late as I grapple with all of this.

So…I guess it’s just MJ, and the dogs and cats in Ohio moving forward on this. The rest of you in America are completely okay with Donald Trump as long as the markets go up and gas prices stay lower. The human moral compass of any degree in America is bullshit, right?

But allow me to be clear here on the underground blog….I get it.

I’m not a Biblical scholar, I’m not any sort of ordained minister, in fact, I don’t even belong to any specific denominational church other than the fact I believe there is some sort of interconnected universal presence of God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit which leads us in the path of being kind to one another…and looking for the best in one another as humans on this plane of spiritual existence.

You could even say according to the writings of C.S. Lewis that Mike J is some sort of pantheist who thinks its okay for all of us to figure out our own spiritual paths under the belief of the teachings of Jesus through God through the Holy Spirit.

So I’m not going to proselytize any further because how foolish and misdirected would that be for someone who was banned for life from the Daily Thunder messageboard to preach to others?

But I would say this in closing…which ever path or belief you pursue I would hope it includes some genuine Golden Rule kindness and empathy for others which goes beyond the markets and the price of gas.

Pray for America is all I can say in closing. We’re broken. Seriously broken.

Eternal love,

Mike J

First off, our family’s thanks for the safe return of the two downed U.S. airmen in Iran. My wife’s late father was a U.S Air Force Bird Colonel second in command of the 55th at Offitt Air Force Base in Omaha at Strategic Air Command (SAC) during the Cold War.

When you marry into the Air Force as I did…you assimilate to the brotherhood and you in a sense become a part of the Air Force family.

We’re just so grateful these two airmen are safe and their families do not have to any longer agonize over their safety and well-being.

I’m in a beautiful place this morning and will spend the day with my wife here on the mini-ranch doing landscape work as the recent rains have made the place brilliant green in the space of literally two days.

My grandmother Maureen’s iris are blooming and her transplanted peonies are about to bust open as well and should inject a shade of pink which would make the golf course crew at Augusta National proud.

Mindy’s goal was to make this place look like a Southern estate, my goal unknown to her was to make the large back area look like a fairway at Augusta. But it doesn’t really matter, because it turned out well and it is a beautiful place to watch the birds and wildlife come together with us as one. We never put a single fence on the place.

When Bob was still practicing law after a particularly tough day of dealing with a case in court where it turned out his client hadn’t somewhat told him the entire story…he’d just sit their for hours transfixed with an unlit cigar watching the birds… and say something like, “I wish I’d done something like you did and not have become a lawyer.”

And I would reply something like…”Yeah, the law by itself is a fascinating creature, but there is that part where you ultimately have to deal with all these human problems EVERY SINGLE DAY unless you just want to become an automobile accident chaser and pretty much chase ambulances.”

But back to Augusta National, Deer Creek.

I have enough room in the back of our property to hit up to a seven iron smack down the middle until the ball reaches the edge of the forest. Plus, I have at least three hundred balls in three buckets and on those days when Donald Trump really pisses me off I can tee up the ball and hit the driver deep into the forest and not in any way fret losing five golf balls.

Our two female black labs were awesome in this regard in that when I’d turn them loose in the forest they find the balls and bring them them back just like a tennis ball. I created a memorial back there for both Dakota and Pauli.

I call this golf exercise my Donald Trump stress relief procedure. You should try it…it’s wonderful…much like going full force on a punching bag for sixty seconds.

My OU Sooners beat Baylor yesterday to advacne to today’s Crown Invitational final in Vegas where their opponent will be West Virginia. So there’s that I’m thrilled about. I’m so happy for both Porter and the players in that their hard work and stick to it mantra is being rewarded in this manner.

And in closing…there was that amazing game yesterday in Denver on Prime where the Nuggets battled all game long uphill versus the Spurs and then finally somehow beat the Spurs 136-134 in overtime. I’ll cover this amazing game tomorrow morning and hopefully write about OU’s turnaround basketball happy season ending.

Loving the journey. One day at a time.

Love,

Mike J

I thought I’d flip this video from last season’s Thunder championship playoff run. Last night’s ‘game’ versus the LA very overhyped Lakers was basically like the OU womens’ game versus South Carolina. What I mean by that is the game was literally over after six minutes because the Lakers are a fraud of a team on the defensive side of the ball.

Plus, as I’ve stated many, many times…when you as an opponent of this Thunder team commit multiple live ball turnovers….you’re done–as in finished. I quit watching this game with around seven minutes left in the first half. Welcome back…Forty Minutes of Hell.

As if it mattered in this one….Shai went for 28 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists. My MVP race still has Shai in a comfortable gap position over both Wemby and Jokic. But I will add…the Spurs are at Denver on Saturday on the 2:00pm Prime Network game which will preceed our national Final Four.

I will write if Jokic shines in this game as he should and the Nuggets end the Spurs’ 11-game winning streak…I very well might be inclined to move Jokic ahead of Wemby into second place on my MVP card.

And BTW…have any of you Trump dimwits noticed the top three players on most everyone else’s MVP card is a non-American playing in the NBA. Just wanted to share that thought aloud. Hopefully…Trump and his No.1 racist Nazi Steven Miller are okay with all of this in the NBA.

As far as Luka…you’ll notice–I never mentioned him once this season as being on my MVP card. You might ask why? Because he’s not an honest two way basketball player and as Stan van Gundy presciently noted last night, ” He loafs from time to time when he should be leading by example as a defender.” I don’t even have Luka Fakic in my top six…just saying.

As far as the race for first after the Spurs routed the Clipper as well… I will write if Coach Mark is inclined to turn the Dobermans loose as he did last night in the first half…then the Thunder should indeed end up as the No. 1 seed in the West.

What a great Saturday awaits us as hoops fans as we get the Spurs vs. the Nuggets…then our national mens’ Final Four.

Have a blessed Easter.

Mike J