Author: Mike

With three and a half weeks left in the regular season I guess it’s time to put an order to who should be the regular season MVP. The winner is easy. James Harden. Harden not only has taken the Rockets to another level, but has done it in a season in which some thought it might be awkward for him to mesh with fellow alpha point guard Chris Paul. Not the case at all in that when Harden and Paul have been on the floor together the Rockets have been virtually unbeatable.

My second place vote would go to Damian Lillard as of today assuming if Portland holds onto third place in the West. Lillard along with CJ McCollum has been the driving force for a Portland team which will probably win Terry Stotts the NBA Coach of the Year award.

My third place vote would go to Russell Westbrook if the Thunder fall no lower than fourth in the West. In a season where he’s had to assimilate Paul George and Carmelo into the mix and at the same time make sure Steven Adams gets his paint touches–Westbrook has done a good job for the most part. But with me voting Westbrook as high as No. 3 it comes with the condition attached he continues to not shoot bad threes and that the Thunder continue their surge as a team.

Fourth for me would be DeMar DeRozan. What the Raptors have done this season should be getting more ink, but it’s hard to grab the spotlight away from LeBron when you play in the East.

My fifth place vote would go to Kyrie Irving. Irving was probably the runaway leader early this season, but as injuries have mounted in Boston the Celtics have regressed and don’t really appear to be the title contender they looked like earlier in the season.

Sixth place for me goes to LeBron. He’s still possibly the best player in the league. Period. But he shouldn’t debate Laura Ingram.

My seventh place vote goes for Anthony Davis who has kept the Pelicans afloat even after the season ending injury to DeMarcus Cousins.

Closing out my ballot at the No. 8 spot would be Chris Paul.

I couldn’t really pick a Warrior per se to give an MVP to given the fact on any night it could be one of four guys. But I guess if I were forced to pick a Warriors’ MVP it would be Steph.

With all the concern of this season becoming another Golden State vs. LeBron saga all hell has broken out in the NBA. Teams got better this off season in amping up their rosters to compete with the Golden State roster and the Warriors are sustaining injuries coming down the stretch. Any Power Poll is going to be topsy turvy, but the NBA heading down the stretch of these final ten games gives hope for some great playoff basketball in both conferences. What a time to be an NBA fan for sure.

1 Houston
2 Golden State
3 Portland
4 Oklahoma City
5 Toronto
6 Cleveland
7 Utah
8 Boston

In a season which has brought torment, angst, and even some tears during the low points— the OKC Thunder put it all together on Sunday at Toronto in snapping the Raptors eleven game win streak by winning a 132-125 slugfest which might have been the best game of the season.

This game had everything. There were forty something lead changes. Multiple ties. Ebbs and flows from both teams which usually floor an opponent. But not in this game. The Thunder and Raptors went toe to toe for forty-eight minutes and when the smoke cleared the Thunder had their sixth straight win and a season best record of 43-29 at fourteen games over .500.

There was Serge Ibaka accidently doing a Draymond Green on Steven Adams. There was Adams coming back and giving the Thunder some toughness. There was Russell Westbrook playing brilliantly in the fourth period and making all the plays which put the Thunder over the top. And then there was Kyle Lowery, DeMar DeRozan, and Serge Ibaka all getting ejected at the end. Even Raptor head coach Dwayne Casey got heaved as well, but he simply folded his jacket and left the floor as the Toronto crowd heaved their vocal displeasure on the zebras. This game basically had it all. Bravo.

All five Thunder starters scored in double figures with Westbrook leading the way with a 37 point-headed triple double that was perhaps as good as you’ll ever witness Westbrook in a game against a team as good as the Raptors.

Steven Adams was excellent and virtually unstoppable on the pick and roll in scoring 25 points. If Ibaka hadn’t derailed Adams with a Draymond Green kick it appeared Adams would have scored in the thirties and established a career high.

Both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony had nice games as well as there seemed to be an understanding amongst the starters that Westbrook and Adams were very much on and needed the ball in their hands.

Then of course there was Corey Brewer once again scoring in double figures, making a couple of steals once again down the stretch, and doing a myriad of little things which have brought this Thunder team from the edge of the abyss to the point where they seem to be what we thought they might be way back when this season started back in October. Namely a contender.

The Thunder are now 6-1 in the Corey Brewer Era and winners of six straight with a road game at Boston on Tuesday night with a real chance to extend the streak to seven games against a banged up Celtics team which is limping towards the finish line. Suffice it to say if the Thunder go 2-0 on this East coast road trip the Thunder will have done something very nice in this tough closing round of games which should bode well for their playoff seeding.

As Thunder fans we waited, we waited, and we waited—and now it appears the Thunder are perhaps the team we hoped they might be back with all those airport arrivals last summer.

But with this team I won’t go there just yet. In my heart I want to believe these guys could be the 2011 Dallas Mavericks. My heart wants me to believe it, but my head tells me to tap the brakes and be cautious with my heart.

But I do know this, since Corey Brewer became a starter this Thunder team is playing beautiful team basketball. There’s a flow on both ends of the floor. It isn’t ugly and you don’t want to scream in horror. There’s a feel of optimism in the city about the basketball team which hasn’t been here for awhile. You can feel it. You really can and that’s what makes a small market team very special in a place like Oklahoma City.

The Thunder at Boston tomorrow night.

For those of us who feared another NBA season of boredom with nothing to do look forward to in post season other than another round of Golden State vs. LeBron there is some lingering hope that could be avoided this season. That shit is horrible for the overall league in my view. No team building or nothing organic about how the teams were put together. Just LeBron and Durant playing their game of ego ball with one another to see which one could play on the most loaded roster in respect to the conferences they play in. Even though I puke at the thought of Laura Ingram opening her mouth and saying words, the whole LeBron-Durant thing with the Carri Champion ads nauseates me as well.

But here’s the thing, we may have some hope this post season for a different NBA Finals matchup. Both Houston and Toronto are the No. 1 seeds and LeBron’s latest slew of roster changes has the Cavs tied with Washington and Indiana for third place in the East. But of course, it is still LeBron and the Houston Rockets have yet to prove they can make it to the NBA Finals much like the Phoenix Suns with Mike D’Antoni never made it all the way to winning a ring…but there is some hope we don’t have to witness Durant and LeBron licking each other’s balls in another NBA Finals this summer.

Oklahoma City is playing in my favorite city albeit San Diego in North America today with their only visit to Toronto. I love Toronto. As I’ve written on here before–if I at some point I have to expatriate myself because of the Trump idiots in America…Toronto would be on my list of finalists, plus Serge is there. What a lovely city. You’ve never really lived until you’ve gone to an ice sculpting festival in a Toronto park or read the morning paper while drinking mimosas in street-side café or gone to a Maple Leaf game and booed the home team with the visiting Boston Bruins on the ice or spent an entire day inside the Hockey Hall of Fame. I could be Canadian if I had to be especially now that they have a very good basketball team with DeRozan, Lowery, and of course Serge.

What a refreshing change it would be in having a young/smart national leader as opposed to the piece of human junk leading America currently. Oh, wait…we had that in America then white people decided it was time to go all John Birch Society and pretty much ignore math, science, and world history. Anyway…I digress. The Keith Olberman in me does this to me at times.

The Thunder at the Toronto Raptors at noon.

Isn’t it amazing how easy basketball can become when you have a shooting guard who can play both ends of the flow. A player who can defend. A player who can run in transition. A player who can make some threes and a player who can be trusted to make clutch free throws. What an amazing concept. OKC had Thabo at one time who when in his prime was decent. Of course Harden played this role a bit as Westbrook’s co-pilot before he left. There was Derek Fisher. Then there was the one year rental of Kevin Martin. There was the Jeremy Lamb experiment. Caron Butler. Dion Waiters. All of the tough moments with Andre’s shooting issues, but now it’s Corey Brewer’s turn to see what he can do for the Thunder to fill this void which basically has been a thorn in the Thunder side for as long as they’ve been in Oklahoma City.

So excuse my love on here this morning as my mind drifts to Shawn Marion in his prime and what we hope Corey Brewer can continue to do for the Thunder.

All in all a very nice performance by the OKC Thunder as they won their fifth straight game in the Corey Brewer Era with a 121-113 win over the LA Clippers on Friday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

It was a balanced performance by the Thunder as they improved to 42-29 for the season and are now 5-1 in the Corey Brewer Era in OKC if you discount the Portland loss where Brewer hadn’t even practiced with the team before playing in that loss in Portland on March 3rd.

Once again Billy Donovan leaned heavily on his former Florida Gator as Corey Brewer scored 22 points in 31 minutes of play. Brewer also had six steals and four assists as he seemed to be pretty much everywhere. In these last six games Brewer has given this Thunder team a reason to think he could be their Shawn Marion of sorts.

Russell Westbrook tripled doubled for the 22nd time this season and was once again pretty smart in not jacking up bad three point attempts. As per his personal life coach Jim Traber it is another Russell Westbrook out there when he’s not chucking bad three point attempts. I agree. Sit on the bad threes, Rickey and give them the heater.

Steven Adams and Paul George were fairly solid coming off their injuries. Carmelo struggled as he cooled off a bit shooting the ball, but he’s old so cut the guy some slack.

OKC’s bench was excellent scoring 37 points and I thought Billy Donovan managed his bench pretty well. Terrance Ferguson had his second best game as a Thunder player scoring 12 points in a big game against a playoff caliber team. Ray Felton was Ray Felton. Abrines had his minutes monitored closely. Patterson played well and Jerami Grant wasn’t quite the beast he’s been of late in this one only logging ten minutes. Josh Huestis didn’t play and one would think as each game becomes more important in this stretch of games Donovan will continue to lean heavily on Corey Brewer and depending on the situation Abrines, Ferguson, and Huestis will all have their minutes monitored very closely…especially on the road.

Isn’t it ironic with all the coin Clay Bennett laid on the table and with the fanfare of those airport arrivals of Paul George and Carmelo that an unsung veteran role player has possibly turned this Thunder team of dysfunction into something perhaps worth keeping an eye on with eleven games left in the regular season.

I mean, anything can happen in basketball as all of America knows as we just witnessed Buffalo University and Maryland-Baltimore basically shred every bracket in the South Regional. But that’s why you play the games. Who knows, maybe Klay Thompson breaks his thumb all the way or James Harden gets kidnapped by a group of Trump militia groupies who take him to Montana. Who would know in these crazy times we are living in currently?

But know this, all the sudden this Thunder team which looked like a piece of junk not all that long ago has suddenly and somehow apparently corrected itself somewhat.

So why can’t Corey Brewer be Shawn Marion and why can’t Russell Westbrook be Jason Kidd and why can’t Paul George be Dirk?

Anyway—the Thunder are in Toronto for a Sunday game which should give us a better feel as to the legs of the Corey Brewer Era in Oklahoma City.

March Madness 2018

Despite the parity in college basketball you’ll notice two seasons ago Villanova beat North Carolina in the finals in a great game. Then last season North Carolina returned and beat Gonzaga in a pretty good ball game.

So there’s only so much parity when you get past the jitters of the first round and a looming FBI probe of some prominent programs. But still… it’s part of American culture the thought that on any given day David can slay Goliath.

South

I’ll go Virginia beating Arizona in the Elite 8. Most have Virginia as the overall No. 1 seed… we’ll see because Arizona if they can get past the FBI and to the regional finals have the best player in college basketball. Very interesting region.

West

I’m not huge on the No. 1 seed Xavier, but see some intriguing matchups with a great Sweet 16 game possibly looming with North Carolina vs. Michigan. I hope they both make it there because that would be a great showcase game for the tournament.

I’ll go North Carolina beating Gonzaga in the Elite 8.

East

I love Villanova even though I watched them lose a game at Creighton which is no disgrace by the way. I like Nova’s ball club and their coach. I have mixed feelings about Purdue. Arkansas somewhat intrigues me because of their style of play.

But I think I’ll go Villanova beating Purdue in the Elite 8.

Midwest

Some heavyweight bluebloods in this region with Kansas, Duke, and Michigan State all assembled in a region. Some potential great games with a Duke vs. Michigan State Sweet 16 game possibly looming. Then a Kansas vs. the winner of that game looming. I have both of those games circled in red as well as must watch.

But in the end… I’m going Duke to advance over Kansas in the Elite 8 game.

As far as long shots to advance to the Sweet 16…I’ll go Stephen F Austin and New Mexico State as my fun longshot teams to make some noise.

Every game from this point forward for the Thunder is critical. There’s no room for error because the team never for whatever reason met its own expectations. This was supposed to be that stretch of the season when this Super Team of sorts got its act together.

Only problem is Steven Adams is sitting now with a contused thigh. Paul George couldn’t continue in the second half in Atlanta because of a hard fall and some sort of groin injury. Andre Roberson’s season was over way back in Detroit on January 27th.

Yet on Tuesday night in Atlanta with three starters missing the Thunder responded with a hard fought 119-107 win over a horrible Atlanta Hawks team which is an embarrassment to the minimum standards of talent any NBA team should have on its roster.

But having written this, the storyline was once again Russell Westbrook put his owner, his GM, his teammates, and OKC on his back and got his team out of Dodge with a win his team absolutely had to leave town with given the going ons in the Western Conference.

Westbrook was Westbrook in notching his 21st triple double of the season and 100th of his career. Westbrook is in rarified air as one of the top four triple doublers of all time after this historic night in Atlanta. I think Jason Kidd is next on the list if I read it right.

Carmelo and Jerami Grant both had strong nights on a night with those three starters either already done or not available on this night. It’s a good thing the Thunder aren’t in the NHL or NFL or I fear Westbrook, Felton, and Collison would be the only Thunder still standing. Take that as you may.

The Thunder with their fourth win in a row improve to a season best 41-29 and a current landing as the No. 4 seed in the West.

The easy stretch of games is over. Twelve games remain for the Thunder with only the season finale against Memphis versus a team not currently eligible for the playoffs.

This is clearly the toughest stretch of schedule this Thunder team has faced this season.

I have no idea what the status is for either Adams or Paul George. I’m to the point I don’t care anymore. This season started on October 19th and it’s been five months of continual frustration. Yet, here the Thunder sit at least in the discussion for the possibility of a top six seed in the West.

I’ll keep watching and blogging because if for no other reason Russell Westbrook has kept my interest even though the team as a whole has been an underachiever to date.

The LA Clippers in town on Friday night beginning a stretch of eleven very tough games in a twenty-five day span. Five home games, six road games. Six wins would get the Thunder to 47-35 where is exactly where they finished last season as the No. 6 seed in the West.

I feel fairly certain this isn’t where Sam Presti wanted to be on March 14th, but such is life in the NBA.

For the fourth straight game, Corey Brewer scored in double figures and gave some life to what previously was a moribund Thunder squad. On Monday night inside the Peake, Brewer played just under thirty-three minutes, scored 16 points, and threw his body around like a skinny version of Andre Roberson in a 106-101 win for the Thunder.

For those not keeping track the Thunder are now 3-2 in the Corey Brewer Era in Oklahoma City.

Actually, I applaud Billy Donovan for giving Brewer these kind of minutes and coming to terms with the limitations of Alex Abrines and Josh Huestis. Yet, in this game, Abrines did hit two impactful threes in six minutes of play and had a positive effect on the outcome of the game. This is exactly what Abrines should be…a pinch hitter of sorts with limited exposure as far as minutes. Good for Billy Donovan. I can be content the rest of the Thunder basketball season.

Russell Westbrook tripled doubled for the 20th time this season. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony went a combined 14-32 from the field and made some shots unlike they did in the San Antonio game. George and Anthony went a combined 9-16 from beyond the arc and as a team the Thunder went 16-36.

Steven Adams played, but was ineffective as Dave Joerger played a sagging defense to make the Thunder shoot from beyond the arc. So, really, it was a game where Adams wasn’t needed all that much.

OKC improves to 40-29 and for the first time this season is eleven games above the .500 mark. The Thunder sit as the No. 4 seed in the West as they prepare to play the Hawks in Atlanta tonight.

You might want to take a look at the standings this morning as the San Antonio Spurs are in the No. 10 hole. No Kawhi Leonard will kind of do that to you. Even Pop isn’t immune from the First Rule of Coaching…Player Makes the Coach.

Very clear what the Thunder need to do tonight in Atlanta against a bad Hawks team, that being, bear down and get to twelve games over the .500 mark.

Hope Corey Brewer has some life left in legs because this Thunder team very much needs what he can bring to the arena every night in what we’re seeing as a skinny version of Andre Roberson who can actually shoot the ball a bit.

There was so much going on with sports yesterday, I really didn’t even feel the desire to write a recap on my Thunder journal. Tiger Woods made a run thru the 72nd hole in a golf tournament, there was the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, a couple of good hockey games, plus I watched Minnesota beat Golden State.

OKC beat the Spurs on Saturday night by a count of 104-94 in a game they very much had to win.

Russell Westbrook triple doubled for the 19th time this season. Paul George and Carmelo Anthony struggled mightily shooting the ball going a combined 5-24. The Thunder bench was magnificent scoring a season high fifty points. Nick Collison had a beautiful stretch in the second half which brought a lump to all our throats and Steven Adams suffered some sort of ankle or leg injury which caused him to leave the game early in the second half and never return.

Some word is expected later today on exactly what Steven Adams suffered injury wise. Suffice it to say I’m a little nervous about the prospect of Adams missing time coming down the stretch at the most critical juncture of the season.

If he can’t go the Thunder would have to go with some combination of Pat Patterson, Jerami Grant, Nick Collison and maybe even some Dakari Johnson minutes. Steven Adams being injured is not a good thing at any time, let alone now as the Thunder at 39-29 are fighting for their playoff lives.

In all honesty, it’s somewhat hard for me to think about tonight’s game in OKC against the Sacramento Kings.

The Thunder are in the No. 6 slot, but that changes daily. Don’t forget about the Utah Jazz in that they’re finally healthy and on a roll. Watch for the Jazz as this thing closes coming down to the final few days.

I watched a bit of the Pacers as they beat the Celtics yesterday. The Pacers are actually challenging LeBron for third place in the East. Oladipo is an All-Star and Sabonis now has the added muscle of an NBA vet and less the look of a rookie from Gonzaga. It’s hard to think what if the Thunder hadn’t traded them away this summer in Sam Presti’s quest to resign Russell Westbrook.

Either way, the Thunder with or without Stevens Adams need a win tonight to stay afloat in the NBA’s West.