Author: Mike

What does an honest person write after witnessing this basketball game?

Do you write the truth? Or do you pretend OKC did some great things in winning a triple overtime thriller which never should have gone beyond regulation in Philadelphia on Friday night?

For the record, OKC defeated the Philadelphia 76’ers 119-117 in triple overtime on Friday night on the road. Russell Westbrook assisted Andre Roberson for the game winning back door layup with 9.6 seconds left in triple overtime. Patrick Patterson preserved the win by blocking JJ Redick’s three point attempt with 1.2 seconds left in the third overtime. Both good things. Both occurred when OKC should have long before been in the locker room getting ready to head to New York for tomorrow night’s game against the Knicks.

Here’s the truth. OKC didn’t survive the 76’ers. The truth be known, they survived the dysfunction of Russell Westbrook the basketball player.

There are many things I admire about Russell Westbrook. He’s an ultra competitive motherfucker. He’s a good husband. Appears to be a wonderful father. He’s a world class big brother to Ray Jr. He calls his mother every day. He’s completely respectful to his father. He was loyal to Oklahoma City. These are all things I admire about Bad Little Dude. But here’s the thing, he’s not winning a Northwest Division championship, let alone an NBA championship until he learns the basketball isn’t his best friend. His best friends should be his teammates and until Russell Westbrook learns this he’s not winning anything from a team aspect. Nada. Nothing.

For forty-three minutes on Friday night, the Thunder played beautiful team basketball. The ball moved. There was flow. The Thunder led by 11 points. Then it was there to be seen by anyone paying attention. The inner demons of Russell Westbrook took over and it became ugly.

In those first forty three minutes, OKC had 25 assists, in the final 20 minutes, which included three overtimes, the Thunder had three assists as Westbrook decided he needed to beat the Sixers by himself.

You want to know why Kevin Durant is in Golden State? This is why Kevin Durant now plays in Oakland. Because whether Durant on his own, or through his handlers, or by that late conversation with Jerry West, came to the correct conclusion that he would never win an NBA championship with Russell Westbrook.

And that’s the truth. It hurts me to write it. But’s it’s the truth.

Sucks doesn’t it?

OKC improves to 14-14 with the win and is currently in forth place in the Northwest Division and the No. 8 seed in the West.

The Thunder did win tonight, for sure. But in the end, they lost. I’ve written this before, and I’ll write it again here. Even Kobe knew when to trust Gasol, Derek Fisher, and Big Shot Bob Horry.

You wonder if by Westbrook making that last pass to Roberson it was a learning moment or an indicator of fatigue.

Pray for Billy Donovan. It’s not his fault. He makes $6 million. Russell Westbrook makes $28 million. Superstar driven league…duh.

Truth hurts.

So, in the end, a night of irony for me. My favorite team in the East, the Sixers, are 14-14 and at best a probable first round exit. My favorite team in the West, the Thunder, are 14-14, and a probable first round exit.

OKC in New York tomorrow night for Melo’s return to Madison Square Garden.

We’ve found out multiple things about this team of Sam Presti’s 27 games in midway through December so far. Tonight, in Indianapolis, we found out when pushed against the brink they actually have some heart. We found out Billy Donovan is actually a decent ball coach when his guys play hard and at least make the attempt to play the game the right way. We found out if these guys will only work hard and move the ball they might not be a Super Team, but they could turn themselves into something decent come April.

On a night which had Paul George returning to Indiana and many doubting Sam Presti’s trading of Victor Oladipo for Paul George, the Thunder played their collective asses off and won a hard fought 100-95 game over the Indiana Pacers.

So many good things to write about. Where do I start?

I’ll start with team defense. Isn’t it amazing that even without Andre Roberson tonight, the Thunder held one of the league’s better three point shooting teams to a 35.4% night from beyond the arc. Isn’t that amazing considering on Monday night against the feeble Charlotte Bobcats or Hornets or whatever the fuck they call themselves in Charlotte you could go from allowing a bad team to shoot 70% to holding a good shooting team to 35%. That’s what playing hard will do for you. Defense isn’t all that complex. It’s effort. It’s communication. It’s head on a fucking swivel. It’s read and react. This isn’t molecular science.

Playing the right way. The Thunder moved the ball tonight. The ball moved. That iso bullshit which Westbrook and Carmelo embrace when they get lazy didn’t manifest itself tonight. The Thunder had 26 assists despite shooting their customary 40% from the field. So I don’t won’t hear any bullshit about how you have to shoot over 50% to get to 25 assists. 25 assists a night should be the goal for this team every night. The Warriors move the ball. LeBron’s teams move the ball. The Celtics move the ball. The Spurs move the ball. The Rockets move the ball. You think it’s just a freakish coincidence the best five teams in the league move the ball and play hard? Note to Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony…SMARTEN THE FUCK UP.

At this point in my rant I’m pulling out my read marker and highlighting for Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony. IF YOU TWO DUDES EVER HOPE TO WIN A RING THIS IS THE WAY YOU HAVE TO PLAY.

Okay. Deep breath…exhale. Excuse my moment. I’ll move on.

Steven Adams was fabulous tonight with 23 points and 13 rebounds. With all these alleged super stars on the floor he was the best player on the floor tonight. He ‘might’ have turned OKC’s season into something salvageable if Westbrook will feed him the ball. Think back to that Game 1 loss to San Antonio in 2016 when the Thunder got blown out in Game 1. Think back. Remember who changed the Thunder attitude from that point moving forward to getting within one game of the NBA Finals. Yeah, it was Steven Adams. Red highlighter is coming out again for Westbrook and Carmelo. IT’S NOT AGAINST THE NBA RULES TO PASS THE BALL TO STEVEN ADAMS IN THE SECOND HALF.

Alex Abrines had a really good game and in essence had the game winner with a putback of a wild Westbrook miss with 15.2 seconds left in regulation. Good for Alex Abrines, he showed some mental toughness tonight.

Jerami Grant prior to the leg injury and was his solid self again tonight. My fishing buddy Ray Felton was good. I thought Patrick Patterson provided effective minutes. Same with Josh Huestis. I like Huestis. I like what he brings to the table. Smart kid, maybe that’s why he went to Stanford. Rookie Terrance Ferguson played some real minutes tonight and looked like he might eventually turn himself into an NBA player.

Westbrook, George, and Paul went a collective 10-45 from the field and yet the Thunder won by five on the road against a decent Indiana team which had been surging of late.

So what does this tell us? It tells us there’s no reason for people in Oklahoma City to think about firing Billy Donovan. Billy Donovan isn’t the problem. Changing coaches won’t solve this riddle of sorts. But it’s not really a riddle.

I run an underground rogue blog of sorts. I don’t need access to the team. Brian Davis and Michael Cage have access and you see all what that means.

In closing, I’ll pull out the red marker and just write… IF THIS TEAM ASPIRES TO BE WHAT THEY THINK THEY CAN BE…RUSSELL WESTBROOK AND CARMELO ANTHONY NEED TO ELEVATE THE WAY THEY PLAY BASKETBALL. IN SHORT, PLAY HARD AND SMART.

Antonio Davis.. I love you, bruh. I feel like we’re soulmates on this bus of dysfunction.

The end.

Consider this… Charlotte entered Monday night’s game against the Thunder as losers of 7 of their last 8 games sporting a record of 9-16. This was not a team renowned for three point shooting excellence, but on this night the Hornets exposed the Thunder for what they are currently, that being a team with no identity on either end of the basketball floor. On the night, the Hornets shot 17-24 from beyond the arc. That’s 70.2% if you haven’t done the math in your head.

It was actually a somewhat decent first half with the Thunder looking as okay as a team of dysfunction can be, but then once again it was a third period meltdown in which Charlotte won 40-22. The Bobcats lead grew to 20 points. OKC did come back from twenty down to the Memphis Grizzlies, but this wasn’t that Memphis team on this night in that the Hornets actually have a few players who can shoot.

The Thunder take will be Andre Roberson sat this game with a sore ankle and Alex Abrines had to start in his place. No one more than me respects what Andre brings to the table, but as a team you have to be able to adjust. This wasn’t Golden State, Cleveland, Boston, Houston, or San Antonio–this was the Charlotte Hornets coming in as a team going nowhere.

Of all the Thunder losses to date, this might be the most damning because it came at home on a night when the Thunder could have reached .500 with a win over the Hornets. Home court for this Thunder team had been the last vestige of hope this team could pull their act together and at some point find themselves as a team.

Instead–this Thunder team of confused identity heads east on a three game road swing against Victor Oladipo’s Pacers, my Sixers, and Enes Kanter’s Knicks. If the Thunder come back home after this swing at either 12-17 or 13-16 it will be interesting to see how all around the team react to the situation.

Is this Billy Donovan’s fault all by himself? No, but he is the coach and is being paid handsomely to coach the team. Is it Donovan’s fault this team looks more disoriented on December 12th than they did on the opening day of training camp? Yeah, that’s his fault. That’s what coaches are paid to do. Adjust to situations. Adjust to injuries. Adjust to the schedule. Adjust… and most of all find a way to motivate your players.

But if Sam Presti fires Donovan then who would he hire to coach his faux Super Team?

A coach named Phil Jackson never figured Carmelo out. A coach named George Karl never really figured Carmelo out. What would make a reasonable person think Billy Donovan is going to figure Carmelo out?

So as I sit here … I really don’t know what to think. Will the Thunder respond in Indiana on Wednesday or will they wilt?

Hard to tell, but with a 3-10 road record to date, you have to figure this little three game swing will tell us much about the Thunder’s team character or lack of it.

Good thing for me Lon Kruger has a freshman point guard named Trae Young who might be the best college player in America this season. That’s what it’s come to two weeks before Christmas…that being–hope morphing into reality.

Hope needs a kick start in Indiana.

This was a microcosm, this game in Memphis might be the most symbolic piece of evidence of this season of acute dysfunction in Oklahoma City to date.

Consider these facts before reading further….

OKC shot 39.1 % from the field
The Thunder shot 18-31 from the line
Russell Westbrook was 7-29 from the field
Carmelo Anthony was 7-20 from the field
Memphis led by as many as 20 points in the first half
Paul George missed his second straight game

And here’s the number which perhaps is why OKC won this game….

Alex Abrines made 6 of 8 threes while scoring 20 points. Abrines also hit OKC’s two first shots in overtime.

Let all that soak in. Even for Little Miss Sunshiners…this was an encore level performance of basketball dysfunction. And, yet, here I sit writing in complete awe that Adam Silver actually has a team in Memphis currently which found a way to lose this game to the Thunder.

I have no idea what specific anti-depressant Billy Donovan is taking each game to get through these games, but know this—it won’t be much longer before I’m with him in that regard.

Billy Donovan must be the most decent, kind, gentle, loving, human walking the earth. He must be. There can be no other explanation for him staying on the bench in the second quarter when every Thunder fan was looking at Russell Westbrook and thinking…WTF.

Russell Westbrook triple doubled with 20, 11, and 14, but for parts of this game was terrible. On a night when Baker Mayfield won the Heisman, Bad Little Dude looked nothing like the reigning MVP of something called the NBA. He was brutal. And, yet, in the end, he pulled it together just enough for OKC to somehow escape Memphis with a 102-101 OT win which remarkably pulls the Thunder within one game of the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. One game.

Carmelo Anthony was terrible as well, but he’s at the stage of his career where you don’t expect him to carry a team or be sharp every night. But like Westbrook, in the end, he did make a couple of plays which allowed OKC to win this game over the worst Memphis team in the Thunder era.

It used to be such a great rivalry. Two hard nosed teams fighting for every inch of space on the floor. The memories of Zach Randolph versus Nick Collison in their primes was soiled tonight. I’m sitting here crying.

Abrines was great and is easily my No. 1 Star of the Game. Steven Adams is second with a 21 point, 9 rebound night in which he had to listen to Russell Westbrook bark at him in the fourth period–and yet still found the inner calm to work through it. Andre Roberson worked his ass off for 40 minutes and was hobbling at the end. Patrick Patterson was better in what I thought was his best night as a Thunder player. Ray Felton is Ray Felton, the dude can come fish with me any day he wants. I love Ray Felton. Jerami Grant, coming back from the leg injury played 11 minutes and wasn’t himself, but I still love him. Zach Huestis came off the bench in the fourth period and hit a couple of big shots in only six minutes of play.

So, in the end it was night where the role players carried their weight on the road and somehow, someway, found a way to win an ugly game in Memphis.

OKC improves to 12-13 overall, 3-10 on the road, and if one gleaning positive is to be extracted from this game it’s the fact the role players pulled their end of the bargain.

Oklahoma City is now 4-0 in the month of December in games played in America. Think of that, after reading all the above. So, here’s what I’m saying, we all need to embrace Billy Donovan’s state of mind and get through this together as members of the human race.

The Nick Collison video below is for me. I need it.

OKC hosts Charlotte on Monday night with a chance to improve to 5-0 in December in games played in America.

Think of it that way.

Here’s Nick with Leslie McCaslin after the home win over Minnesota.

Baker Mayfield will become OU’s sixth player in program history to win the Heisman Trophy tonight in New York. Given the energy level the OKC Thunder give on road games…I’ll be watching more of the Heisman Show tonight than the OKC vs. Memphis game.

Why will Baker Mayfield win the Heisman tonight?

Simple.

He’s the best college football player in America.

In a season in which OU made the coaching change from Bob Stoops to the youngest coach in all of DI football in Lincoln Riley … the Sooners not only didn’t miss a beat they got better and find themselves as the Big 12 Champion for the third straight year and in the Final Four for the second time in three seasons.

Joe Mixon now plays for the dysfunctional Bengals. Samaj Perrine now plays for the Washington Redskins. DeDe Westbrook now plays for I think the Jacksonville Jags.

Even with these three key pieces leaving… The Sooners’ offense didn’t miss a beat. It got better. And the reason is simple…Baker Mayfield.

Note to Russell Westbrook and Paul George, another reason Mayfield is the best player in America is that he wills his team to win on the road. His team beat TCU and Auburn on the road last season. His team beat Ohio State and Oklahoma State on the road this season in must win games.

OU with Baker Mayfield is one of the four best teams in America. He’s the primary reason. He’s the engine, and quite frankly what Mayfield has done is far more impressive than anything Russell Westbrook or Paul George have done this season. Not even close.

If you’re going to talk… then walk. If not shut the fuck up. Pretty simple.

Do Baker Mayfield’s antics bother me?

Not a bit. Because he backs up what he says and his team feeds off of him. Baker Mayfield’s team is playing Georgia for the right to advance to the national championship game. Mason Rudolph’s team is playing Va Tech in something called the Camper’s World Bowl in Orlando. Know what I mean? At the end of the day it’s about competing and getting your teammates around you to elevate their games to your level. This would include your defense as well. OU’s defense got better as the season moved along if you noticed. You think Baker’s will rubbed off on them at all?

I could care less about the flag planting at Ohio State or the crotch grab at Kansas. If you’ve ever played football or hockey you know these aren’t venues for those light of heart. Again.. it’s about willing your teammates and walking the walk.

So…congrats to Baker Mayfield for joining Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Jason White, and Sammy Bradford as OU Heisman winners.

I’m not even really sure this qualified as a real game, but since it does in the standings, the final read New Jersey 100 – OKC 95. If this was supposed to be a masterpiece to enamor Mexico to the NBA brand I’m not so sure it made the mark.

Paul George and Jerami Grant didn’t play. Kyle Singler played 22 minutes. Steven Adams has a hurt hand again.

I honestly had trouble staying interested in this game evnn though it was a close game. It felt more like an exhibition game.

But once again, it confirmed how truly bad this Thunder team is on the road this basketball season even though I guess this a neutral floor.

Tough to write very much on what we saw last night in Mexico City.

Yawn. This is why these guys aren’t a Super Team, they’re just not that good.

The Thunder travel to Memphis on Saturday night.

I like Quin Snyder as a coach. He played at Duke, coached at the University of Missouri before leaving amidst some scandal. Then worked his way back up as a scout and D League coach. I think he’s one of the bright faces in NBA coaching.

Clearly, we have two Thunder teams in Oklahoma City twenty-three games into to this young season. The home version of the Thunder is pretty good at 9-3, the road version is 2-9 and struggling for answers. The three home losses have come to Minnesota with the miracle Wiggins heave, the second half collapse against the Celtics, and the tough one point loss to the Pistons. So, in fairness to the Thunder they could very well be 11-0 at home this season if they had just showed the toughness in those games that they collectively showed tonight.

This was beautiful. This is what Oklahoma City has been thirsting for from their pro basketball team this young season. This was an inversion of sorts with OKC scoring 39 points in the first half, then putting their big boy britches on and winning the fourth quarter 33-14. I won’t put up Little Miss Sunshine videos when I see this type of ball. This is what I’ve wanted to see from this bunch, namely some heart.

Their was plenty of heart to go around, there truly was in that fourth period as the Thunder looked their inner demons eye to eye and made the plays which had to be made after trailing 72-55 midway in the third period.

OKC worked to get the Jazz lead down to 80-68 at the close of the third, then basically landed a fourth period haymaker with lockdown defense, winning the 50/50 loose balls, and shooting 12-21 in the period. This is what Mystery, Alaska thought they would get when Sam Presti went on a shopping spree this summer. This is a glimpse of ‘that’ team 23 games into the season. But we’ve had other glimpses…the Boston first half, the whole game against the new Detroit Piston punk Warriors, and this fourth period tonight. All glimpses into the tunnel of hope as to what this team can become by April.

Russell Westbrook was sublime. This was vintage Westbrook with another triple double. This one read 34 points, 13 rebounds, and 14 assists. This was Westbrook going 12-25 from the field and leading ‘his team. Just so we’re clear…this is Russell Westbrook’s team.

For the third straight game in this winning streak of three… Steven Adams was star worthy. Adams had in essence a double double with 20 points and 9 rebounds. Again, to be redundant, this might be the best stretch of basketball to date in his basketball life.

Paul George was woeful the first half, but turned that around with a high energy second half. PG had 21 points on the night. Carmelo has correctly retweaked his role on this team and has become the fourth option. Melo scored 14 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Andre Roberson was all over the floor. He did the little things he always does with apparent glee and joy like some joyful otter at play. He’s Billy Donovan’s best defender, Paul George would be the second best defender.

Jerami was good. This was the most energy I’ve seen from Patterson in awhile. Abrines was…there in his own way…I guess.

Nothing pretty about this win except it showed this team could be a team with character instead of being a team of characters.

Billy Donovan must be sleeping better than the night after the debaucle in Orlando.

OKC plays 17 games in December. 3-0 so far. You look at the entire slate of games in the month and there’s only two games which are road back to backs. This is the month the Thunder have to roll. This is the point they have to build on something every game.

Golden State…what a bunch of punks. Draymond Green and his soulmate Cupcake are making Bill Laimbeer seem somewhat tame. Hope is still in place. We have the good guys, Steve Kerr has the punks.

OKC is now 11-12 and once again on the cusp of being a .500 team. They head to Mexico City to play the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.

I’m sure Brian Davis and his sidekick Pepe Cage will be in rare form. I’m sure I’ll be rolling my eyes two minutes into the game.

It’s time for OKC to go on a roll. Why not keep it going in Mexico City?

A win is a win is a win no matter how you slice especially in this season of dysfunction in Oklahoma City as the Thunder held on to win 90-87 over the Spurs inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.

It was a game in which the Little Miss Sunshine side of the Thunder manifested itself once again in the second half after a stellar first half performance. The first half Thunder moved the ball, flowed with a sense of artistic purpose, made shots, and had me feeling pretty good. But then, of course, the other Thunder team then showed up. What once looked like was going to be a comfortable win–became a seat squirmer to the very last shot of the game.

The Spurs sat Leonard, Aldridge, Ginobli, and Parker and yet still had a chance to the very end to win on the road against a healthy Thunder team which should be no lower than the third seed in the West if you only look at rosters on paper.

But still, it’s a win and improves the Thunder to 10-12 and gives the impression that by at least winning this game some baby steps might be taking place.

The biggest baby step is that for second straight game Steven Adams was a major part in the Thunder offense scoring 19 points and once again showing the form from post season play two seasons ago.

Russell Westbrook triple doubled for the seventh time this season, but once again had trouble running the offense during crunch time. But again, OKC has won two in a row against two teams from the West who should finish in the top six once the smoke has cleared after 82 regular season games.

Both Paul George and Carmelo Anthony struggled shooting the ball, so again it’s a good sign for OKC in that two major parts of the team can have an off night and they can still find a way to win a game.

Andre Roberson and Jerami Grant both had good games. So if I were going to give grades on this game I’d go Adams with an A, Westbrook with a B, both Roberson and Grant with B’s. Ray Felton had what I though was another solid performance and I’d give him a B as well. Alex Abrines actually made a three and showed he still has a pulse of sort. But I’m very disappointed with both Abrines and Patterson to date. I expected much, much more form both of these role players…especially in home games. You expect role players to be up and down on the road, but if you want to contend your role players need to be excelling at home.

Again, this group of Little Miss Sunshiners aren’t going to get me to think any great bridge of sort has been crossed in the two December games, but at least there’s an illusion of hope it won’t get worse and we won’t see Billy Donovan dancing and flapping his arms in team huddles.

Like I wrote before, the schedule for OKC in December and January is favorable, if this team has any character whatsoever the feel about this team moving into February should be one of hope and optimism.

I’m already thinking trade deadline. I’m thinking if Abrines and Patterson can’t get their games together something might need to be done. I’m even good with the notion of Josh Huestis being in our top nine players.

Top ten for me right now goes… 1 Westbrook, 2 George, 3 Adams, 4 Carmelo, 5 Andre, 6 Jerami, 7 Raymond, 8 Huestis, 9 Abrines, 10 Patterson.

All in all, a great sports week-end for me. OU advanced to Rose Bowl and the Final Four, the Thunder won two in a row, and Aaron Rodgers is just about ready to start playing again for the Packers.

Utah Jazz in town tomorrow night to face the Thunder.

Winning is fun.

No one gets left behind in this season of dysfunction. No one.

I’m not sure what we saw tonight beyond tonight, but it was a different version of the Thunder we haven’t seen before. This wasn’t Russell Westbrook’s team tonight, it was more of Paul George and Steven Adams taking the reigns with the mercurial Russell Westbrook weaving parts of his game here and there.

OKC finally won a game against a Northwest division foe in beating the Minnesota Timberwolves by a 111-107 count inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Thunder started great, built a twenty something lead, then gradually saw it dwindle to almost nothing, but held on at the end with a huge Steven Adams putback at the 27 second mark and two big free throws by Paul George at the very end to ice the game.

Oh, it’s not like Wild Thing or Bad Little Dude or the reigning MVP wasn’t in the building, but this was a different OKC team in that Paul George and Steven Adams were the storylines and Russell Westbrook was a supporting character still trying to figure out how to calibrate his game with his new teammates.

I’ll start with Steven Adams. He had a career night scoring 27 points making all 11 of his field goal attempts. You knew it was his night when he made all five free throw attempts and was a Thunder best at +18. This was the Steven Adams we saw glimpses of two post seasons ago when in essence his play commanded the $25 million salary he now enjoys. Tonight was the Steven Adams we thought would emerge last fall but never materialized. This may have been Steven Adams’ best game in Thunder blue. Anyway, he would be my No. 1 star of the game. Nicely done, mate.

Having written all of the above in the previous paragraph, Adams wasn’t the best Thunder player on the floor in this game—that would have to be Paul George who was fabulous and had maybe his best game in Thunder blue as well. While Bad Little Dude was still struggling on a 6-21 shooting night, it was Paul George who calmed the Thunder when they needed calming.

George’s line was brilliant. 36 points, 9 assists, and 4 rebounds. He was 11/11 at the line and his defense was solid. I thought he was the best basketball player on the floor. Period. He played 42 minutes, made the plays when they were needed and steered the Thunder to a win they had to have if there’s any hope in turning this season into something of note in OKC.

Russell Westbrook showed flashes of what he needs to be in the Maurice Cheeks point guard template from the ’83 Sixers, but not enough. I hate to bitch about this, but Russell has to stop jacking threes on nights when other guys are having really good nights. Russell went 6-21 from the field and 0-8 from beyond the arc. There was no need for some of those quick threes, it was a night when Adams and George were scoring at will.

On the night, Westbrook almost tripled doubled with 15 points, 14 assists, and 9 rebounds, but he still needs to be better. What Russell Westbrook has still yet to show me as a basketball player is that he can totally turn himself into a point guard who calibrates his game from scorer to facilitator as the game goes through nuance flow changes. This is the part of Westbrook which has to emerge if he ever wants to win an NBA championship.

Carmelo Anthony didn’t shoot much on this night and that’s a good thing because he had two teammates in Adams and George who were on fire on this particular night.

Roberson, Jerami Grant, and Ray Felton did their usual array of blue collar team things which never go unnoticed by this blogger. I love what they do for the team.

Not much from again from the rest of the bench as Patterson, Huestis, and rookie Terrance Ferguson made minimal contributions. Alex Abrines was a DNP again and Donovan is getting virtually nothing from his two three point specialists in Ferguson and Abrines. Some how, some way, that needs to change. OKC needs something from at least one of these guys because that’s why they’re on the fucking roster. Link on a chain, boys….pull your link.

Nick Collison played two minutes late in the first half and made a quick dish off assist which touched my heart and reminded why I love him so much as basketball player.

OKC was good on the boards, had 28 assists, and was 21/22 from the line. All good things.

Fool me once it’s on you. Fool me twice….. So I’m not going to sit here and write some bullshit about how the Thunder turned a corner and it’s all blue skies moving forward, but on this night in Oklahoma City–Steven Adams and Paul George were good enough to get the Thunder a win over a playoff caliber team from the Western Conference.

I have no idea if this has any carryover whatsoever or if it’s just another cruel turn in this season of dysfunction which seems more like Little Miss Sunshine than Hoosiers, but on this night…I’ll take it and be somewhat grateful.

San Antonio Spurs in Oklahoma City on Sunday night.