Author: Mike

So here we are, almost four years later and the Oklahoma City Thunder have yet to return to the NBA Finals. This is supposed to be their time. Since 2012, it’s been Lebron’s time, the Spur’s time, and now Steph Curry and the Warriors’ time. This isn’t how it was supposed to play out. Most figured the Thunder would be in the midst of their own dynasty, not just vicariously viewing LeBron, the Spurs, and the Warriors winning championships.

None of those three teams have two of the top four players in the world playing together. Only one team can make that claim and to be honest with you most in Oklahoma City only view the Thunder as a longshot to win the title as we near the beginning of post season.

So was it just losing Harden? That’s certainly part of it because Harden was the perfect co-pilot for Russell Westbrook. The same Russell Westbrook who despite the gaudy triple doubles has yet to show he’s a championship pilot on his own against elite competition at this time of the season.

Triples doubles against the bottom twenty teams in the league means nothing. That’s like Perrine rushing for 300 yards against Kansas or Texas Tech. Nobody cares…especially the Alabamas, Ohio States, and Clemsons. Make no question about this–if OKC gets past Dallas in the first round, they’ve then got Clemson, Ohio State, and Alabama in a row on the road waiting for them.

Think about that.

Russell Westbrook making smart basketball plays against the likes of the Spurs, Warriors, and Cavs and trying to win twelve collective games without home court advantage in any of those three series is to me the most paramount question the Thunder face as a team.

Can Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant do this in tandem without Harden or even Reggie Jackson?

I don’t know. NBA post season isn’t like the regular season. You can’t piss away possessions in the final six minutes of games. You can’t just jack up bad shots. You have to covert points off of possessions.

Sure, OKC has other questions. Can Roberson and Waiters produce at the shooting guard position? Can Serge Ibaka be consistent? Is Steven Adams ready to be an X-factor in NBA post season play? Will Billy Donovan be willing to pair Enes Kanter and Steven Adams together for minutes at meaningful points in game against teams much better than  the Dallas Mavericks? Will the Thunder’s perimeter defense stand up or just melt?

All compelling questions, but to me it’s mostly about the two stars. Are the two stars ready to lead a team to a Finals without Harden or just be spectators watching  LeBron, the Spurs, and the Warriors playing for what was supposed to have the Thunder’s name written on it almost four years ago when the Thunder beat the Spurs in a game which was supposed to be the passing of the NBA championship torch of sorts.

Are Durant and Westbrook finally ready to take the next step forward since 2012?

I can’t wait to see.

Kobe Bryant exits the NBA with a sixty point game and a win over the Utah Jazz. A beautiful way for a Hall of Fame career to come to a close. Bravo.

 

 

 

 

It’s official, the Golden State Warriors have broken the ’95-’96 Chicago Bulls’ record for most wins in a regular season. The thing is they made it look somewhat easy  after bolting to a 24-0 start. Golden State has just the right blend of chemistry.

Steph Curry is the best player in the league, but he’s complimented beautifully by Draymond Green, Klay Thompson,  Harrison Barnes, and one of the best passing centers in the NBA in Andrew Bogut. Iguodala, Ezili, Livingston, Speights, Barbosa, and Rush make for an excellent bench as well.

A thought for Kevin Durant if he leaves for Warriors, he won’t be the best player on the team. Steph Curry is that player. Durant would have to basically meld into this beautiful blend of players which will probably be absent of Barnes due to free agency.

But the thought of Durant not being the best player on his team isn’t really good for the overall picture of the NBA. You want your marquee players in the league to be featured and leading their own team. Any other team in the league absent of Golden State and Cleveland fills that role for Durant, but not those two teams. He becomes second best in either of those situations, and if I remember that 60 Minutes piece…Kevin Durant said he was tired of coming in second place.

 

San Antonio Spurs 102 – Oklahoma City Thunder 98 OT

I have no idea why Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka didn’t travel with the team on a rest night in the regular season finale, but it’s not for me to wonder. Maybe they were exhausted from a tough night against the Lakers pylon in cement defense on the first night of a back to back in OKC last night. Maybe the champagne and caviar with Kobe in the post game mixer was too much. Being NBA mega stars can be exhausting, so it’s not for me to wonder. But the stars didn’t travel to faraway San Antonio for the regular season’s final game for the Thunder.

But I’ll write this…the guys who did travel played their collective asses off and made me glad I watched the game. Kyle Singler and Josh Huestis didn’t play much or well, but everyone else wearing Thunder blue played hard and made me proud. You’ll never see me dog a player who plays hard. Gives what he has and competes to the max. Kudos to the Thunder players who could work the game into their schedules.

With the Thunder stars resting at home on the regular season’s final night, Nick Collison, Steven Adams, Cam Payne, Dion Waiters, and Andre Roberson got the starting calls. All played well. The Thunder broadcast gave Dion the No. 1 Star of the Game, but I’ll go with Cam Payne as my No. 1 Star of the Game. He had 17 points and 7 assists and played like he belonged on the floor against either Tony Parker or Patty Mills.

Dion played well, he just didn’t shoot well. Same thing with Andre Roberson–he competed with admirable ferocity, but again the shooting is a problem. Sam Presti appears to have a thing about collecting shooting guards  who can’t shoot, which is kind of problematic since it is called the shooting guard position. But still—Sam Presti > Sam Hinkie  and not even close. Just work on the shooting guard thing and the Durant thing if he leaves.

Nick Collison was great. Enes Kanter doubled-doubled and almost fought the toughest fighter in the league in David West just as the game ended. I liked that and he’s my No. 2 Star of the Game. This could be interesting if the Spurs and Thunder meet in the second round. David West is known for being a very tough dude.

Pop played all his stars minus Ginobli and to be honest –OKC had more than a fighter’s chance to win this game, but alas, it wasn’t meant to be.

OKC finishes 55-27 and like most of us Thunder bloggers thought before the season…. are probably the fourth best team in the NBA. Royce Young and Nickie Gallo had them first, but those two don’t count.

Memphis has dropped to the seventh seed. If Dallas can win at home against the San Antonio subs then they’ll probably be OKC’s first round opponent.

So–now we wait a few days. The Thunder stars are healthy, rested, and should have plenty of defensive effort stored up in their sneakers.

But on this season finale night in San Antonio, it was refreshing to see the Thunder players with no max contracts, no shoe endorsements, no cell phone commercials, or any other of the usual perks for NBA stars–just play hard from wire to wire.

Mike Jackson

 

Other than the fact OKC beat the dumpster fire Lakers 112-79 in a completely meaningless game for both teams there’s not much to talk about as far as recapping the game. Russell Westbrook got his record 18th triple double in 18 minutes, Kevin Durant got his 64th straight game with at least twenty points, and the Thunder won their 55th game of the season.

That’s my recap.

This night was about Kobe Bryant playing his last road game in his illustrious NBA career. Five NBA championships, two post season MVP’s, one regular season MVP, and a perennial first team All-Star. One of the greatest players to ever grace the hardwood.

I clearly have Kobe in my top ten players of all-time. I go 1… Michael, 2 Bill Russell, 3 Kareem, 4 Magic, 5 Bird, 6 Kobe, 7 Tim Duncan, 8 Olajawon, 9 Shaq, and 10 Bill Walton (healthy).

Note to Kevin Durant, on this list seven of the players stayed with their original team through the course of their careers. The three exceptions being Jordan finished with Washington, Shaq finished with the Heat, and Bill Walton won his second ring with the Celtics. There’s something truly iconic about staying with one franchise and imposing your legacy. Just saying.

As a kid growing up as a Sixer fan, I really didn’t hate love or hate the Lakers, but I clearly respected what they stood for as far as excellence in professional sports. Kobe Bryant in my mind is the third greatest Laker of all-time only behind Magic and Kareem.

Kobe Bryant was just flat out a warrior, and one thing Durant, Westbrook, and Harden should take note of is Kobe Bryant busted his ass defensively. If you want to be recognized as a truly iconic player, you play defense. You don’t shy away from leading. You take the heat and you lead in the game’s final minutes. Kobe Bryant understood all of this.

Obviously, Kobe was a cocky little shit in the early years of his career, but he grew as the years passed. It’s unfortunate he and Shaq couldn’t co-exist or they might have won eight rings together. But I get it, Shaq grates on me just watching him on TNT.

As an Oklahoma City fan, my most precious and clear memory of Kobe were his kind words for the Thunder youngsters following the heartbreaking Game 6 loss in 2010. He was truly gracious and it’s something which has stuck with me ever since. I believe he was interviewed by Lisa Salter if my memory is intact.

I enjoy going through the old Phil Jackson interviews hearing him talk about Kobe and their relationship. My guess is Kobe was Phil Jackson’s most challenging player, but also the one he grew to love in a special way as a coach.

Phil Jackson always gave each of his players a book to read each season. I’d love to have the list of books Phil gave Kobe over the years.

When the Thunder started playing Oklahoma City, the goal from Day 1 was to someday ‘Beat LA’. It’s what drove the city in those early Thunder years. But unfortunately for Kobe and the Lakers as a whole, this is an organization which has lost its place as one of the truly great professional sports franchises since the passing of Jerry Buss. Which is the only negative attached to the final several years of Kobe’s career. That being, he played on some very bad teams at the end.

But otherwise a magnificent career by a very special athlete who’s one of my favorite basketball people to listen to talking the sport.

Thank you, Kobe Bryant.

Mike Jackson

 

 

 

Golden State beat San Antonio on the road yesterday  by a score of 92-86 to tie the ’95-’96 Bulls record of 72 wins. With one home game remaining against the reeling Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, it seems a good bet for the Warriors to finish 73-9 and become holders of the best ever regular season mark in NBA history.

Some suggested Golden State was lucky last season in winning their championship because of injuries to Oklahoma City and Cleveland. Not the case, Golden State is simply a better team than both the Thunder and Cavs and have shown it easily this season in going 3-0 and 2-0 versus these two team this season.

There’s nothing soft about what Golden State has done. Against the Cavs, Spurs, Thunder, Raptors, and Clippers they are a collective 14-1. Only one road loss at San Antonio separates the Warriors from going 15-0 against the best competition the rest of the league has to offer.

Using this same measuring stick—Cleveland is 6-4, San Antonio is 6-8,  and OKC is 6-8.

Look at their season even closer and you’ll notice other than the San Antonio road loss, this Warrior team did not lose a game against any team in the league who will be playing in the second round of the upcoming playoffs, possibly saving Boston as the lone exception. This was a team with a mission to prove they are deserving champions and possibly much more as far as their place in NBA history.

With Bogut, Iguodala, and Ezeli all now back–if anything, this team should be primed to elevate their game as the post season nears.

Conversely, OKC hasn’t played like a team on a mission. They’ve been vastly inconsistent and quite frankly, a mentally lazy team at various stages of the season. I think back to the Kevin Durant 60 Minutes interview about him being tired of finishing second and it seems a little amusing at this juncture. Play defense, take care of the ball, lead the team. That’s what championship leaders do.

This is not a coach driven league for the most part like college ball is because of the rules and the money players make nowadays. It’s a stars driven league. Your stars coach the team from within. Set the tone. Define the soul of the team. Drive the team literally through the obstacle course which is an 82 game marathon season.

Maybe Durant and Westbrook think they can just turn it on now and win twelve games against the likes of the Spurs, Warriors, and Cavs. I honestly don’t see it. I could see OKC hanging with the Spurs,  but beyond that, I just don’t see a team with a enough smarts and mental toughness to go further.

Congrats to the Golden State Warriors on an amazing season.

I need this to cheer me up after watching the Thunder play last night. Understand, I still in no way want Donald Trump in the White House, but I love these LYIN’ Ted Cruz attacks he does. I have to admit, if I had to choose between Trump and Cruz it would be Trump, which speaks volumes as to what I think about LYIN’ Ted Cruz. Lindsey Graham and Jeb Bush should be ashamed of themselves.

Ted Cruz should leave New York immediately and come to terms with the fact he’s going to finish third in the state behind Trump and John Kasich.

“Get on the plane and go to Pennsylvania, Ted. Go now.”