Author: Mike

Golden State Warriors at the San Antonio Spurs in a game which will take center stage on the Saturday Night ABC Game of the Week. The Warriors enter 62-6 trying to cement their place in history, while the Spurs enter 58-10 and 34-0 at home on the season. Something will have to give tonight.

The teams have only played once this season with the Warriors routing the Spurs 120-90 in Oakland back on January 25th.

These same two teams will play each other two additional times in the regular season as well. Spurs at Warriors on April 7th, Warriors at Spurs on April 10th.

So while I get on the Thunder about being a collective 1-6 versus Golden State, San Antonio, and Cleveland we’re about to find out just how good these Spurs are as they enter tonight 2-3 combined against Golden State, Cleveland, and OKC.

Vegas has the Spurs listed as a 3.5 home favorite tonight.

In other games of relevance, OKC is a 3.5 road favorite at Indiana, while Cleveland is a 2.5 road favorite against the Miami Heat. Three games to keep an eye on tonight.

Oklahoma City Thunder 111 — Philadelphia  76’ers 97

In all candor I’d have rather been watching what chain Donald Trump was pulling on the GOP establishment in this twenty-four hour news cycle, but alas the tireless job of a Thunder blogger is to show up for work even on a night when the opponent is the feeble Philly Sixers.

Unless you’re one of those insecure, vapid types on Daily Thunder or whatever Nickie Gallo calls his blog—this is one of those nights you put up the score, maybe work hard through two ‘graphs and call it a night.

This was a game which even if OKC had wanted to lose they couldn’t have because I’m sure somewhere on Jerry Colangelo’s computer is an e-mail from the clueless Sam Hinkie exhorting the Sixers to draft Ben Simmons this July and add another misfit to the rebuild process. So—in essence this was a game Philly needed to lose for the ‘process’.

How could you possibly not make the NCAA Tournament field in this day and age and be considered to be the No. 1 pick in the draft? Just visualize Simmons with the other misfits. Embiid will never play. Okafor will never defend. And Simmons will never shoot. Go for it, Hinkie.

Anyway—there was never any drama in this one as OKC improves to 47-22 on the year and 20-13 on the road.

Tomorrow night in Indianapolis against the Pacers.

The end.

Mike Jackson

OKC takes a modest two game winning streak into Philly tonight to play the still league worse Sixers. At 9-59, the Sixers once again are the NBA’s worse team. The Sam Hinkie nightmare is close to being over in Philadelphia.

In December—the Sixers hired the very respected Jerry Colangelo to in essence start making the basketball decisions. Unless I’m reading this wrong I’d assume that means Sam Hinkie’s days of losing more games than any team in the league just to keep drafting flawed centers are over.

As I wrote earlier in the season, I grew up being a Sixer fan living in Oklahoma City. What Sam Hinkie has done as general manager is a virtual disgrace. The Colangelo decision was made basically because owners around the league urged NBA commissioner Adam Silver to do something in Philly because the credibility of the league was taking a  hit because of Hinkie’s continued tanking with no tangible results being shown. Sixers fans wouldn’t be at all guilty of going over the top in filing a class action lawsuit against the Sixers claiming legal ground for restitution for actually paying money to watch this piece of shit dumpster fire.

At the time of Colangelo’s hiring, the Sixers were 1-21 and a combined 38-148 in  two and a fourth seasons.

As Sixer fans, we collectively still wait for Joel Embiid to play a game in the NBA. We wonder if Hinkie blew it drafting Jahlil Okafor as a low character guy who can’t play defense. Nerlen Noels shows glimpses here and there, but the freak show continues in Philly.

In Colangelo, the Sixers get an executive who on four separate occasions has won the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Plus, he along with Coach K have been the face of the Team USA basketball.

Some were saying Hinkie would be the next Moneyball GM falling in the footsteps of Sam Presti at OKC. But here’s the difference, Presti actually knows how to draft basketball players and put a roster together–even though he still hasn’t put the right shooting guard alongside Durant and Westbrook since the Harden trade.

But with Colangelo now making the basketball decisions in the NBA’s fifth largest market it appears the days are winding down with Sam Hinkie and Sixer fans might start seeing some NBA level basketball again at some point down the road.

If OKC loses to this team tonight the season is effectively over.

There—that’s my preview on tonight’s game in Philly.

I haven’t done a Power Poll since the All-Star break. With basically one month left in the regular season this might be a good time to take a look at the current top twelve teams in the league. At 61-6 the Golden State Warriors are still very much on track to break the Bulls record for the best regular season of all-time. San Antonio and Cleveland seem entrenched in the No. 2 and No. 3 spots. OKC seems to have halted its free fall and stays at No. 4.

But beyond OKC—there’s not a team in the poll I could see winning the title, and OKC’s chances are clearly at a level below Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio. Seven teams from the East made my poll this time around as the streaking Charlotte Bobcats made the poll at No. 11.

1    Golden State Warriors

2    San Antonio Spurs

3    Cleveland Cavaliers

 

4    Oklahoma City Thunder

5    Toronto Raptors

6    LA Clippers

7    Miami Heat

8    Atlanta Hawks

9    Boston Celtics

10  Houston Rockets

11   Charlotte Bobcats

12    Indiana Pacers

Despite the fact Ted Cruz believes he’s going to be the GOP nominee, Donald Trump has canceled the latest Fox GOP debate and started his campaign against Hillary Clinton even as the GOP establishment and Ben Ginsberg plot his demise at the convention. If nothing else, you have to give Donald Trump an ‘A’ for audacity and political humor. Really—who’s even going to need Saturday Night Live for the rest of this campaign?

 

Oklahoma City Thunder 130 — Boston Celtics 109

After starting the post All-Star break at 4-8, the OKC Thunder have stabilized somewhat with their second straight blowout win over a playoff team by routing the Celtics on their home floor by a score of 130-109 on Thursday evening.

OKC looked relaxed, confident and prepared to atone for their 100-85 loss in Oklahoma City back in November.

Kevin Durant went 28 points, 7 rebounds, 9 assists, +30 and is my No. 1 Star of the Game. Westbrook scored 24, Kanter 17, and Ibaka 14 to lead a balanced scoring attack for the Thunder. OKC’s bench scored 55 points on the night as Randy Foye had his second straight double figures game. I thought it was Foye’s best game as a member of the Thunder.

Cam Payne actually played twenty plus minutes and appears to be working the rust off his game as Billy Donovan seems to maybe now all of the sudden agree with most of us on Payne. As in there’s no reason for him to be rotting on the bench.

Morrow looks to be in the same boat as his shot is starting to come around as well. It marked the first time Dion Waiters played since his brother was killed in Philadelphia last week.

OKC improves to 46-22 overall and 19-13 on the road for the season, but more importantly still has a 2.5 lead over the Clippers for the right to not play Golden State in the second round of the Western Conference Playoffs.

A good win for OKC. Like the Portland blowout win, this is what the Thunder are capable of when they focus and play up to their potential.

Fourteen games left for OKC in the regular season and this trend of play needs to continue for the Thunder if they have hopes of a meaningful run at reaching the Western Conference Finals.

I’m not going to say OKC has turned a corner or anything, but the overwhelming cloak of tragedy which has been draped over this team since the break seems to have lifted.

OKC in Philly on Friday night to play my tanking Sixers. Not sure I really view Ben Simmons as a game changer, but these guys love to tank so they can deal with it as they continue to bumble in rebuild.

Mike Jackson

A nice evening for John Kasich, his family and followers. But given the reality of what transpired in the rest of the GOP primaries on Tuesday, Kasich should probably suspend his campaign as Marco Rubio did on Tuesday evening. Trump rolled in Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, and won a state in Missouri in which Ted Cruz should have won. Given the fact Kasich didn’t do particularly well in either Michigan or Illinois there doesn’t appear to be anything which indicates a Kasich momentum move other than the fact he won his home state.

There is no road map to an electorate nomination for Kasich. But in reality there isn’t one for Cruz either. Unless you adhere to the notion the GOP establishment is going to deprive Trump of being their candidate at a brokered convention in Cleveland, this is over. Donald Trump will be the GOP nominee whether it’s the right thing for America or not.

Ted Cruz and his supporters are very much kidding themselves. Cruz is only competitive in a two man dynamic against Trump when its a closed primary where Democrats and Independents can’t vote. Cruz would be destroyed in a general election because other than a few states he has no overall Electoral College appeal.

So in an election year where voters thought they were clamoring for change, what they’ll have in November is the most audacious lobbyist in the world versus another member of the Clinton family who in reality has been bought by Donald Trump on numerous occasions in the past.

I’m not sure I really see any change in all of this, but this appears to be what the American voters have decided.

Kasich and Rubio fought the good fight, but it’s over for both of them on the same night.

It’s Super Tuesday and history possibly hanging in the balance as far as the GOP and this presidential election. Obviously, we have some angry people in this nation—that much is clear in that no matter what Trump does his cult followers stay loyal. I hope at some point this thing fizzles out and our country comes to its senses and doesn’t elect the pathological liar/ reality television star as our 45th president. I mean, what does it say when Pete Rose calls out the leading GOP candidate for being a liar and seems completely believable in doing so.

Saturday Night Live just has to love this though. To echo Lawrence O’ Donnell this is where the Trump cult followers got their original traction in the GOP eight years ago. Pray for our country. Sigh.

 

 

 

 

OKC Thunder 128 — Portland Trailblazers 94

This is more like it. This is the Thunder team we need to see more frequently. The Thunder team which has two of the best four players in the world on their roster. The Thunder team which has a nice trio of bigs in Ibaka, Adams, and Kanter. The Thunder team which has an elite three point specialist in Anthony Morrow. The Thunder team which has a promising rookie playmaking guard in Cameron Payne.

This is more of what I expect from the Thunder. I’ll get to what I’ve seen from Billy Donovan of late further down the page.

OKC just basically blew out the Trailblazers from start to finish in this one. Didn’t leave to any chance that their fourth quarter demons could derail them again. It was an excellent team win and Durant and Westbrook only played light minutes — which is a very good thing this time of the season.

OKC’s bench was superb scoring 66 points in this one. Enes Kanter is my No. 1 Star of the Game with 26 points and a +28.

Anthony Morrow scored 11 and looked like A-Mo of last season before Billy Donovan’s bizarre rotations shred his shooting confidence. Randy Foye finally made some shots and had 11 points.

Cam Payne finally saw the floor again and I thought he looked good. His lack of playing time absolutely pisses me off because anyone who’s watched Russell Westbrook knows No. 0 needs a co-pilot hybrid guard on the floor with him to close in Winning Time. Let’s be honest here.. Russell Westbrook for all his triple doubles has never shown himself to be a poised closer against elite teams in post season matchups.

James Harden perfected the role in 2012-13 when he in fact was the Thunder’s MVP when they made the NBA Finals. Likewise—Reggie Jackson saved OKC’s ass two years ago when the Thunder escaped Memphis and eventually made their third trip to the WCF.

I get the fact Cam Payne struggles  defensively, but so did Reggie Jackson and so does Russell Westbrook when he’s only half mentally engaged. So my suggestion to Billy Donovan would be to f#@king pull your head out and allow Cam Payne to develop as OKC’s hybrid guard co-closer.

This isn’t SEC basketball, there’s no need for an overthink on this. Develop Cameron Payne. Period. You don’t piss away the 14th pick in the draft. Nurture him.

Westbrook had his 12th triple double of the season…yawn.

All together seven Thunder players scored in double figures.

The Thunder improve to 45-22 on the season and now head east for a three game road swing which includes Boston, Philly, and Indiana.

I’m not coddling these guys anymore. That’s the job of our local homers. Nick Gallo can daub the superstars in the shower if that’s what they need from him.Step up and lead superstars. Step it up.

Now I’ve got to get my game face on for Super Tuesday and chart how many times the pathological liar Donald Trump lies in the next twenty-four hour news  cycle.

Mike Jackson

 

I’m trying to be very cautious with my words on the Thunder right now. I just don’t want to come out battering them every game calling them a collective group of underachieving chokers. They’ve been through a lot in the last month or so, but by the same token I’d like to see Durant, Westbrook, and Ibaka to show some leadership on this team and snap out  of it.

I don’t want to keep calling this a dumb basketball team either. But still–they keep playing dumb basketball, but by the same token I don’t want to be like Nick Gallo, Brian Davis, Royce Young, and Michael Cage pretending none of this is happening.

Dumb teams with little heart don’t go very far beyond April generally.

There I said it.

Portland has been the polar opposite of OKC this season in overachieving after losing four of their five starters to free agency this past summer. Either Terry Stotts or the Boston coach are going to be my COTY winner in all likelihood. Stotts has squeezed every possible ounce of juice out of the proverbial pulp this season in putting the Trailblazers in a position to make the playoffs.

I have no thoughts on this game other than it would be refreshing to see OKC play 48 minutes of smart, inspired basketball.

I can’t go any further. They need to show me something because against elite teams this Thunder team is 3-8 on the season and quite frankly an underachieving bunch so far.