Month: June 2025

Here we go…a Game 7 for all the marbles. This is more like a Championship Monday with the exception of course that this Game 7 will be played in Oklahoma City versus that of a neutral site.

If this game were being played at a neutral site… I’d like the Indiana Pacers to win this game outright by 1.5 points or so.

But this game isn’t going to be played in Las Vegas or in a venue like the NBA Cup is played. This Game 7 is going to played inside of Loud City and for that reason I cannot overlook the history of Game 7s in NBA Finals history.

As stunning as this might sound to some…I think Indiana is the better team from top to bottom. I think Rick Carlisle has easily been the better coach. I think the Thunder have been mercurial in these Finals, while the Pacers have been the more consistent, steadier team which has played to their strengths better than the Thunder have in the first six games.

I actually think the Pacers have a better, deeper bench…and it were not for Alex Caruso the bench matchups would be a colossal mismatch.

And here we are in Game 7 and I’m thinking to myself is Chet Holmgren going to breakthrough or continue to under-amaze in these NBA Playoffs. I don’t think any GM in this league would use the No. 2 pick in a draft class for a player who only shows up every third game. Does merely showing up every third game merit a max contract? Is that in the smaller print in the NBA players’ collective bargaining agreement?

In Game 1…I gave the Pacers a 47-48% of winning as a 10.5 road underdog. I was prescient with that feel even though the Pacers turned the ball over 25 times.

Game 7s are a different animal though. There have been 19 previous NBA Finals with the road team winning only four times. So based on that number do I write on here I’m giving the Indiana Pacers a mere 22% chance of winning tonight?

No MJ does not. What MJ will say is he’s going with the Pacers at a 44% chance of winning tonight, while tabbing the Thunder with a 56% chance of winning tonight.

Even though I’ve been more impressed with the Pacers there are several other things beyond homecourt which would trouble me in picking the Pacers to win tonight inside of PayCom Arena:

1 The Shai free-throw factor…is 12-14 night coming?

2 The Alex Caruso factor in regards to how this game will be officiated.

3 Is Tyrese Haliburton capable of being special for 32 minutes or more?

4 Is this the game Myles Turner returns to his normal level of play or not?

Basically homecourt usually makes role players play better. So is this the game we see Aaron Wiggins and Cason Wallace play high level basketball on the same night would be my No. 5 on the list.

So, in essense what I’m looking for from the Thunder tonight is a game in which Holmgren, Wallace, and Wiggins all step up collectively in this pressure packed Game 7.

I’ve loved watching this series and covering it on my blog. It’s a shame more viewers nationally have not shared in my sentiment. Too bad for them though because what we’ve had the privelege of watching are two teams who don’t have Steph or LeBron on their rosters, but who have worked there way up these past three years to become two of the best teams in the NBA moving forward.

I hope it’s a great game which goes down to the last shot.

Good luck to both of these hard-working teams.

Mike J

No…Jeb Bush wasn’t debating inside of Gainbridge Arena on Thursday night during Game 6 of these NBA Finals. But given the apparent disinterest and listfulness displayed by the Thunder…it had that Jeb Bush feel to it from the Thunder minus the nice 10-2 start which went poof soon-after.

108-91 in no way indicates how bad the Thunder were…or maybe, how gritty these stubborn Pacers are. But know this…I’m pretty certain these Pacers who have been absolute road warriors during these NBA Playoffs are going into Game 7 with the belief they can win the game even if Scott Foster is one of the game officials.

Since I mentioned Scott Foster…this is where I would suggest as you breakdown Sunday’s Game 7 in Oklahoma City you might use what MJ calls the Scott Foster metric in OKC. That being…if Scott Fosster is part of the crew you might want to calibrate 12-16 free throws for SGA.

Give the Pacers a ton of credit in this game. They handled the Tyrese situation just about perfectly. Tyrese looked pretty much healthy and played lighter minutes and yet made a solid contribution with 14 points, nice ball decisions, and that smile of his which I’m sure is infectious to his teammates.

I don’t think in anyway MJ will need to mention Willis Reed or Aaron Gordon on Sunday morning when I do my Game-Day breakdown of Game 7.

Six Pacers scored in double figures with Obi Toppin leading the way with 20 and Andrew Nembhard clutch with 17 points, excellent on ball decisions, and tough, physical defense on Shai.

In all six Pacers scored in double figures with Siakam kicking in a 14,13 double-double, TJ MCConnell excellent again with 17 points, and Aaron Nesmith adding 10 points, physicality, and TPSSN all over the floor.

*Toughness, Physicality, Smarts, Snarl, Nasty. The passive submissives over there at the Daily Thunder could never come to terms with this very simple metric. Tramel understands it though. MJ’s best pupil by far.

Indiana didn’t turn the ball over much. Didn’t fuel easy transitional points to the Thunder. Shot a very respectable 15-42 from beyond the arc. Won the boards 46-41. Won almost every meaningful 50-50 ball…and got their starters off the floor for most of the fourth period.

Rick Carlisle was masterful on how he handled the Tyrese injury situation from a human standpoint. That’s what great coaches do..they always remember their players are human and not some piece of chattel.

2nd Rule of Coaching…The great coaches display their own unique character and personality to their players for special moments. This Game 6 was special moment for the Pacers in the present and in the future down the road.

I’m going to take a break from the Finals tomorrow and go see that new FI movie starring Brad Pitt. That’s definitely a movie I will see in a real theatre.

Then I’ll get back on here Sunday morning for my Game 7 takes for what for me has been a very special NBA Finals as far as the enjoyment I derived from being able to be healthy enough to actually do this. and spend more time with my loved ones.

My Four Stars of Game 6 went in this order…1 Andrew Nembhard, 2 Siakam, 3 TJ McConnell, and 4 Obi Toppin.

Have a wonderful Saturday day off from the NBA Finals. This has really turned out into a great series either way it goes on Sunday evening.

Mike J

This could certainly be a historic night for the Oklahoma City Thunder in Year 17 of the franchise being in Oklahoma instead of Seattle. The Sonics won their lone champuonship in 1979 with the Jack Sikma, Dennis Johnson, and Downtown Freddie Brown group. So for the franchise collectively…this could be the first title in 46 years.

We have no idea what the game time status of Tyrese Haliburton will be come tip. I will suggest this though…In ’71 Willis Reed did comeback, but he didn’t play the point guard position and wasn’t ask to direct his team’s offense against a pack of pit bulls and dobermans like the Thunder’s defense can be at times when they’re locked in with Alex Caruso leading the mob mentality.

I think it would be irresponsible of Rick Carlisle to throw Tyrese Haliburton out there if it’s obvious he can’t go at the very least around the 90% threshold. Plus, if he does play–I would think the minutes would be calibrated much lower than his normal minutes on the court.

We saw this same type of injury derail Aaron Gordon at the end of the semi-final round…and again, Aaron Gordon was not being asked to play the point guard position against this very physical, swarming Thunder defense.

To me…this means Rick Carlisle needs to tell his other five guards who have played in this series they need to be completely ready to absorb those Haliburton minutes and give their team a chance to win this Game 6 at home.

Which means TJ McConnell, Aaron Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Ben Mathurin, and Ben Shepperd all need to elevate their games in a significant sustained manner for 48 minutes if Haliburton cannot go.

Do I think it’s possible in a home game setting for Indy to win without Haliburton.?

I do. But not something I would bet on. But you never know and that’s why we play the game. We have seen glimpes of excellence from TJ McConnell, Nesmith, Nimbhard, and Mathrutin in this series. But we did not see it in Game 5 in Oklahoma City from these latter three guys. Especiallly from Nembhard and Mathurin who appeared shell-shocked from the Thunder crowd.

To me…this would also mean Rick Carlisle should probably roll Obi Toppin out there for more minutes to absorb some of those Haliburton lost minutes. And it will be imperative for both Siakam and Myles Turner to both have strong games and stay out of foul trouble. And some good minutes are probably going to be needed from Bradley as well.

On the other side of the equation…this series should have been over in Game 5 if not for the overthink antics of Mark Daigneault screwing with the starting lineup and rotations which didn’t need Cason Wallace playing 33 minutes a game in the NBA Finals. I’m not going through my entire rant again on that, but it would seem to me the Thunder seem to have it figured out heading into Game 6 tonight in Indy.

What a special night it could be for the state of Oklahoma to hoist an O’Brien Trophy to culminate an NBA championship and an 84 win season of regular season and playoff games combined.

Complete and absolute vindication for Sam Presti and all that transpired after Game 6 versus Golden State in 2016 until basically tonight or in Game 7 in Oklahoma City if the series continues beyond tonight.

We will be witnessing history as the youngerst team since the ’77-’78 Portland Trailblazers could be culminating the original dream of Clay Bennett and Aubrey McClendon. That being, to bring and sustain championship NBA level basketball to Oklahoma City.

I wonder if Sam Anderson from the NY Times has an eye on tonight’s game and if he has something in the works as an epilogue of sorts to Boom Town.

A great deal to absorb as we get ready for what is now the most important game in the history of the Oklahoma City Thunder.

I have to admit…the struggle and the rebuild are great stories in themselves.

Good luck to both groups. You’ve given us a compelling Finals.

Mike J

I would, but my son and his family live in Denver and I yodel John Denver songs in my hot tub. So…me being me and Sam Presti being a very self-controlled almost what I would describe as an anal nerd of sorts…I’m not so sure.

I’m not sure if Sam Presti is up before dawn every day on his terrain bike grinding it out. But if Sam Presti is that type of guy who loves nature and the challenges of mountain biking, hiking, snow skiing or snow boarding, fly fishing, Wash Park, liberal neighborhood book clubs, and living in the same city as the Broncos, the Avalanche, the Rockies, and the most successful DI mens hockey program in the country…I would think the Denver job might be interesting.

Also…did I mention you can be sipping your morning coffee and see the snow capped mountains off beyond your backyard deck?

And did I mention a nucleus four of Nicola, Jamal, Aaron, and Christian? I didn’t mention Michael Porter Jr. because if MJ was the new Nugget GM that would be the first move I made…that being, moving Michael Porter Jr’s contract and filling those payroll dollars with someone like maybe Bruce Brown and a lesser two-way player who could help the Nugget bench next season.

Russell Westbrook will be gone because quite frankly new head coach David Adelman knows he can’t get the Nuggets back to the NBA Finals with Russell’s inconsistent and mercurial play in the NBA Playoffs when the competition gets tougher every round round.

Sam Presti knows this as well. Been there. Done that.

So? Here the Nuggets are about a week out from the NBA draft and they still haven’t named their GM? They didn’t have much problem firing head coach Mike Malone and GM Calvin Booth with three days left in the regular season? They didn’t have a problem letting Assistant GM Tommy Balcetis go on Monday.

So would the Groenke family name Denver’s G League affilate Ben Tenzer to be the new GM if they could instead either get Tim Connelly back from the Minnesota Timberwolves or Sam Presti from the Oklahoma City Thunder?

I mean…if you as a championship organization which seriously wants to show Nicola how dead serious you are in putting a team together so he can win a second and a third NBA Championship… would you put your faith in Ben Tenzer instead of either Sam Presti or Tim Connelly, both winners of the NBA Executive of the Year winners?

I just find it odd we’re within a week of the NBA draft while Sam Presti’s team is one game away from winning the NBA championship and the Nuggets’ GM job hasn’t been filled yet.

But probably this is just errant speculation on my part and either Ben Tenzer or Tim Connelly will be named the new GM in a day or so.

But Sam Presti in Denver is an interesting thought for certain.

Mike J

I love this interview just after the game between JDub and Lisa Salter. Evidently, Jalen didn’t realize the Pacers had drawn within two points (95-93) with less than nine minutes left in the fourth period.

I mean, this young man just reeled off a 40 point game on the biggest stage with the brightest lights shining and basically sounded like a CPA just following the biggest victory to date in the 17-year-old history of the Oklahoma City Thunder franchise to date. Not a coincidence both of JDubs’ parents were career military. The discipline and balanced demeanor is seemingly always with this young man.

Anyway, JDub went for 40 points. Shai played Robin and added 31 points with 10 assists. Caruso was Caruso…which means he’s the most annoying player in the NBA if he’s not on your team.

Chet grabbed 11 boards for his second straight strong game on the boards. I wonder if that in any way correlates with he and Isaiah both starting and being on the floor more together since the Cason Wallace starting experiment ended after Game 3 loss. The Thunder have pretty much ruled the boards these past two games…and, yeah, rebounding and setting screens for SGA are important parts of the Thunder master plan. If not, why would Sam Presti have acquired Isaiah in the first place?

Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and Kenrich in my mind were all solid in their various roles coming off the bench. Mark Daigneault rolled with a nine man rotation 1-9 just like an ‘almost famous’ underground blogger suggested he do after the Game 1 giveaway.

I loved what JDub said in the interview above, ” We basically played pretty much like we did in Game 1 tonight except we as a team learned from those mistakes.”

And BTW…I’m not going to compare JDub to Scottie Pippen. You know why? Because if this young man keeps his head screwed on like it is currently…he’s going to be better than Scottie Pippen. Word.

On the other side…Coach Carlisle in hindsight made a mistake reinserting Tyrese Haliburton back into the game. He should have just rolled with TJ McConnell, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Easmith, and Ben Mathurin.

But in defense of the Coach…both Nemhard and Mathurin were BRUTAL in this game and maybe Rick Carlisle thought an injured Haliburton would be better than both of those guys.

Andrew Nembhard and Ben Mathurin…please step into Coach Jackson’s office and shut the door. “Andrew, Ben, for us as a team to have any chance whatsoever of winning Game 6 …you two guys have to show up on Thursday night and bring your games with you. You both know how much better you need to be from what you showed last night.”

Siakam, TJ, Toppin, Turner, and Bradley were functional enough for the Pacers to have been in this game to the very end. But the simple truth of tha matter is Tyrese was if anything a liablity on the floor. OKC were like sharks circling wounded prey out there with Haliburton. It was painful to watch as the Thunder turned over the Pacers 22 time with many of those being live ball turnovers.

Remember the turnover number I posted before Game 1…14. If the Pacers turn the ball over 14 times or more they most likely will lose the game. Now..of course, Mark Daigneault proved me wrong on that number with his mind numbing performance in Game 1 as the Pacers overcame 25 turnovers. MJ doesn’t see Santa Claus gifting anymore games in this series though.

In closing… this 1-9 rotation was OKC’s best game of the series considering the importance of this Game 5 with the series being tied 2-2. Plus…I witnessed no one 1-9 wearing a Thunder jersey shrink or go invisible. Nine guys did their respective jobs.

Good game, guys.

One more win…and you’ve done what no one ever thought was possible in a college market like Oklahoma City…namely, winning an NBA championship.

And I what I find exceptionally satisfying is that even though MJ became a Denver Nuggets fan during all the dark, draconian tanking…Sam Presti then pretty much followed most of my advice with the rebuild… and in this series after the Game 1 giveaway. So…in a bizarre manner of speaking, MJ somewhat feels okcthunderground.com was a part of this Thunder turnaround.

You know what the total irony in all of this would be though..if Sam Presti resigned from the Thunder after the championship and took the Denver Nugget GM job right before the NBA draft. Denver fired their assistant GM yesterday and still hasn’t replaced Calvin Booth. Just a crazy thought of sorts.

Good luck to both teams in Game 6.

Mike J

Game 5 is tonight inside of PayCom Arena.

I am totally immersed in this series. I like and respect both teams. As was the case in the Denver vs. OKC series…at times I find myself conflicted and somewhat confused as to which team I utlimately want to win the championship.

But in the end it has to be the Thunder because of three guys.

Those same three guys who together crawled through the shit in that sewage tunnel from the Shawshank Prison of Tanking to this point where the Thunder are literally two wins away from the pinnacle of NBA excellence.

Those three guys are obviously…1 Shai, 2 Lu, and 3 Kenrich. My respect for these three young men is absolute at this point. What they have been the center of during this rebuild in Oklahoma City is a remarkable thing to witness during these cynical and at times jaded days we live in as American fans of sport.

But I must confess being that I posess the heart of a grinder myself…Nick Collison and Kenrich are probably my two favorite Thunder players in the Oklahoma NBA experience to date. Lu Dort is a very close third and might in fact cause MJ to expand this group to three players in the not to distant future.

Shai…I love you as well, but you’re a bigtime AT&T superstar–so I’m going to love more on the role players as we begin the best 2 of 3 tonight at PayCom.

Kenrich…here would be the dream for MJ as far your NBA future. I hope you win your ring and then Sam Presti trades you to the Denver Nuggets where you win your second ring next season.

BTW…during a Zoom call yesterday… my 5 year-old grandson confessed to me that even though he’s currently wearing an Alex Caruso jersey… like me–his NBA heart is still with Nikola, Jamal, Aaron, and Christian.

So…buddy, get your ring and then maybe, hopefully… I’ll run into you and your family someday walking around Washington Park even though I’m neither lit, nor woke.

Hope is a wonderful thing, trust me on that one.

Good Luck, Kenrich.

Mike J

What a beautiful ending for fathers all over America as JJ Spaun capped his improbable back nine comeback to win the 125th U.S. Open at Oakmont with your basic 64-foot walkoff tournament winner.

Of course…MJ cried like a baby. But that can’t be a shock.

Now to address all of my crying. I read Scott Turow’s current bestselling novel last week. The book is Presumed Guilty and it has been the long awaited closure novel to Presume Innocent.

The story is about this seventy-something year-old lawyer who was a prosecutor, a judge, and then a defense lawyer at the end of his career. And this wonderfully told story centers around the Rusty Sabich character reluctantly taking on the defense of his fiance’s son murder case.

It’s a great story masterfully crafted by Scott Turow.

But like I was saying last week after the French Open…sports are a microcosm of life. If you just don’t give up and keep plugging away…good things eventually turn your way.

There is a passage in the book where the Rusty Sabich character says, “They say your strength declines as you age, and that includes your emotional wherewithal. Old men weep when young men act like stones.”

Yeah, that’s where I’m at right now. You know… at this part of the journey… life does this to you. You stop and notice things you glossed over when you were younger. You pause and take the time to smell the roses.

Anyway, congrats to JJ Spaun and family. That was awesome.

Mike J

You gotta figure at some point this storming after a pivotal Thunder win this ‘storming’has some sort of super-natural merit to it. It’s pouring at the Deer Creek mini-ranch as I sit on the back porch looking into the abyss of nature and greenery.

Plus…you have to take into consideration the Hall of Fame Oklahoma weatherman, Gary England, passed this week at the age of 85. The same Gary England who was featured prominently in Sam Anderson’s book Boom Town. There could in fact be some double mojo working on this Thunder victory storm.

This is how MJ’s Three Favorite Weathermen of All-Time would go in this order…1 Gary England, 2 Willard Scott-NBC, and 3 Jimmy Cantore of the Weather Channel. Gary England was a gentleman, a pioneer, and a wonderful human being.

Either way…MJ doesn’t feel like playing Dreams again unless the Thunder have made it certain there’s going to be a parade in downtown Oklahoma City.

And unlike the bulbous Chuck Barkley, this MJ isn’t declaring a winner until one of these teams has four wins next to their name and Adam Silver is handing the O’Brien Trophy to either Shai or Siakam with confetti falling from the rafters.

A song would be nice though to take the edge off last night since as a still living Stage 4 cancer survivor I believe Dr. Showalter has told me he will kill me before the Stage 4 cancer if he finds out I’ve smoked a victory cigar or downed a real beer. Dr. S has a stare-down for certain.

So, yeah, here’s a Saturday morning different Fleetwood Mac song in honor of both teams’ performance in these Finals to date.

Love and peace.

MJ

This MJ, not the real one, is exhausted. That was some epic shit in the fourth quarter last night as the OKC Thunder saved their hopes for an NBA championship by being clutch the last six minutes of what in essence was an elimination game for the Thunder had they lost.

If Indiana goes on to lose these Finals in either six or seven games they will look back on those final six minutes with acute regret for the rest of their collective basketball lives.

This game will need two recaps from me in that I feel this game was that important. You could say it was Denver-Game 4 deja vous all over again. But it wasn’t. It was more than that.

It was an NBA Finals performance from Shai and his teammates which ‘should’ forever remove the stench from the Thunder’s epic collapse versus the Warriors in Game 6 circa 2016.

It was that kind of fourth quarter for the Thunder, but all good instead of self-inflicted disaster.

Winning Time is when it matters in the NBA Playoffs and Shai put his guys on his back and carried his team to a 31-17 fourth quarter win. But even more daunting is the fact the Thunder outscored the Pacers 13-1 during the game’s final three minutes.

13-1 on the road in an ELIMINATION GAME….on the road. See Michael’s ’98 tongue wagging. Seriously.

Shai scored 15 of those Thunder points in the 4th quarter and was 8-8 from the line on close out free throws.

And he got some significant help from his two AT&T buddies, Alex Caruso, and his coach who finally pulled his head out of his ass and made the common sense changes which needed to be tweaked in this critical Game 4.

My Four Stars go like this…1 Shai, 2 JDub, 3 Alex Caruso, and 4 Chet.

This MJ is whipped. It’s starting to rain at the Deer Creek mini-ranch. I’m not playing that Fleetwood Mac song though. I need my sleep. I’ll do a more exhaustive recap later on the nuanced changes Mark Daigneault made which gave the Thunder a chance to win this Game 4.

That was epic. Don’t think it wasn’t.

MJ

This is the biggest game of the series as far as I’m concerned. Whoever wins this game emerges with homecourt leverage the rest of the Finals.

This is a potential moment for the OKC Thunder. This is one of those moments when you find out about yourself and your teammates.

What you collectively are about as a team.

This is one of those times just like in the Denver series. Except this Pacer team isn’t fractured, isn’t razor thin, and this team has one of the best coaches in this generation of the NBA with all due respect to David Adelman.

This is where we don’t expect either team to surrender. Where we expect the winner to have survived by playing smart, tough, physical NBA playoff basketball for 48 minutes.

48 MINUTES.

If Alex Caruso needs to be tackled and put on the floor with some malice intended…so be it. And the same would apply for the Thunder on their defensive end of the floor. There should not be ONE SINGLE UNCONTESTED LAYUP TONIGHT.

Not one.

Hopefully…we tonight as NBA fans get the same desperate type of urgency we witnessed last night in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

What a hockey game!

Urgent. Sustained. Desperation.

May the most deserving team emerge victorious tonight in Indy.

Mike J