Big, big game tonight in Game 4 from Indy. Perhaps a career defining game for Rick Carlisle as he ventures near the cusp of becoming the third NBA coach in my lifetime to win a championship with a team from both the East and the West.
The other two would be Pat Riley and Phil Jackson. And think about this…those guys won their first titles with Jerry Buss when the Lakers were the gold standard in the NBA versus the joke they’ve become of late. And consider those two had guys named Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, Kobe Bryant, Magic, Shaq and Dwayne Wade helping them win championships in Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.
Rick Carlisle had Dirk and Jason Kidd at the end of their careers with Dallas as the No. 6 seed in 2011. And here Rick Carlisle is again with an Indy team which was at one point five games under .500 this season and the eventual No. 4 seed in the East. And not to be disrespectful, but Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam aren’t exactly mentioned in the same breath as Steph, LeBron, or Tim Duncan either.
And BTW, Pop, Steve Kerr, and Eric Spoelstra have never done what Rick Carlisle might do if his Pacers find a way to win Game 4 tonight in Indy.
Tonight’s game in Indy overflows with NBA historical implications:
Can the Pacers slay that Thunder 12.9 differential which made the Thunder a prohibitive Vegas favorite?
Or could the narrative once again turn out to be Sam Presti once again brought a team to the NBA Finals, but again with a coach not perhaps worthy of riding Secretariat?
The potential narratives are enticing and palpable.
Does this guy remind anyone of a backup point guard named TJ McConnell?
Nobody wearing Thunder blue on Wednesday night in Game 3 of these NBA Finals in any way made MJ think of the greatness or grit of Rafael Nadal. Instead, what this underground blogger saw was the Thunder get out-toughed, out-played, and out-coached on their way to a 116-107 road loss.
Some of the numbers from this Game 3 are just staggering considering the ‘faux’ toughness which has been bestowed on this Thunder team so far this post-season by the basketball media.
Indiana basically beat the Thunder at their own game. In your face defense, turning the Thunder over 19 times for 21 points, winning critical 50-50 balls, winning a bench point rout of 49-18, and of course, the coaching mismatch between Rick Carlisle and Mark Daigneault three games into these NBA Finals.
Coach D…dude, again, these are the NBA Finals and you’re coaching against the Hall of Famer Rick Carlisle. These aren’t the Edmond Girls’ Youth U8 Finals. Obviously…somewhere, somehow, MJ missed the fact Cason Wallace must have finished second to SGA in the regular season MVP voting. MJ must have missed all that during the beach trip hiatus.
What MJ also witnessed was Mark Daigneault doesn’t trust Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, and Isaiah Joe in a hostile road game situation. Combined the three played 16 minutes and scored a combined 6 points. In essense, Coach Daigneault only played seven players in this game. What I’m saying is seven guys played 224 of the 240 available minutes while Shai logged 42 tough minutes.
Conversely, the Hall of Famer turned this game around BY BELIEVING IN HIS BENCH and his rotation of ten players.
Some words of advice to Thunder Nation….these Pacers aren’t the crippled, razor-thin Denver Nuggets. These guys are deep, hungry, and like me, tired of hearing how great the Thunder are in relation to the reality Denver, Dallas, Minnesota, and the LA Lakers were all for various reasons not the teams we thought they might be heading into Western Conference post-season play.
Ben Mathurin’s 27 points and TJ McConnell’s abundant energy turned this game around in the second period despite the Thunder leading by five points entering the fourth period. The Pacers wore down the Thunder in the game’s final six minutes for a critical Game 3 win and a 2-1 series lead which puts the Pacers within two games of an NBA championship.
Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam were huge as well as they elevated their games when it mattered most.
But here’s the thing, this is the exact scenario the Thunder found themselves in heading into that Game 4 in Denver when the Thunder did acutally show up for 48 minutes.
But these Pacers aren’t those Nuggets. And these Pacers don’t have to figure out why their GM suckered them with Julius Randle and Rudy Gobert.
These Pacers seem to be a completely different group of dudes who need to win a critical Game 4 on Friday night night to take a commanding 3-1 NBA Finals lead.
I can’t wait to cover it for okcthunderground.com. This is why you want your own NBA underground blog This is why.
Mike J
My wife and I over the years saw the Beach Boys live at four different venues. I hope Brian Wilson finds the peace which he seemingly had struggled with during his life. I love this song.
We’re all just searching for our own unique peace, dignity, and grace traveling our own journey. MJ
I voiced my displeasure with some of the moves Coach Mark made in the Thunder’s mind-blowing Game 1 loss. But much to my pleasure and surprise…it appears Coach Mark followed every single one of my nuanced suggestions for the Game 2 turnaround on Sunday evening inside of PayCom Arena.
So…I’m guessing maybe Mark has been reading okcthunderground.com and implementing some, if not all of my simple suggestions.
Basically, what I said following Game 1 was:
1 I don’t give a shit if Cason Wallace starts, but unless he’s able to knock down a couple of three’s there’s no way he should be getting 33 minutes and be on the floor the last six minutes of the game.
2 I don’t have a minutes number on how many minutes Chet and Isaiah should on the floor together, but at least throw that look out there a bit like a pitcher showing his changeup now and again to keep batters off balance.
3 Play Kenrich Williams a minimum of ten minutes in every game. His value goes on and beyond the stat sheet. Game 2 Kenrick played 8 minutes and was a +15 in those minues. Duh.
4 If Coach Mark and Sam can’t find Aaron Wiggins at a minimum 18 minutes a game then they should trade him to my Denver Nuggets this summer. Don’t give me the bullshit metric numbers that say Aaron’s a defensive liability. Was. Bobby Portis a a liablity for the Milwaukee Bucks several years back when he helped Giannis get his ring? Aaron Wiggins should be the second guy off the bench following only Alex Caruso.
5 Isaiah Joe is the defensive liability. He’s soft despite all the nonsense you people listen to on those absurd Thunder telecasts and blogs. Isaiah Joe only has inherit value if the Thunder fall behind by a double digit deficit and Coach Mark is desperate for someone to hit some quick bombs from beyond the arc.
6 Ajay Mitchell is a nice rookie who has a great future, but who also missed 30 games due to injury this season. When Coach Mark inserted Ajay into Game 1 in the first half…MJ’s cursing could have been heard halfway up our sleepy street leading to the Deer Creek mini-ranch. Are you kidding me? Play Kenrich and Aaron.
That’s pretty much about it. We don’t need to reconfigure the DNA molecule for the Thunder to win this series in five or six games and have an NBA championship parade in Oklahoma City.
The rotation goes in this order for MJ…1 Shai, 2 JDub, 3 Caruso, 4 Lu, 5 Isaiah, 6 Chet, 7 Aaron, 8 Cason, and 9 Kenrich. THIS IS THE NBA FINALS…nine players or maybe a tenth if there’s foul trouble or an injury. This is WINNING TIME.
Again…I could care less who starts. But I care very much who’s on the floor those last seven minutes.
Obviously…every game has a different script per se, but from my viewpoint to date…Chet and Cason are getting a little bit too much of either Sam or Coach Mark’s nerdy organic hoops love. Sometimes, actually…most times—winning is simple. You ride your hoss and some guys other guys ride with him.
Having written what I just wrote…I would concede Chet is the player I have circled. This dude’s team at Gonzaga did nothing in his one NCAA Tournament appearance. If Chet wants to change MJ’s narrative…then I would suggest he step it up and be the difference maker in this series from this point forward.
Show MJ.
Yeah, that’s my Game 3 suggestion. Do what it takes to make Chet Holmgren be the game changer the rest of these NBA Finals. Make things Break Good in a significant way, Chet Holmgren.
I am absolutely whipped. It was an incredible day of sport for MJ on multiple fronts.
First…congrats to the Thunder for a nice bonce back in Game 2 where the rotations and minutes made much more sense than what we saw in Game 1 from Coach D. I’ll write about what I specifically saw different tomorrow. I feel almost certain Coach Mark is reading the blog at this point.
Second…the sad realization for MJ that his favorite tennis player of all-time, Rafael Nadal, is winding down his career. What a tremendous farewell speech at Roland Garros. MJ cried for certain.
Third…Carlos Alacaraz outlasted Jannik Sinner in the second longest ever Grand Slam final and claimed his second straight French Open in a fifth set tiebreaker. Bravo! Neither surrendered. I felt like I was Hemingway in Paris today. It was magnificent.
I’ll address the Thunder’s bounce back tomorrow. I need my sleep. Evidently so do Tyrese Haliburton and Siakam.
But let me leave you Thunder players with the greatest thought ever shared by Rafael Nadal:
EXCUSES DON”T WIN CHAMPIONSHIPS!
MJ needs his sleep. Another one of MJ’s Sleep Collection Greatest Hits.
It was a beautiful day for MJ that’s for certain. All of these thunderstorms during the night and Fleetwood Mac are making Mike J sleep better than he has in the last twenty years or so. Obviously…the thunderstorms didn’t do much for the Thunder the other night…but I think the fact I’ve stopped watching all cable news combined with my special Carl Spackler Total Consciousness Nirvana meditating process has put me in a place I never before imagined possible.
Word.
So I’m thinking Thunder Nation might be a little tight after the collapse in Game 1. MJ would advise deep sleep for you Thunder fans even though tomorrow evening is the biggest game in the history of the Thunder. My guess is Rick Carlisle and his Pacers are already fast asleep. They have absolutely nothing to lose tomorrow night….plus, as a team they’ve been corresponding wih me. They were impressed I gave then a 48% chance to win Game 1 as a Vegas 10.5 road underdog the other night.
So here’s what I going to do….I’m going to lend Thunder Nation my No. 1 fall asleep song so the fanbase, the players, and Coach Mark have some energy tomorrow night in the 4th period.
I’m taking a break from our NBA Finals today. I’m going to hit the terrain bike for forty minutes and see what happens. Anotherwords….how much better off am I now than on Monday. To gauge my chemo recovey per se.
I’d like to congratulate the Texas Longhorns for their first ever softball national championship they clinched last night. I’m happy for their pitcher. It’s a lovely ending with her story with her doing all this for her grandmother on the very week her grandmom passed. My prayers have been with her.
I’d also like to congratulate the Flordia Pahthers and Edmonton Oiler for giving us hockey fans two awesome first two games in the Stanley Cup Finals. Edmonton won Game 1 in overtime, while the Panthers answered back last night with a double OT winner. Two great games!
In closing…I’d also like to apologize to Mark Daigneault for my comments yesterday in regards in being critical of his coaching moves in the 4th quarter in Game 1. I went too far in comparing his fourth quarter bench management to being ‘something akin to what we might see from a Mike Gundy coached team.” I’m throwing a flag on myself 24 hours later on that one.
That was unfair and a little too harsh regardless of the obvious coaching disparity between Rick Carlisle and Mark Daigneault.
If I’m going to be on this blog asking all to be kind during these final Trumpian Days of the Burning Roman Empire…then at the least I should make sure I’m kind to others on this blog as well.
This is precisely where it’s a good thing being a Stage 4 cancer survivor. In that…you always rememeber the mantra–‘Never too low, never too high…whatever gets thrown at you. Believe in God, yourself, and others around you…and stay the course.’
Plus….’Don’t surrender and be kind to others.’
47:59:07
That was the time of how long the Thunder held the lead in this game.
I watched the game intently. I’ve looked at the stat sheet, and I’m still shaking my head as to why Coach Mark all the sudden started Cason Wallace over Isaiah Hartenstein…and finished with Cason amassing 33 minutes, 6 points, 2 rebounds, and a game worst -13 rating for both teams combined.
Keep this in mind as I crawl forward with my observations this morning…the Pacers pounded the Thunder on the boards by a collective margin of 56-39. That’s a +17 on the boards. In his 17 minutes of play, Isaiah grabbed 9 rebounds and with Chet Holmgren once again going ‘Missing in Action’ in this Game 1….rebounds were a substantial part of why the Pacers were able to overcome 25 turnovers on the road and still miraculously find a way to win this game at the finish.
Think about that…25 turnovers on the road and yet they still won the game.
Maybe it was just me….but I think almost swore to my wife I saw Mike Gundy working his magic on that Thunder bench pulling the strings the last seven minutes of the fourth period. It had a surreal Gundyesque feel to it.
Are you Thunder people kidding me? This is why I shake my head and just whisper to myself…”Let it go, Mike. It’s Oklahoma. This is how these people do things. Thi is why Ryan Walters is their education czar. This why Markwayne Mullen is one of the U.S. Senators. Let it go, MJ.”
I mean Cason Wallace got 5 more minutes than Alex Caruso as well so this wasn’t just a going small thing. And by the way…I thought the manner in which Gabbard and Lively bullied the Thunder on the interior last season in the Dallas series was the primary reason Sam Presti added both Isaiah and Alex Caruso to this basketball team.
Shai has nothing to explain to the basketball world after this shocking loss at the buzzer last night. He in no way was the problem. And BTW…do you people realize that in this game not ONE SINGLE MINUTE were Isaiah and Chet on the floor together. Not one single minute did their coach just try and see what might happen with that dynamic for a few minutes.
Here’s a couple of other things I took note of as well as I wind this down….
1 These Pacers are a very resilent group. They’re mentally tough.
2 The coaching matchup last night looked like Nick Saban vs. Mike Gundy. Maybe that’s why I focused so much on my Game Day post about what an excellent basketball coach Rick Carlisle has been during his career.
3 I also think at this point…Shai can really only count on three of his teammates for being engaged as co-leaders on this team on a game by game basis. Those three by my take are Lu, Alex, and Isaiah.
4 Again, one of the primary reasons Sam Presti won the NBA Executive of the Year this season was because of Caruso and Hartenstein additions to the team. Were there Thunder games played after the Minnesota series I’m not aware of?
5 Pick it up in a big, big way in Game 2, Coach Mark. Because all the sudden this is much like the Denver series, minus the fact the Pacers don’t have a first time interim head coach and have ten dudes who are healthy, athletic, long and are sick of hearing how great the OKC Thunder are.
And BTW…congrats to Coach David Adelman for being named the head coach of the Denver Nuggets moving forward. I think it was a deserved promotion.
Game 2 in OKC on Sunday. One would think a must-win situation for the Thunder.
I am picking the Thunder to win these NBA Finals in five or ‘maybe’ six games, but I will add with a tone of serious concern for Thunder fans—Rick Carlisle is a coach I put right there at the top of my NBA list for the last two decades or so. I’d put Coach Carlisle right there in my Top Four grouping of Pop, Steve Kerr, and Eric Spoelstra.
He’s a ball coach for certain. One of those rare coaches I actually enjoy gleaning knowledge from with every one of his comments during a presser. You know, real pressers…where a coach isn’t shielded by their own team like the Thunder do with Little Nick Gallo and all of that nonsensical nonsence when ‘Momma Gallo” is asking the questions and trying to steer the tone. Even on the cusp of a Thunder championship…this still bothers me. Don’t talk down to your fanbase.
His teams move the ball. His teams know how to play with transitional pace…and they move the ball outside the three point-line as well as any team in the NBA currently. When I’m watching Rick Carlisle coach a game…I try to take the time to note each secondary hockey assist because I love the way the ball moves with his teams. Rick Carlisle would strangle Julius Randle with his ball stopping antics and I don’t think that’s an overstatement.
But here’s what facsinates me most about tonight…how will Coach Carlisle insulate Tyrese Haliburton’s space and time from Sam Presti’s dobermans-pitt bulls when the Thunder bring their Forty Minutes of Hell?
Sam Presti has given Coach D a very unique tool box of sorts. That’s why we’re stilll chirping about the historic defensive metrics this Thunder team has displayed this basketball season.
Coach D has the luxury of defending Haliburton with Lu Dort, Alex Caruso, JDub when not on Siakam, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins, and Kenrich Williams. That’s six elite defenders with 36 fouls between them who can rotate on Tyrese Haliburton when he’s on the floor. Anotherwords, one of those six will be fresh and foul trouble free when they hit the floor to physically assault Tyrese Haliburon’s space and time.
I think it’s a intriguing Game 1 tonight inside of Pay.Com Arena. It’s a simple game though really. Because in today’s NBA game if one team is hot from beyond the arc and the other goes stone cold as we’ve seen from the Thunder some during this post-season…anything could happen in one game or maybe two. But four?
If tonight we’re the NCAA Championship Monday, one game winner take all…I’d probabaly give the Pacer’s 47-48% chance of winning it all like NC State or Nova did. But this requires four wins by the Pacers in two weeks.
And if Coach D thinks this through…I would suggest Tyrese Haliburton shouldn’t be wornout dude by Game 5 back in Oklahoma City.
How cool…we have the NBA Finals in Oklahoma City for a second time. Smell the roses. Freeze yourslf in time. These NBA championships have been difficult to repeat of late. Very tough to repeat.
*It’s storming out here at the mini-ranch in Deer Creek. MJ feels as if he’s a mystical basketball god at this point. This pre-game storm MJ conjured up is the surreal calmness, then storm before an NBA Championship run. I feel like Zeus out here on the mini-ranch steering these Finals in the direction of these Oklahomans who need some new structuring of their faith for things beyond Trump. If you have faith…amazing things can happen. 4:45pm*
Well…first off, the two mile bike ride on National Bicycle Day was a struggle. There was no Rocky climbing the steps in Philadelphia on this ride. In fact, my cellular dashboard was still in such chaos my time was double what it was a week ago before this most current chemo infusion.
But as Coach Lombardi…sometimes said, “It’s not about winning all the time. It’s about you giving the ultimate of what have to give. The time will vastly improve by Friday morning. There isn’t a doubt in my mind in that regard. None.
So…I opened my private mailbox last night and this video above had been seent to me from my friend, Thunderchick a.ka. TC. Usually, I get stuff from all over the world from college educated men and women who love the NBA like I do. They seem be my niche readers. While white- male, racist, red-neck, uneducated guys in Oklahoma….not as much. Except for the occasional warm death threat genre read. Que sera.
I want to thank TC for thinking of me and sending me this video. She’s very talented and if not already…should be employed by the Thunder in some capacity. I thought this was beautiful… and it put a lump in my throat as I predictably cried again.
For me…even though I strayed as an OKC fan during the draconian deathwalk-purge tanking…I very much want them to win this series. They’re not playing Denver. They’ve solidly won me back as my second favorite NBA team.
I don’t think this is that complicated or needs to be. The Thunder are substantially better than the Pacers…and from my viewpoint–the Thunder crossed an enormous bridge to the championship when they beat Denver in Game 4 to even that series and not allow the Nuggets the thought of closing out the Thunder at home in Game 6.
In fact…I THOUGHT TO DATE THAT WAS THE MOST SINGULARLY IMPORTANT WIN IN THE THUNDER ERA IN OKC.
From that point on…this was not about just getting to the Western Conference Finals. Nope…from the moment that game ended and that dark, black, ominous Thunderstorm engulfed Denver proper it became Sam Presti’s One Shining Moment. It did.
From that win moving forward forward this became OKC’s NBA Championship Season in my mind. Not Boston’s, not LA’s, not Dallas’s, not Minnesota, but it became the Thunder’s personal property.
So…what I would say is this to Coach D who I will no longer called Coach Mark is this…DON’T OVERTHINK THIS AND TRY TO BE TOO CUTE.
Establish the tone of the physicality allowed by the zebras, adjust on the fly… and do what you’ve done all season, that being, perform like the best team in the NBA this season with the fifth best win mark ever heading into these Finals.
The Championship Window isn’t just ajar…it’s wide f–king open. Now go get what is rightfully yours and have no regrets.
Damn….I cried again. Seeing Perk I on that podium 125 lbs lighter with that snarl on his face set me off. My son honestly named his pup lab Perk on Perk 1’s second day here from Boston. If you don’t think that tugs at MJ’s heart…you don’t know MJ. Perk II is still vibrant in Denver while Perk I is schooling Steven A on ESPN.
Did you know that today…Wednesday, is officially National Bike Day. I had no idea. So this even amps me up more on my return from cellular death to hit the bike hard today. Plus, both the NBA Finals and the Stanley Cup Finals are getting ready to begin. I know most of ya’ll in Oklahoma have very little interest in the Stanley Cup Finals.
And just so you know…we have a repeat of last year’s Final of the defending champ Florida Panthers and the Edmonton Oilers. I’m going to pick Edmonton to win the first Cup for a Canadian city since the Montreal Canadians did it 1993. I just think its their time. Nothing scientific, plus I think God is totally sick of Donald Trump.
And then tomorrow I’m going explain why I think the Thunder will win the NBA Championship in five games over the Indiana Pacers.
But right now I’m struggling to fall asleep…so I’m adding these two songs to make sure I fall asleep.