Two very nice games for me last night in the NBA as the Warriors won on the road against the defending champion Boston Celtics while ‘my’ Denver Nuggets scrapped and clawed their way to an improbable two point win at home without Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
What a great win for the Nuggets as they won against the West’s alleged best team without their second (Jamal) and third (Aaron) best players.
There was some big-time stepping up last night as Russell Westbrook, Christian Braun, Michael Porter Jr., Peyton Watson, and Julian Strawther all in my mind pulled the collective link on the chain coach Michael Malone needs from these guys this season if his team aspires to make a run in the playoffs.
As far as the Thunder…they were okay last night at best. It was their first loss of the season and at times to me they looked like they were not exactly locked in. And I think that will be a problem here and there for Coach Mark because everyone in the NBA world is telling these guys they walk on water despite the fact they really didn’t do all that much in last year’s brief playoff run.
But having written the previous paragraph I will quickly add … I as well have the precocious Thunder at #1 on my current Western Conference poll. Time will tell with these young guys. We’ve yet to see Hartenstein and in my mind Alex Caruso is a defensive upgrade over departed Josh Giddey, but not exactly a game changer in my mind who will do anything Kenrich Williams hasn’t done for the Thunder in previous seasons.
The Thunder host the surging and surprising Warriors on Sunday, and I may actually see if I can attend that game in person. That should be a very cool game as Buddy Hield and Lindy Waters come back to Oklahoma.
The Warriors’ are so far the surprise in the West and it looks to me as if they can keep Steph healthy this very deep team could make some noise as this NBA season moves along.
The above video of John McCain’s concession speech is for Trump Nation. This is what it looks like when an adult losses an election and then shows the appropriate class, integrity, dignity, and just basic good manners. Just saying.
Be kind Oklahoma. Show me some of those ‘deep’ running Christian values as we move forward with your boy.
Mike J