Of course, Carmelo Anthony started and on cue went a -19 in 25 minutes of play as the Thunder season which never really happened… came to a merciful end in Salt Lake City as the Jazz without starting point guard Rickey Rubio ended the Thunder’s Season From Hell tour with a series clinching win by a 96-91 count. I’m sure somewhere on Donovan’s Mitchell’s wish list is the thought Carmelo could be playing 25 plus minutes a game for the Houston Rockets in Round 2 of these NBA playoffs.
Paul George in what was probably his last game as a Thunder was horrific going 2-16 from the field and scoring less points (5) than turnovers committed (6).
It was a final fitting end to Sam Presti’s version of a Wal-Mart NBA Super Team.
The only hope for the Thunder moving forward is that after Paul George most probably leaves Oklahoma City to hook up with LeBron somewhere near a Pacific Ocean coastline… some other team in the NBA is dumb enough to take Carmelo Anthony.
Russell Westbrook scored 46 points on 43 shots in the loss. So… excuse me for being cynical, but I’m not really all that sure the Billy Donovan offense which was supposed to steer the Thunder away from hero ball ever came to ‘pass’ for the Thunder after the firing of Scott Brooks.
Steven Adams was excellent on Friday night and I hope I run into him again this off season at our favorite 7-11 store on Western Avenue in Oklahoma City.
You know who else was excellent on Friday night? Victor Oladipo in Indiana as his Pacer’s routed LeBron and have pushed the Cav’s to a Game 7 date in Cleveland in what could be LeBron’s last game as a Cavalier.
Moving forward in Oklahoma only two things seem somewhat certain in what should be a very tough off season for the Thunder. Those two things are that the Thunder are now really a franchise with only two players in Westbrook and Adams who have any top tier NBA value given Jerami Grant is a now a free agent and could end up in Indiana with his former Thunder buddies Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis.
Wouldn’t that be the fitting end to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Season From Hell tour?
Maybe if the Thunder dismiss Billy Donovan as their head coach they could convince him to stay on as a player.
Maybe the new Thunder coach could convince Billy to come off the bench and do the right thing for the team.
Don’t laugh.
This is Oklahoma.
It’s time for me to get to work on my book.
I now know how it ends in Oklahoma.