Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Obviously… I’m an OU basketball homer. My heart to OU basketball is probably the size of Little Nick Gallo’s basketball heart as to the Thunder. I’ve lived thru Johnny Mac, Dave Bliss, Joe Ramsey, Billy Tubbs, Kelvin Sampson, Jeff Capel, Lon Kruger, and now Porter Moser in Year 5 in Mike J’s Year 68.

I love Porter. I want him to succeed and continue to be the Sooner head coach continuing the standard which these previous coaches established in Norman minus one during my time. That one was Jeff Capel, Coach K’s right hand man at Duke before he took the Sooner helm.

I loved Jeff Capel as well. His wife was a Duke educated lawyer and you know how I love lawyers given my honorary law degree. He took two of his Sooner teams to the NCAA Tournament. His best OU team with Blake Griffin made it to the Elite 8 before losing to the eventual NCAA champion North Carolina Tar Heels. That Carolina team Roy Williams had was loaded and OU just didn’t have the depth or overall size to hang with them in the second half. Reality can be tough in that regard.

Two years later…after a couple of highly sought recruits in Willie Warren and Tiny Gallon didn’t work out –Coach Capel was fired. Joe C at the time called it the toughest thing he had to do as the OU athletic director.

Why did Joe C have to make this decision? Because the Sooner fanbase stopped coming to the games. Sooner fans are generally spoiled is my unfortunate honest take. They don’t like the for better or for worse part of the relationship. Plus, basketball will always play second fiddle to football. Ask Kelvin Sampson about that dynamic.

Tuesday night while the Thunder were beating the Spurs in Bricktown, the Sooners were getting physically dominated in a near empty Lloyd Noble Arena which should have been sitting around 10,000 fans for an SEC conference game against the defending National champion Florida Gators.

The arena was empty pretty much. Florida is a horrible matchup for OU with their four athletic centers. This was the game more than any I dreaded as an OU fan given how small the Sooners have to play to get their five best players on the floor this season.

The Sooners… as they did versus the big Gonzaga team, the big Arizona State team, and now the Gators as well could not match up with them in the first half. This game was over at halftime. As OU did in the previous losses at Gonzaga and Arizona State—won the second half against Florida.

But you know what? Nobody gives a shit about moral victories when you’re blown out of the arena in the first half at home. You get blown out at home in a pivotal SEC game and Porter Moser’s tenure at OU would seem to me to be in a Capelesque position heading into this Alabama game today.

I’ll be at the game before noon in my seat near the students and the pep band. You know how I love being being near the students and the pep band. MJ is not one of those OU teasippers who bails on his coach. I didn’t bail on Coach BV and I’m not bailing on Porter either. I just hope his players feel as strongly about this as I do.

My advice to Porter is this…you can’t play this small in the SEC. Mo Wague cannot handle the paint just by himself because he’s getting in four trouble every game. Put the Russian and freshman Kai Rogers in there with Mo some and see what happens. You know–a high-low post with Mo low and the Russian high.. Play some junk zone here and there. Muck it up in the paint defensively and keep Mo out of four trouble.

Because what you’re doing is not working against teams with talented bigs in the SEC.

Good luck, Porter. I hope there’s some other people in the stands with me today given the OU women are sold out in Norman for tomorrow’s game versus LSU.

You need to win this game. This is a big one if your’re gonna make Year 6 in my Year 69. Know what I mean? This is doable today. Let’s find a way.

Mike J

I’ll start with this because I always try to be fair on my blog…I thought Chet was excellent last night. I might even go as far to write I thought it may have been his best game of the season.

I no have idea if he will make the All-Star game, I could care less. Maybe it would be better if he didn’t so as to cause him to play with a chip on his shoulder every night. It’s that Lombardi in me trying to find the mode in which to motivate Chet to be the best version of himself as a player.*

And let me add this as well…Mike J is weary of the two Thunder sychophants, Little Nick Gallo and Michael Cage pimping the notion Chet should be an easy pick to make the All-Star Game. Enough of the pimping from those two…it’s an embarrassment to OKC as a city. It undoes every pragmatic PR thing David Holt has tried to accomplish in representing the city as a big-time town on the way up.

But I know this—if Chet plays with that type of emotional engagement for four periods… the Thunder most likely will be having another parade in downtown Oklahoma City this June.

I don’t think that’s hyperbole or overstatement. If Chet brings last night’s game with him to the second half of this season, the Thunder will be extremely difficult for any of the other NBA teams to beat in a seven game series.

This Thunder win in Houston last night was about Thunder ‘signature’ defense and hitting some key threes to open the fourth period, but as was the case in the San Antonio win—it wasn’t about massive turnovers and Forty Minutes of Hell.

I’m not going to list who scored what for the Thunder last night. That’s not what this game was about. This was about the Thunder’s defense on their end of the court basically shutting down the Rockets the first ten minutes of the fourth period.

Here’s my stat of the game…the Houston Rockets scored eight points in the first ten minutes in the fourth period.

Ball game.

The Thunder shut down Kevin Durant as he went 7-23 on the night. The Thunder shut down Amen Thompson for a 4-16 night from the field. The Thunder shut down Jabari Smith as well minus a couple of early threes.

But most of all… the Thunder contained Alperin Segun enough when they turned this game into a rout in the second half of the fourth period.

The Rockets actually had more possesions and more shots from the field than the Thunder. This was about the Thunder collectively staying in front of their man defensively and shutting down the Houston Rockets because they can WHEN THEY COLLECTIVELY SET THEIR MINDS TO DO IT AS A TEAM.

Lu Dort was my No. 2 Star of the Game and Cason Wallace was my No. 3 Star of that Game.

The Thunder have now won five games in a row and stand 37-5 one game into the second half of the arduous 82-game NBA regular season. Why would I use the adjective ‘arduous’ all of the sudden? Because I feel I to need to in a manner a speaking to repair the damage Little Nick Gallo and Michael Cage are inflicting upon the national perception of Oklahoma City.

I thought for a second there we had Yassir Afarat Jr. now doing the Thunder post gamers over there at FanDuel. But…alas it was Little Nick Gallo going viral with the brand. I have to admit….I thought it was cute and branding genius. Lest we forget it was this kind of stuff which propelled Craig Sager to the top tier of NBA sideline reporting. It’s all about the brand, baby.

OKC Thunder at Miami tomorrow in a game in which I hope we see Bam, Tyler Herro, and Norman Powell all on the floor.

Have a meaningful NFL Divisional Round week-end. This is my favorite week-end of the entire NFL season.

Love and mercy.

• MJ footnore from above:Lombardi oncdce said you can find any coach to draw up a play or run a practice. But it’s that coach who can motivate his players who win the ultimate prize when it matters most who’s the guy you want coaching your team. That’s why the trophy is named after Vince Lombardi.

Mike J

Very cold this morning at the mini-ranch in Deer Creek at 22 degrees. But the sun is shining and remarkably we’re supposed to top 60 degrees later this afternoon.

I need to go ride the terrain bike and do my basketball drills on the court. I’m not sure about any weights today.

Hence…one of my favorite pre-workout songs above.

When I get back later I want to write about the Denver Nuggets, Jamal Murray, Peyton Watson, Aaron Gordon, and head coach David Adelman. Amazingly, the Nuggets without Nikola have gone 6-3 so far and climbed into sole possession of second place last night with a wire to wire road win in Dallas versus the Mavericks.

I am so proud of Peyton Watson and how much he’s improved his game. The offensive transformation is incredible. Almost what I would describe as game changing for the Nuggets if Peyton can continue at this level of offensive confidence.

I’ll be back later today to write aboit the OKC Thunder-Denver Nugget rivalry. And, yeah, it’s the Nuggets who are the Thunder’s primary rival, not the Spurs. The Nuggets, like the Thunder, recently won an NBA chaampionship, and took the Thunder to seven games last season with an injury depleted lineup.

There is no rivalry as of yet with Wembyama’s Spurs for one simple reason…THEY AS A GROUP HAVE YET TO ACCOMPLISH ANYTHING IN REGARDS TO POST SEASON GOAL ACHIEVMENT.

Enjoy the sunshine in Oklahoma later today.

Mike J

You won’t get this type of content from the blogs of the OKC Thunder sycophants who get paid from the Thunder which litter the internet.

I don’t want to go overboard with Kenrich given I had a Kenny Hustle Appreciation Day last week.

But given the fact I left Kenrich off my Four Stars of the Game last night…I feel at the least I should use this as a teaching moment for the misguided Thunder fans who get their Thunder news from the likes of Little Nick Gallo and other homers on the Thunder payroll.

I want all of you to look at this short video of Kenrich guarding Wembyama last night. This is how you defend Wembyama as a shorter defender. This is how you leverage a tall, somewhat soft player like Wembyama. This is how you as a Thunder key rotational role player like Kenrich make it tolerable for Chet Holmgren getting paid all that money for being a finesse player who can’t do the dirty work himself when it needs to be done.

This is defensive basketball. Look at the stance, the lower body strength, the in the chest and space position of Kenrich. It is as if Kenrich has been studying my blog and taking copious notes on how one should defend the overhyped Wembyama.

Wembyama has no clue as to how to react to this from either Kenrich, JayWill, or my six year-old grandson’s favorite hockey player…Alex Caruso.

Kenrich played just under 15 minutes last night scoring only one or two baskets, yet because of his TSNBS metric rank on my blog…he had a major impact on the outcome of the game played last night inside of PayCom Arena.

This video and the Thunder’s defense on Wembyama makes Mike J proud to be the Thunder beat writer of okcthunderground.com.

No…granted the Thunders players probably won’t be allowed to play Wembyama this physical for the next Thunder-Spur game which will be played in San Antonio. And as we all know who read this blog…you as a player have to rapidly adapt to how the game will be called by the zebras in San Antonio. Anotherwords…don’t tackle Wembyama the first time he catches the ball in or near the paint.

Any of you youngsters who might occaisionally by sheer accident end up on this blog… you and your parents need to know this is the way you play defense. This is how you go about it. But again, if it’s road game …just don’t take Wembyama’s shirt completely off of him. That might be too much.

I’m thrilled to be covering the Thunder-Houston game tomorrow night from the Toyota Center. Literally thrilled the strength of the Thunder schedule is finally upon us in mid January

Mike J

It was compelling, must see NBA basketball for a half as the San Antonio Spurs attempted to take a 4-0 regular season head to head lead with the defending champion OKC Thunder.

The first half went back and forth with excellent pace, multiple lead changes, and the Spurs not seeming to give too much credence to the fact a month ago people were referring to this Thunder team as perhaps the greatest in NBA history.

But in the second half at PayCom… the Thunder gradually found their mojo again and methodically wore down San Antonio for a much needed 119-98 win over the now seemingly mortal Spurs who as a group have yet to win a playoff series or even participate in one as a group under head coach Mitch Johnson.

Let’s keep a few things in mind as we think about this game. Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein didn’t play. Coach Mark consequently went with a ten man rotation which came through for him in a beautiful manner as the game moved along.

This was a game for a grinder like Mike J. If you watched the game and have studied the box sheet it emanates blue collar get it done work by three or four guys who didn’t start this game for the Thunder. What I also liked was this victory had nothing to do with OKC turning over the Spurs with the Forty Minutes of Hell routine.

OKC only turned the Spurs over 11 times. Both teams had eleven turnovers. Nolan Richardson was nowhere to be seen at Paycom on Tuesday night.

Forty Minutes of Hell was instead replaced by the Thunder getting in front of their opponent defensively and taking the body and commanding space on the floor. This was more like Coach Eddie Sutton basketball with more physicality in the defensive zone.

As the Thunder continue to get older and evolve and aren’t able to play the frenetic Forty Minutes of Hell style this is what I would hope Coach Mark and Sam Presti see as a significant part of their defensive template moving forward.

Yeah, for certain, Shai was my No. 1 Star of the Game with a stellar 34 point, 5 rebound, 5 assist, 4 block, +29 night. I mean..Shai led and the team followed, but what I saw from that second unit was in my mind special. So special in fact…JayWill-Ark, Alex Caruso, and Ajay Mitchell were my No. 2, my No. 3, and my No. 4 stars of the game.

This MJ is a grinder. I created the Touughness, Smarts, Nasty, BasketballSoul metric (TSNBS). Yes, every team needs those three stars at the top of the payroll, but to win championships you need guys like my other Stars of the Game from last night stepping up when the lights get the brightest and the games really mean something.

This in no way is me suggesting Isaiah Hartenstein or Lu Dort are now expendable for the rest of this season. It’s just me making sure on my blog we never forget the importance of role players in the quest or the journey.

Caruso was Caruso and he doesn’t need me to hype him on my blog at this point. My grandon lives just south of Denver and proudly wears a Caruso jersey. I do feel though I should hype what I saw last night from JWill-Ark and Ajay Mitchell. I thought both of them were superb in what they gave Coach Mark. Simply superb. Hopefully, this game doesn’t get forgotten once we reach the NBA Playoffs when it truly matters.

JWill-Ark…11 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 blocks, +30 (team best), and 22:56 of game minutes. If JWill-Ark were next to me right now…I would push Little Nick Gallo away and give JWill a hug. This is the dude I saw when he played at Arkansas.

Ajay Mitchell…I got on Coach Mark’s last year on my blog in the Denver series when he let Ajay see the floor in Game 1 and it was a part of the Thunder losing that game. That will not will a consideration in these coming NBA Playoffs. Ajay is on the cusp of becoming a stud.

Again…Isaiah Hartenstein and Lu Dort didn’t play last night. But maybe in retrospect that made this game easier for Coach Mark to navigate as far as minutes, roles, and rotations. Maybe it took away the need for Coach Mark to overthink the nuance of the rotations.

He’ll always be Coach Mark to me…even if the Thunder repeat and go on to win a third NBA championship down the road as well. I love the Coach thing. I have five and six year-old grandchildren.

The Rockets on Thursday night in Houston, then the Heat in Miami on Saturday. This could turn out to be the most interesting week of the regular season when we’re looking back on things in late April.

Have an aspiring Wednesday in Oklahoma.

Love, Mike J

This one was pretty much what I thought it would be over the Miami Heat at PayCom. This Heat team to me looks like a borderline Eastern Conference play-in team which was missing Norman Powell.

The Heat does very little for me with the way their team construction is at the top. On my poll …I have them somewhere between 16-20 on my current overall NBA ranking poll. They’re kind of fun to watch here and there with Bam, Tyler Herro, and Davion Mitchell blurring around the court. But I can’t imagine Coach Spoelstra feels strongly about this group at the present.

The Thunder minus Isaiah Hartenstein were back at full strength and ‘somewhat’ flashed Forty Minutes of Hell in the second half as the Heat ended up turning the ball over 23 times. You do that as a team against the Thunder and you’re begging for a double-digit loss.

Like 124-112, voila. This is not complex. If you allow the Thunder to create pace and tempo thru easy transition baskets…you as a basketball team are done.

So now we have a Thunder week I’ve had scheduled for a bit. The Thunder host the Spurs on Tuesday. I am not sure of Wembyama’s status at this point. If he doesn’t play…the game will be irrelevant to me. If he plays and Hartenstein plays it will be must watch NBA for me on Tuesday night inside of PayCom.

Then on Thursday the Thunder travel to Houston to play the point-guardless Rockets. Again…this is one I want to see. This is one I want to observe and take in for Mike J’s data-bank reference for April.

And then the Thunder travel to Miami on the week-end for a road game to close out this set of three games I’ve had circled. Of course, in this NBA—we never know who is going to be on the court and who is going to be on a DNP list with a scratch, bump, or bruise. Let me tell you NBA dudes this….y’all made a wise decision choosing the NBA over the NFL or NHL as the place to become generationally rich. Just saying.

So while I’m excited for this week, but MJ is still guarded keeping myself in a state of cautionary reality before we see who actually plays in these games.

The Thunder sit at 33-7 which gives them not only a 5-6 game cushion for the No. 1 seed in the West, but also a comfortable cushion over the East as we all saw last season HOW VALUABLE that No. 1 seed can be given the way the Denver and Indiana series extended to seven games.

If I were a Thunder ‘fanatic’…which I’m not. I like the Thunder, but I’m not at this point obsessed with the Thunder. I wouldn’t be concerned with doing the Warrior thing and trying to go 73-9. I would not in any way be obsessed with that. The Warriors lost that year in the Finals anyway.

I would think the mantra inside of the Thunder Bunker where Coach Mark and Sam Presti make these kind of decisions is just get healthy and make sure that when the time comes to shrink the rotation from twelve players to ten players that adjustment is made before losing a Game 1 to the likes of Denver or whoever emerges in the West as that other team to beat.

If that team turns out to be San Antonio or Houston or even Minnesota, what Mike J is saying here is…learn from last season. Don’t screw around in a home Game 1 and take care of business so as to possibly avoid playing a Game 7 against a healthy, capable team. That’s the very reason you want the overall No. 1 seed.

As far as football goes…I would say at this point Coach Cignetti should after winning this national championship game versus the ‘Canes at Hard Rock Stadium, decide to take the Green Bay Packer job and restore the required mental toughness to my Packers who at 9-3-1 never won another game this season after Micah Parsons went down.

Have a peaceful Monday.

Mike J

I meant to do this yesterday, but all the football around me this weekend derailed me getting this done on Saturday. So better late than never.

As I wrote on here last spring when the Thunder won the NBA championship… the three Thunder players I was most happy for were Shai, Lu Dort, and Kenrich. I still feel that way. Those three guys were the core nucleus of the team which was eventually put together from the tanking and the rebuild.

These three guys to me are the core culture of what Sam Presti built and is trying to maintain in Oklahoma City as an NBA franchise.

But Kenrich has probably been my favorite because his value to this team as a non-rotational player who doesn’t always get minutes is beyond the value of draft picks or trades or the other distractions of the NBA vernacular.

Kenrich is this Thunder team’s version of Nick Collison in my estimation. Kenny Hustle is the living, breathing, day to day example of what a professional basketball player or any team member in any team sport should bring to the table.

The other night in Memphis what Kenrich did is pure gold. His team is struggling right now and have been since the loss to the Spurs in the Emirates NBA Cup semis. Key players are hurt currently and even Shai missed the Memphis game on Friday.

The Thunder got down by 21 to Memphis on the road the other night and it appeared a third straight loss was on the horizon. But that is not what transpired. Instead, Kenrich lit a fire under his team with a 21 point, 8 rebound game which eventually turned the Thunder’s way late in the game.

I love Kenrich Williams. I do. I love what he stands for and contributes to this Thunder team which is trying to be the first NBA team in eight years to repeat.

So, for me on this Sunday morning before the Miami game tonight, I just wanted to take the time on my underground blog to be very clear what Mike J feels about Kenrich Williams and his role on this year’s Thunder basketball team.

Being where I’m at in my own Stage 4 journey, and where I’ve come from these past three years in that process…I hope its not corny for me to write that whenever I get down a little…I think to myself, “Mike J…suck it up and be like Kenrich.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if every person we knew took care of their business like Kenrich.

We all need to ignore the noise around us and focus on our own personal virtue checklist everyday.

Moderation. Patience. Justice. Love. Kindness. Mercy. Grace. Humility. And charity.

But most of all…when we getted knocked down, we take a deep breath, exhale slowly, reset our center self, and find the inner strength to continue the journey.

Have a peaceful Sunday.

Thank you, Kenrich.

Mike J

What a great game for both teams and both quarterbacks. This one had a little bit of everything a college football fan could want in a game of this magnitude.

I thought there was pass interference on the last play and Ole Miss should have had one last snap from the twenty yard-line, but that’s the way it goes on most Hail Marys. If that play had happened earlier in the game …I’m fairly certain a flag would have been thrown.

A complete fairytale for both teams. Trinidad Chambliss and Ole Miss have nothing to be ashamed of in the manner in which their season played out to the very last snap. I thought when I saw Trinidad play OU in Norman he was the best player in the country, and after what has transpired since I still feel that way.

How in the world could he finish eighth in the Heisman voting? I don’t care if he missed the first three games or not. He was in my mind the singular most impactful player in college football this season along with Mendoza. Those two should have been one-two in the voting…either way.

For Carson Beck…a fairytale as well. Born in Jacksonville, Florida and a Florida high school star– it seems fitting that in his final season of college ball he has a chance as a starter to claim the national championship in Hard Rock Stadium right there in south Florida.

I wonder what Kirby Smart and Bulldog Nation are feeling today? Kirby had Carson as his backup for two national championships and went with Gunnar Stockton instead. Karma can be a bit of a bitch sometimes.

So many storylines in this one. Lane Kiffin comes out looking like a complete punk, while eveyone involved in the Ole Miss program is to be complimented for the manner in which they handled the Pos’s exit to Baton Rouge. Even Lincoln Riley didn’t do what Lane Kiffin did. Kiffin’s a great offensive mind like Lincoln, but a five star pos as far as MJ is concerned.

I feel as though at this point I need to play the Body Heat video just for Lane Kiffin this time. I could care less about Lincoln…he had Caleb Williams and like Brian Kelly he’s to date hasn’t made the College Football Playoff with SoCal as Kelly didn’t with LSU. There is no typical Okie angst on my part as far as Lincoln. If he’d stayed…we’d still have a shitty passive-submissive defense. I love Coach BV.

Hope Indiana and Oregon can give us the same type of show tonight.

Love, Mike J

When this season started most who follow the NBA thought it would be a battle between the defending champ OKC Thunder and the rebuilt Denver Nuggets. Last night the Thunder came back late to finally beat the 12-24 Utah Jazz in overtime by a score of 129-125, while the Nuggets still without Nikola beat Boston on the road by a score of 114-110.

Amazingly…through all these injuries which have decimated the Nuggets….here they stand on January 8th only one game behind the Spurs for the No. 2 seed in the West. Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun are both back on minute restrictions and Jamal Murray is playing some great basketball as of late with a 22 point, 8 rebound, 17 assist night in Boston last night.

We all thought the Spurs were still a year away from being the team which could unseat the Thunder. That very well might turn out to be the case, but this could also be a case where the Nuggets without Nikola for a month are all going to upgrade their play and become a team which could still win the West.

I mean, last night, Peyton Watson scored 30 POINTS hitting six threes. That doesn’t even regisister with me. Generally speaking, I would be thrilled with Peyton scoring 30 points in three games combined. If Peyton becomes a real player, a dependable player, that coud be a huge storyline for the Nuggets.

Maybe this period of time without Nikola will help these other guys break their dependence on him to do everything when he comes back in three weeks or so.

The Thunder now stand at 31-7 and are stuggling mightliy without both Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso. OKC was extremely fortunate to beat the 12-24 Jazz last night. Very fortunate Shai, who was a game time decision, did play and carry his mates on his back with a 46 point performance.

We’ll get a better barometer on all of this next Tuesday when the Thunder play the Spurs and we see if indeed as Jim Traber claims…the Thunder are scared of Wembyama. I think its more than that. I think its a combination of things. First and foremost…it’s hard to repeat when every other team in the league has you in their crosshairs everytime they see you coming up on the schedule.

The 82 game NBA regular season is a marathon. Several seasons contained within one. OKC will get it back together I feel certain, but what exactly Denver turns out to be after 82 games is still a puzzle to be put together.

Mike J

This is the biggest football week of the year minus the Divisional Playoff week and the Super Bowl itself. So what I’m saying here is Mike J in no way even considered the possibility of the Thunder losing to this Charlotte team at home, let alone being routed by a score of 124-97.

The Thunder drop to 30-7 and given the fact I don’t cover Thunder games against bad teams on my blog…that’s where I’ll leave this disastrous performance for the time being.

If you want the Little Nick Gallo, Royce Young, Michael Cage sugar coated takes on this game…this ain’t the blog you should be reading.

I need my football post-season face totally emersed on football this week.

Eternal mercy and forgiveness.

Mike J