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Long story short Klay Thompson is my favorite player in the NBA. He personifies what I admire in a contemporary basketball player.

He was never a glorified sure bet star when he played college ball at Washington State. He was one of those players you knew would get drafted, but you weren’t really expecting him to become a Splash Brother and become the best two way shooting guard in the NBA up until he blew out an ACL in the Finals against the Toronto Raptors two seasons ago.

His game was not only being Steph’s backcourt splash mate, but it entailed a toughness on defense which branded him as one of the best defenders at his position in the league. Klay would guard the other team’s best offensive guard and the Warriors would try and help Steph as much as possible on the defensive end with the weaker opposing guard.

Jerry West thought so much of Klay he told Golden State ownership he would quit if they traded Klay. He meant it.

Klay ‘was’ a shutdown defender with a clutch deft touch from beyond the arc. Plus, he ‘was’ a fierce no nonsense old school competitor which is a rarity in the diva laden NBA superstar stratosphere of today.

Klay was my inspiration to create my own hoops metric of TSN in measuring NBA players. Toughness, Smarts, and Nasty. But with Klay a C needed to be added… as in Clutch.

But with Klay it became even more personal with me in Game 6 in Oklahoma City.

My father had been diagnosed with terminal pancreatic cancer in November of 2015. A doctor told us he had two months to live and he would need to get his affairs in order. The doctor made it very clear it would be my father’s last Christmas. Tears were streaming down the doctor’s face as his told us, and in a matter of seconds we were all crying as well.

You can react in two ways at news like this. You can either feel sorry for yourself or decide to live what you’ve got left to the fullest.

My father clearly chose the latter option.

We made sure to watch every notable sporting event together up until the end.

OU football. The Super Bowl. The Final Four. The Masters and his love of golf…Rory. Later on we even saw Dustin Johnson win the U.S. Open—his first major. And of course–the Thunder.

I’ll never forget the Christmas Day game against the Spurs in San Antonio.

We’re sitting there and Russell went full mode Wild Thing as Bob went berserk. Literally berserk. He wanted to trade Russell right there and then on Christmas Day. Wanted me to get Presti on the phone and execute a trade. Ask me if I could get Steph Curry for Russell. I said not likely unless Golden State ownership had lost their collective minds. He then went into a tirade on what Eddie Sutton would do with Westbrook if he were the coach of the Thunder.

Eddie Sutton would have been laughing his ass off if he were with us that day… and I know what Coach Sutton would have said because I asked him what he would do with Westbrook that Pistons’ game as I sat next to him and his wife Patsy on the floor. The notion of Bob and Coach Sutton deciding how to handle Russell Westbrook is one which always makes me smile.

But Russell settled down and actually was the MVP of the game as the Thunder beat the Spurs on the road in a pretty good game.

So our last Thunder season together moves along. Lo and behold my dad was still going strong as the playoffs got going. Not strong enough to attend games in person, but strong enough to have watch parties at my parents house for every game with cheese burgers from Earl’s or pizza from Hideaway being the game time meal.

The Thunder easily made it thru the first round and then played perhaps their best ball ever since the 2012 Western Conference Finals against the very same Spurs pretty much.

We all know the story. The Thunder stayed hot and went up 3-1 on Golden State. The Warriors won Game 5 in Oakland and the series then returned to Oklahoma City for a potential closeout in Game 6.

Game 6 ran concurrent with Father’s Day. My son Chris got us two midcourt seats down low as a Father’s Day present for both of us.

At first my Dad said he didn’t want to go because he didn’t think he could handle it physically. But afther thinking it over he changed his mind and made a go of it.

My wife dropped us off at the arena an hour before tip just outside one of the entrances. Dad sat in a wheelchair while I pushed as we got to our seats before most of the crowd started entering the arena.

So we sit there and witness this epic classic for the ages as Golden State can’t do anything right and fall behind the Thunder. But Klay Thompson starts making threes with Andre Roberson draped all over him in every imagineable manner.

Yet as the ball releases from Klay ….it goes splash, splash… splash. Eleven times all told in one of the clutchest performances we’d ever witnessed from an NBA player minus maybe Larry Bird or Michael in their primes.

There was this deafening almost sickening silence in that arena as the outcome became evident in the last minute of the game. It was surreal like watching the The Natural with Robert Redford. There were these twinkling little starlike particles in the air. I would almost describe it as Biblical. No one in that building thought OKC would go to Oakland and win Game 7.

And of course…the Warriors closed out the Thunder in Game 7.

So as I wonder if this Achilles injury will mark the end of Klay’s career… I have to note there will always be a very warm spot in my heart for Klay Thompson.

Sure—we would have preferred OKC had won that night and advanced to the NBA Finals. But in retrospect as father and son we got to see Klay Thompson at his very best have a game which will be ecthed in NBA history…and which as it turns out changed the entire landscape of the NBA a few weeks later on July 4th.

Klay Thompson will forever have a very deep emotional connection to my heart for what happened in Game 6 that fateful night.

My sister in Seattle emailed me this wonderful article written by Howard Beck in the NY Times which kind of set me off this morning and made me remember my close emotional attachment to Klay Thompson.

Saying Goodbye to the Trips of a Lifetime – The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Although I love watching OU come out of the tunnel in true road games wearing the white jerseys…I’m glad the game was cancelled. If Ohio State doesn’t have to play games then none of the other teams should be endangering themselves heading into Championship Saturday next week.

I think OU would have beaten West Virginia by 17-19 points primarily because West Virginia has nothing at the quarterback position which would have been a test for a vastly improved OU defense. Maybe like 31-14…something like that.

OU very much needs to have a week of excellent preparation for the Big 12 Championship Game in Arlington because Iowa State is a pretty damn good football team with an excellent young coach in Matt Campbell.

Plus, they peaked at just the right time and are playing as well as any team in the country minus Alabama or Clemson.

Iowa State has everything to win in this game and nothing to lose. They have what I call the Three H’s all working for them heading into Jerry’s World…they’re Hungry, they’re Humble, and they have the Heart to pull this off if OU isn’t ready to play at a high level.

But most of all they’re talented at just the right psoitions and a very high IQ football team. They generally don’t do stupid things. They don’t beat thesmselves. Both Texas and O State beat themselves this season with bad penalties and horrible turnovers…not true of this Iowa State football team. They’re what I would call a very heady team. Which of course is a reflection of their coach.

Iowa State under Matt Campbell has beaten OU twice since 2016. This won’t be like OU playing against a Mike Gundy coached team with him walking the other sideline with the 1-15 deer in a headlight tag hanging around his neck.

I would guess Iowa State to a man is very confident about their chances in this game. Inner self-confidence is everything in sports.

I haven’t seen the Vegas spread just yet, but I would have the game at pick ’em or maybe OU at -1.5. I would want to see how Austin Stogner and Mikey Henderson are healthwise before I did an official Vegas spread of sorts.

I can’t wait for Championship Saturday. It’s my favorite week-end of the college football season. It’s not as good as a Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Finals, but it’s pretty special for those of us who love college football.

Can’t wait to write about the game on my blog.

Boomer!

Oklahoma Sooner Locker Room (various clips of Barry Switzer & Bob Stoops) – YouTube

I honestly never thought Oklahoma would remain this permanent rogue red dumpster fire historical footnote to racism in Richard Nixon’s Solid South.

I never would have imagined governors like Mary Fallin and Kevin Stitt would actually make George Wallace seem progressive in comparison.

Don’t laugh. After George Wallace was shot and paralyzed he became a much better man who viewed the world through a fairer, softer prism. You are allowed to laugh though when you consider how overtly stupid the state of Oklahoma was to re-elect Mary Fallin to a second term.

That was the precise moment I knew Oklahoma was headed for Hall of Famer unread imbred white trailer trash status. I knew..I knew…I knew, but I didn’t want to admit it.

Oklahoma is such a sports driven state… I figured the black athletes at both OU and with the Thunder would pave the way at some point in the state for gradual societal change.

Same thing with Coach Sutton at O State who I fell in love with on Day 1. I hoped Coach Sutton would be a part of the whole societal dynamic which would help Oklahoma emerge from the oil and gas robber baron days of the Gilded Age and actually at some point participate in the 21st century.

I hoped at some point the state would improve their educational system and get serious about not being a perennial joke to the rest of the country.

Oklahoma is never going to be anything of any consequence unless they can keep their brightest and smartest college graduates in state to contribute to the tax base with the higher paying jobs.

Anyway, I’m posting this locker room video to illustrate the beauty of team sports. There’s no black or white in a locker room in any team sport. It’s ‘Us’, it’s ‘We’… it’s about winning as a team. Doing what it takes to win as a team.

And that’s the part the white peckerheads in the Southern part of our country and throughout many segments of rural America have never come to terms with. They refuse to recognize the South lost the Civil War.

In fact, the South became even crueler with the Jim Crow laws during the Reconstruction period of our country’s sordid history in relation to race. Which is precisely why at that point the Great Migration of blacks took place with many blacks ending up in cities like Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, and Philadelphia….just to name four who went for Barack Obama and Joe Biden in overwhelming numbers.

Anyway…here’s some vintage Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops locker room scenes with their football teams.

I’m playing this to get in a frame of mind for the West Virginia game this Saturday.

So I get up this morning and read the ignorant fathead Rush Limbaugh says he believes we’re headed for secession.

No effing shit, Sherlock.

When two college dropouts who didn’t serve their country like you and Sean Hannity get in front of white America every day and get rich pandering to the most uneducated trailer trash element of our country…secession could be a possibility.

But of course once all these angry white people stop getting their monthly prop up revenue from the Blue States which carry their asses they might think again. Once the Feds close their military bases a rethink could occur. Once they stop getting their Social Security checks, their military pension checks, their Medicare benefits, their Medicaid benefits, and their agriculture subsidy checks…they might have a nuanced change of heart. I wonder if Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and the quintessential bitch Anne Coulter have ever thought all of this through.

If you look at the current Electoral College…the states which went Blue for Biden produce approximately 68% of U.S. GDP. The number is similar for tax revenue contribution.

Quite frankly…if I have to move from Oklahoma at this late stage of my life I would be okay with it. Maybe some sleepy little trout fishing town in Colorado would be cool. We’d be closer to my sister in Seattle and the kids in Denver.

I’d still be an OU fan. I have to admit I’m a sick OU football fan and that part of me would never change. I still get goosebumps when they come out of that tunnel in those interlocking OU’s. That part of me will never change.

At this point I think Clay Bennett and his ownership group should consider selling the Thunder to an ownership group in some city which deserves an NBA franchise in a league where 75% of the athletes are black. Oklahoma isn’t changing no matter how hard you guys try.

In retrospect…I’ve always wondered what would have happened if Norrick and the MAPS guys had landed the NHL franchise which became the Columbus Bluejackets. Maybe a predominantly white sports league would have been a better fit in Oklahoma.

Would the unread imbred whites in Oklahoma have embraced a league which featured the most skilled athletes in the world where fights are infrequent and the beer is expensive. My guess is it would have flopped because Oklahoma City Blazer fans were never the type of hockey fans who came to games to appreciate the beauty of the game.

When the Edmonton Oilers put their AHL team here it was a miserable failure. No one came to the games even though the caliber of athlete was night and day superior to what the Blazers offered. Former OKC mayor Mick Cornett knows exactly what I’m writing about in this paragraph.

Truth hurts.

As I’ve writen on my blog…I’ve never considered myself a white person even though that’s what it says I am on my birth certificate. I was always the darkest kid in school until I got to the 10th grade and found people my color at inner city John Marshall.

I was playing football, baseball, and basketball…a three sport kid. My Dad asked me,” We could probably swing it if you don’t want to go to school there.”

I said, ” No…I’d like to go there. There will be more people like me. Are you insane?”

I went there and of course I never carried a football again in my football career, but it made me a better person who got to see every walk of like walking those halls. It made me look at people through a different prism.

We really are are all humans if you can put your bigotry and inherited prejudice to the side.

Evidently…that isn’t what a significant portion of white America believes circa 2020.

So Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and all you dittoheads… go ahead and reboot the Confederacy. See what the markets do to your country the day you announce you’re leaving. I can’t imagine your 401ks would inflate in value without Amazon, Google, Facebook, and the other tech stocks.

Go ahead…please leave and take all the trailer trash with you.

Trump to Cruz: ‘You are the single biggest liar’ – YouTube

Yikes.

In my lifetime this may have been the single most depressing day as an American.

More Americans died today from the COVID virus than died in the 9/11 attacks on New York City.

Let’s let that sink in before I proceed.

And yet… the piece of dog shit human junk bond grifter who somehow gained access to the White House like the cinema family in ‘Parasite’ was more concerned about possibly having Ted Cruz represent him in some delusional/mythical horseshit lawsuit which will never be heard by John Roberts’ Supreme Court.

You would think on this day these two miserably equal pathetic human beings could put the freak show to the side and show some empathy to every American in this country.

Not to be.

I never in my lowest thoughts imagined America would sink to this white inbred unread cultural level of trailer trash.

I was clearly wrong…and I will admit when I’m wrong.

Rome is burning while Putin is laughing his ass off.

Cade Cunningham Highlights 29 Points vs Oral Roberts – YouTube

While I was in Denver the O State Cowboys beat Oakland (Michigan) to improve to 4-0. I confess I didn’t watch the game, but that will probably be the only game I’ll miss the remainder of the season which involves Cade Cunningham.

On Tuesday night inside of Gallagher-Iba Arena… Cade led Mike Boynton’s Cowboys past Oral Roberts University to improve to 5-0 on the season. Next up for Cade is a Saturday 2:00pm game against Wichita State which will close out the bulk of O State’s non-conference slate heading into an uber rugged Big 12 slate.

I’ve made a point of watching and scouting the Big 12 this season and currently I would rank the Big 12 as the No. 1 basketball conference in America this season by a thin margin over the Big 10. The reason I ultimately went with the Big 12 is Kansas, Baylor, and the Cade Factor. The conference very much as it did last season has two programs in Kansas and Baylor who could garner No. 1 seeds in the regional draws. Plus…Cade is the odds on favorite to win National Player of the Year.

If Cade wins the awrd he’ll become the fifth player since 2007 from the Big 12 to win the NPOTY if I have this stored correctly in my basketball mind. Kevin Durant (Texas), Blake Griffin (OU), Buddy Hield (OU), Trey Young (OU), and then potentially Cade (O State). I may be missing a Kansas player in there somewhere. How could it be OU has three winners and Kansas doesn’t have a NPOTY winner. I need to recheck this on Google.

Plus…the conference with West Virginia, Texas, Texas Tech, and Oklahoma has four other teams which should make the NCAA field. As of now O State is prohibited fom playing in this year’s NCAA Tournament due to the LaMont Evans situation Brad Underwood left behind in Stillwater after his one season. But even with that obstacle we should all have a very clear picture of what Cade Cunningham is after eighteen Big 12 regular season games plus the Big 12 tourney in Kansas City.

I mean… what we’re going to see night in and night out is how Cade’s game translates in a conference in which a targeted player like Cade will be defended by some of the best college basketball players in America this season.

As a passionate hoops fan in Oklahoma this is another primary reason I’m not all that bummed by Sam Presti tanking this season with the Thunder. What I’m going to enjoy witnessing is how Presti takes all of this loot he has accumulated and turns it into Cade Cunningham becoming the franchise face of the Oklahoma City Thunder in this summer’s NBA draft… or at least how he tries to do it.

This will be fascinating for me to chronicle in a hoops journal of sorts.

Unlike the sissy boy Daily Thunder blog of which I ruled at one time with a Hemingwayesque iron fist…. I cover the world and write from the passion of my heart on my internationally acclaimed award winning blog. I write the truth. If Mike Gundy is a dumbass Mullet King–then I write the truth. How’d that work out for you… O State fans?

Michigan earlier today opted out of this week-end’s game against Ohio State. The Buckeyes are No. 3 on my okcthunderground.com current Power Poll. Ohio State has played five games to date while the schools in the SEC, ACC, and Big 12 have run the gauntlet and pretty much played a normal season in the midst of Trump’s COVID Pandemic Disaster….which will hit 300,000 deaths before Christmas.

For me this is a very easy answer. As in not only no, but f–k no. It is like answering a legal question in the form of a brief. This is not some rhetorical mythical question.

Who made the six game rule for the Big Ten schools after they had earlier opted out of playing football this season?

The answer is the fourteen presidents of the Big Ten institutions made this rule….and made it after the other three conferences had in good faith proceeded with their seasons. Anotherwords…the six game rule was the agreed condition which would be met by the eventual Big Ten Champion.

They made the rule purely for economical reasons and wanted to cover their collective asses.

THEY MADE THE AMENDED RULES AFTER THE OTHER THREE CONFERENCES HAD IN GOOD LEGAL FAITH TAKEN THE LEAD THEY WOULD PLAY THE SEASON….for purely economicl reasons as well. I write the truth on my blog. The three conferences in essence need this act of ‘good faith’ to allow the Big Ten champion in the field.

A rule is a rule is a rule…especially if the rule is one which was made as an amendment to specifically aid the Buckeyes.

I wouldn’t even allow the Buckeyes to play in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game if El Prez was running the Big Ten. If Ohio State can’t even comply with their own rules their own president made—then why on earth should they be allowed to advance to the national semi-finals to taint the legitimacy of the National Final Four.

This is not a legal conundrum…it is a simple application of the law.

Even in the midst of Trump’s seven million vote rout loss to Joe Biden…we still have laws. We follow the laws or what we would have is chaos and anarchy.

Ohio State should not play in the National Semi’s, but if Coastal Carolina goes undefeated I would put them in the field. I abosolutely loved the way they destroyed the Brigham Young quarterback twice on the interception return.. on the same play. It was like Ronnie Perkins scaring both Spencer Sanders and Mike Gundy on the same play. Same thing in reality. As in… game over….piss on the fire, call in the dogs, boys. That was TSN football to the max of the three letters…Toughness, Smarts, Nasty. Coastal Carolina has some John Marshall-Nasty to them. I have to admit I like their grit. I hope Joe C has their coach on his short list for when Lincoln opts out to coach in the NFL. I’m always thinking two steps down the road on my blog… as in Mike Gundy to Tulsa after Coach Montgomery lands a POWER 5 job this off season.

Should it have been a penalty? Of course it should have been. But they didn’t get caught. If the zebra doesn’t see it…then so be it. Even if Coastal Carolina gets mauled in th national semis…at least we still have the potential of an ice clearing brawl.

So in closing…I’m saying Ohio State out while Coastal Carolina joins Alabama, Clemson, and Notre Dame at the Big Dance while OU plays Texas A&M in the Cotton Bowl. Florida can play Ohio State in the Peach Bowl in their sixth game of the season….as in SIXTH GAME of the season.

The end.(

(51) Beth Harmon’s Final Chess Game | The Queen’s Gambit – Full Scene – YouTube

My wife and I were in Denver for a three day week-end to spend some very quality time with our 14 month year old grandson Robert. I feel like I know him now. We looked in each other’s eyes and a silent understanding was reached by both of us. He’s already smarter and more mature than Donald Trump. Plus…he can dunk on his junior Dunkmaster at 14 months. Plus, he runs like Westbrook, but with the smarts of Chris Paul.

In about a week he will be joined by the birth of his little sister Audrey.

Just before the OU-Baylor game….my wife and I serendipitiously watched the first episode of a Netflix film staring Anya-Taylor Joy. named The Queen’s Gambit.

The film gripped both of us in the first episode. Miss Taylor-Joy was simply stunning playing the femme chess player Beth Harmon. Simply. Stunning. It you’re a guy it will grab you by the balls and literally take your breath away.

I already have it on my Oscar watch list for multiple awards.

We binge watched the enire movie late on Saturday and Sunday nights while Robert was sleeping as he morphed a much more detailed/nuanced foreign policy than the Village Idiot ever contemplated.

A glorious week-end for certain as I took a break from the award winning okcthunderground.com. I feel rebooted.

Have a nice week.

I’m not sure if he did or not compared to his rookie season with the LA Clippers.

With both Chris Paul and Dennis Schroder on last year’s team it was hard to gauge if SGA is the point guard Sam Presti can build this team around.

When play resumed in the bubble it seemed to me Shai never really got going with any consistency. To me, it will be interesting to see where his game goes this season given there possibly won’t be much of any bona fide veteran finishers on the team for him to dish the ball to.

Neither Dort, Bazely, or Diallo have been in this role before either. We’ll just have to see what’s left standing of this roster on December 9th.

So he’ll go from last year where there were other primary ball handlers and finishers to this team of virtual depletion. I hope he gets as much help from his teammates as Cade has gotten so far from his team at O State at the Power 5 level of play.

Sam Presti made a point of talking about this in his presser, but where do the assists come from on a consistent basis. I wonder if Rondel Walker could moonlight some games for the Thunder… don’t laugh.

I’m getting ahead of myself until we specifically see what the roster looks like after the next tier of transactions.

But I will say this for the sake of hoops in Oklahoma this season…Cade and Rondel wear the masks and space with great care. We need something to watch hoops wise through the rough winter months ahead.

We need you guys to keep our atttention diverted from Sam Presti’s ‘transition’.

Shai rookie season with LA Clippers highlight mix.

(43) Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Highlight Mix! (Vol. 1) – YouTube

Cade Cunningham’s one season of college basketball got its first real test on Tuesday night on the road against the Marquette Warriors. I still call Marquette the Warriors because before political correctness took over our world that’s what they were named in 1977 when Al McGuire’s team came to Oklahoma City and won a regional on their way to winning the NCAA Championship.

Granted…this isn’t Al McGuire’s Marquette program, but the program did make the tournament three years in a row heading into this season under Coach Woj.

This was a nice win for Mike Boynton’s ball club. There’s seven or eight teams in the rugged Big 12 this season who are probably better than Marquette, but this was still a solid win for the very young Cowboys.

15-6-3…those were Cade Cunningham’s very steady numbers in this game. He didn’t shoot the ball all that much…especially from beyond the arc. But what he did do was impact the game with his leadership and court smarts.

Back in 2007– I watched Kevin Durant, Michael Beasley, and Blake Griffin play Big 12 hoops. Now…we’re only three games in so I won’t go ga-ga this early because I want to see Cade play in all of the Big 12 games on the schedule…but I would say with some caution attached Cade has a chance to be better than all three of these guys as an NBA player.

Two of those guys won National Player of the Year honors, but Cade potentially has the whole package to be better than Kevin Durant.

While I’m on here today I want to shout out for the other freshman on Boynton’s club who’s quite a player himself…Rondel Walker from PC West. Rondel was probably the second best player in Oklahoma high school hoops last season and the best player in the Oklahoma City area.

Be sure and watch Rondel when he enters the games. He’s instant impact coming off Mike Boynton’s bench.

Boynton potentially has a nice little ball team on his hands if the COVID doesn’t disrupt the flow of the college season. Next up for O State are Oakland (Michigan), Oral Roberts, and Wichita State before Big 12 play gets going for the Cowboys.

I think once the Cowboys get into Big 12 play the question for them will be is if they have enough interior physicality to hang with Kansas and Baylor on the boards. But here’s the thing…Cade at 6’9″ rebounds like Russell Westbrook.

I plan on watching every O State game this season just like Sam Presti is going to do and call it my Cade Cunningham Journal on my blog.

Cade Cunningham 15 PTS, 6 REB, 3 AST Full Highlights | Oklahoma St vs Marquette 12.1.20 – YouTube