Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Big surprise, eh?

Was there really any doubt the agents of the NBA players were not going to monetize their commissions with a lower salary cap looming next NBA season?

Not a chance because Adam Silver and the NBA Player’s Association don’t run the league—the agents do. Why do you think Woj is the most realible off the record source in the league?

Here’s another thing which somewhat bothers me…as of yesterday only 20% of the members of the player’s association have even registered to vote in the upcoming election. How does anyone expect any change to occur with this type of apathy from some of the world’s most generously compensated black athletes?

Has anyone even considered the possibility some of these black players voted for Trump because it brought down their effective marginal rates?

So OKC will play Houston in Game 5 on Saturday…TBD-time to be determined. Westbrook will play. Even Vegas has no idea what Wild Thing will do coming out of the bullpen for the Rockets. No one.

Will he be a chucker, a rebounder, or a turnover machine or Harden’s partner who does the dirty little things over the court which make the Rockets a better team? Kinda like a smoker, a joker, or a midnight toker?

What will Wild Thing be on Saturday in the Bubble?

I would call it a pure even pick ’em game. One thing to consider though…Westbrook is a combined 3-12 in his last fifteen playoff games. 2-8 with Paul George as his sidekick…. versus Utah and Portland. It’s not like Westbrook has been clutch in post season play without Kevin Durant on his team.

I think the biggest question mark in this game is how many minutes does Billy Donovan allow Steven Adams to play against the small ball Rockets?

I assume Adams will guard Wild Thing at the start. Maybe even intentionally lay off him to induce a veritable plethora of three point chucking from one of the league’s poorest three point shooters. A basketball rope a dope… pun completely intended.

This is a huge game for Russell Westbrook. He’s slipped out of the top ten players in the league because he’s been such an up and down player in post season the past three years.

Smart teams with smart clutch players advance in post season. Dumb teams don’t go far.

Game 5 on Saturday for me could be the most compelling game yet in these NBA Playoffs in the Bubble.

I’m very interested to see what happens and who emerges from the Bubble smoke.

Bring the heater, Rickey. God, I’m so glad he’s back so I can play this video.

This will be awkward for Little Nick Gallo in the press room after the game. Hopefully, he’ll be able to conduct himself like a professional and not swoon too much from rubbing himself against Russell’s body. Post game presser should be awesome.

Long story short…I took the Ancestry 23 test and it turns out I’m somewhat Italian. I wrote about it on my blog and some Italian women have been private messaging me ever since telling me I’m their favorite Thunder blogger. This is for the women in Italy who follow the blog and hate Donald Trump even more than I do.

This was not a Republican Convention per se because that party no longer exists. The party which gave us Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Ford, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and even Bob Dole, John McCain and Mitt Romney went poof and is gone.

This didn’t have the feel of Cleveland four years go either because so many of those Trump henchmen like Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort, George Papadopolous, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, and Roger Stone are either in prison, being released from prison, or being reassigned to some other federal program where they can’t assault the constitution of the United States for the time being.

I’ve always maintained the Trump presidency closely resembles the storylines of Tarentino’s Reservoir Dogs. Still do. It’s more about a group of mini-mafia wannabees than the government of a first world country.

Melania Trump was very green tonight and she should be given credit for not reading a Michelle Obama speech at this mini-mafia gathering earlier in the week. She can now get back to protecting the world from the menace of internet bullying and riding her Peleton. Sigh.

I thought Mark Meadows missed a great opportunity by not having Russian prostitutes pee on members of the Falwell family to galvanize the Christian evangelical vote…but Trump has that locked anyway I guess. But still.

That’s pretty much it for me on what transpired at the White House this week in lieu of a Republican National Convention.

I don’t consider myself white even though my birth certificate says I’m white. I was the darkest kid at both my elementary and junior high schools.

There were times I was called a nigger, a half nigger, a wop, and a spic. It hurt. But for me sports was an equalizer. I was the starting third baseman on two state AAU baseball teams and not a terrible football player when I was trying. I was a starting two guard in junior high.

Sports gave me the chance to silence those comments by some weak white kids who weren’t taught any better by their parents.

Then when I went to John Marshall for high school half of the student body was black. I fit right in. Sports have been an equalizer for non-whites because the whites want to win.

You think Mullet King Mike Gundy would be making $5 million a year if he only had played white running backs and receivers?

You think that O-State fans? Cause let me tell you something you are completely full of shit if that’s what you think. It is a completly different deal with the speed of the black athlete. Night and day.

Same tbing with Barry Switzer. You think Barry Switzer would have won without black players at OU? Barry Switzer hosted a Donald Trump fundraiser at his home in 2016 which is absolutely shameful.

Same thing with Bobby Knight. You think Bobby Knight would have won a national championship without Quinn Buckner, Scott May, Isiah Thomas, or Keith Smart?

And while I understand the pain and frustration of Kenny Smith and the black athlete in our society…like Shaq…I ask how does this move anything forward?

It doesn’t.

Black people were getting murdered during the eight years of Barack Obama. Chicago became a war zone. When Michael Bloomberg was mayor of NYC he instituted stop and frisk because in a certain geographical region of his jurisdiction people were getting murdered at an alarming rate.

I just don’t think calling off the NBA season does anything of consequence.

It has to start in the black communities with black men becoming better fathers and dedicating themselves to their sons becoming strong contributors to society. This applies to white fathers across this country as well. Some of you suck as fathers as well. Try and be a role model for your son. Try and make sure they don’t turn out like Fred or Donald Trump.

Your dream should be your son becomes a better man than you. That was always my dream for Chris Jackson. Mission accomplished.

Easier said than done for sure, but for me that’s where all of this starts. Canceling the NBA season does nothing except signal a surrender to Donald Trump and other racists like him in white mainstream America.

I’m not sure how suspending the NBA Playoffs does anything to get Donald Trump and William Barr out of the White House. If one looks at the last election in 2016 in the three pivotal states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania….somewhere around 70,000 total in those three states determined the election which enabled Donald Trump to take office.

The black turnouts in Milwaukee, Detroit, and Philadelphia were anemic.

I don’t see how canceling the NBA Playoffs in any way energizes the black turnput in those three cities which in essence turned the Electoral College red for David Duke’s candidate of choice.

There are injustices taking place in this country everyday where white people take advantage of uneducated white people. White people abuse white people every day in America.

Black people abuse black people everyday in America. If I recall that was a theme in the movie The Color Purple.

The poor white people in the three states I just listed have in no way been helped by Donald Trump’s presidency. Just ask Dave Chappelle.

I hate to be blunt and direct, but both poor whites and blacks who didn’t vote to keep Donald Trump out of the White House in no way will be aided by the NBA season being cancelled.

In fact…I think doing this will only help Trump.

Freedom and democracy aren’t just given out like Halloween candy. Nor should they be. Some effort is required if you want change.

It’s called voting. It’s called getting more people who aren’t white to participate in the governance of their own country.

I think this is a terrible move by the NBA Players Association.

Jackie Robinson retired from baseball the year I was born in 1957. Several years before that my father and Joe Carter Sr. were refused service in a downtown Oklahoma City cafe.

In my view the election of Barack Obama infused a renewed hatred in certain whites from the old school Silent Majority which was fueled by George Wallace, Richard Nixon and then again in 2016 by Donald Trump.

But these police murders of blacks by police officers aren’t just taking place in the Solid South. They are happening throughout the United States.

What I’m saying here is if Major League Baseball had canceled their season because of all the vile treatment Jackie Robisnon received in his first season what would have happened to other black athletes in other sports? In other realms of our culture?

It is incredibly sad for our country to have literally no presidential leadership on race relations, but that’s where we find ourselves and the only way out is to climb back out of the darkness and into the light together.

Been to Jamaica. Been several times to the Bahamas of which we’re headed back to go this January. I love this song. It’s such a happy upbeat song and video.

My son Chris who was a pretty decent offensive defenseman at one point in his life may not want to hear this, but the Colorado Avalanche don’t appear to be ready for a run at the Stanley Cup just yet.

Colorado’s defense and goaltending just aren’t there at this point. You can’t win a Cup with just one scoring line and a power play either.

It looks like Las Vegas to me in the West although the Dallas Stars have some interesting pieces and took the St. Louis Blues to a Game 7 last year in the semis in the West.

In the East…I would think the winner of Boston vs. Tampa will be the eventual team to advance to the Cup finals although Mike McEwen’s NY Islanders appear to have a little something going right now. Let us not forget Coach Barry Trotz who took the Washington Capitals to the Stanley Cup Championship is now the coach of the Islanders. Lest us not forget that salient fact.

Wednesday night in Denver is mens open league night at the University of Denver for my son Chris. He already has a stick in my almost one year old grandson’s hands. I would think little Robert will be on skates next time this year working on his back crossover so I can give him his first Bobby Orr jersey.

If little Robert turns out to be a forward then it will be a Super Mario jersey who is my second favorite hockey player of all-time.

Just a great ball game from the Thunder. Billy Donovan finally seems to have come to terms with what Steven Adams and Terrance Ferguson can and can’t do for his Thunder ball club.

Terrance Ferguson didn’t see the floor again since Lu Dort’s return and that is a good thing for Billy D’s basketball team.

Steven did start and played around 26 minutes or so but when it came to Big Boy Britches Time Billy D got it right and went small with CP3, Dennis, Shai, Lu Dort, and went with a shooter in Gallo at the center spot.

Voila. As much as I love Steven as an author this is why until he learns to shoot from beyond ten feet his value is limited.

Dennis Schroder was the game’s MVP with a career playoff personal best of 32 points and some genuine clutchness in the game’s final minutes.

Chris Paul was steady if not spectacular. Dort was Dort. He grinds, he rubs, he checks like a hockey player because he’s Canadian and that’s what Canadians do even when they’re not on the ice.

But I thought Shai, another Canadian by the way who has a frilly Gretzkyesqueness about him, was a real key. Instead of playing like a pussy—he showed some toughness. He led the Thunder in minutes played at around 44 and led the team in rebounds with twelve boards of which eight were defensive.

I thought his overall basketball aura was much better. He has to get better in this realm. He doesn’t want to stay in the Kevin Durant mode where he can only bench press ninety pounds. I KNOW this is more of what Billy Donovan wants to see from his other Canadian.

In hockey parlance for the two Canadians…Shai is Gretzky and Dort is Messier the bad boy grinder who does the dirty work. This is what I thought about Durant and Westbrook at one time, until I realized Westbrook doesn’t play smart at times like Messier did with both the Edmonton Oilers and New York Rangers.

This is my sedgeway into Russelll Westbrook. Is he going to play in this series and who would it be good for if he does play?

I’ve watched Russell Westbrook play every game he played as a member of the OKC Thunder and I’m not sure what the answer is to my own question.

His rebounding would be a plus for Houston for certain. But would he be able to reign it in and exclude the horrific decision making as this series is now a best two out of three for the right to advance to the semi-finals in the West?

I don’t know. Vegas doesn’t know. The soft frilly millenials at the Daily Thunder don’t know…except Johhny Thunder perhaps because he reads this blog now and again.

It is a basketball conumdrum of sorts. But is it really? At what point does an elite athlete learn to stop playing dumb when it matters most?

Was Michael Jordan dumb until he finally beat the Pistons and got to the Summit?

I don’t think Westbrook is dumb. I just think his own uber competitiveness makes him play dumb at times. Can Harden harness this if Westbrook returns?

So much to think about.

But this is what we do know. The series is now tied at 2-2 and Dennis Schroder is back in a confidence groove. We know Shai doesn’t have to play like he’s in the WNBA. We know Lu Dort is a better man than Mike Gundy. We know Billy D has a small ball lineup he believes in versus this Houston team. We also know Billy D has tightened the rope on the rotations and who he doesn’t believe can get it done at Big Boy Britches Time.

We know we have a compelling series on our hands.

Game 5 on Wednesday in the Bubble.

I love Lu Dort, but in reality I think how Dennis Schroder completes the three headed guard tandem with CP3 and SGA for the Thunder is the key for the Thunder if they hope to beat Houston and advance to the second round.

Hard kid not to like.

Good luck, Dennis.

If Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the future franchise face of the Thunder then Lu Dort is the soul and heart of the team moving forward beyond Chris Paul.

I’ll get to Lu Dort later on down the page.

In one helluva basketball game… OKC’s Thunder finally got untracked and played like the team which beat the Boston Celtics in their last game played before the covid lockdown of the NBA.

It was a combination of Chris Paul finally getting untracked along with Dennis Schroder and SGA with Gallinari and Adams fulfilling their roles within the Thunder’s small ball lineups.

My MVP for the Thunder was Dennis Schroder because for this team to win games in this post season it’s fairly clear to me Schroder has to score points and make Chris Paul’s job easier. Dennis led the Thunder with 29 points and looked like the Sixth Man of the Year we in Oklahoma City saw before the covid lockdown.

Schroder, CP3, Gallanari, and SGA all scored twenty points or more in this game. Steven Adams did some things on the boards and will need to keep working on the boards if the Thunder are to get back in this series.

Now Lu Dort.

Without Lu Dort…the Thunder don’t win this basketball game. Terrance Ferguson and Andre Roberson never saw the floor and probably won’t again in this series unless Lu Dort gets injured.

In 36 minutes of play Lu Dort hounded James Harden into a 12-27 shooting performance. Dort also made the game’s biggest play in overtime when he drew James Harden into committing his sixth foul.

Lu Dort hounded James Harden and made the Beard work for every inch of space and time. Coach Sutton who had Tony Allen at O State would absolutely love the basketball soul of Lugentz Dort.

This was basically the ball game when Harden had to leave the floor. Finito…Mr. Beard. Lu Dort just dorted your ass.

Every successful team needs a Lu Dort or Nick Collison type. But in this day and age of the NBA when so much of the game is predicated on three point shooting a wing/guard type like Dort is an absolute must.

So the series now moves to Game 4 on Monday in a game the Thunder have to win if they legitimately want to win this series.

The defending champion St. Louis Blues were vanquished in six games by the youthful yet gritty Vancouver Canucks. This leaves in the West in seeding order Vegas, Colorado, Dallas, and Vancouver.

This is a good mix of teams and the eventual winner in the West will have to earn its way for sure. Right now both Vegas and Colorado look extremely tough. But I wouldn’t discount Vancouver because their goalie was outstanding in this series against the St. Louis Blues.

In post season hockey it’s all about goaltending, your power play, and your penalty killing.

In the East my Boston Bruins advanced along with Tampa, Philly, and the NY Islanders.

Boston’s fragile netminder Tuuka Rask left the bubble to go home. We’ll have to see about the Bruin’s goaltending.

If I were Las Vegas the two teams I’d have circled right now would be the Vegas hockey team along with the Colorado Avalanche. Vancouver would be my Cinderella dark horse.

As far as the Thunder..I’m tempering my thoughts because I don’t want to diminish the feel good regular season they just experienced. Lu Dort came back and proved me right by basically shutting down James Harden. I love Lu Dort. I love his committment to getting in front of his man and playing old school defense. Eddie Sujtton would love Lu Dort.

Here’s the really bad news for Oklahoma City even with Dort playing great… the Thunder still lost Game 2 by thirteen points with Harden being contained and Westbrook not even playing.

The worse news for the Portland Trailblazers is Damian Lillard hurt his hand. That truly sucks.

So for me right now it’s more about the hockey in the West than the basketball in the West. For real hockey fans the West matchups are truly compelling.

My son lives in Denver and plays in the Wednesday night mens open league there at Denver University…. so it’s the Colorado Avalanche for our family.