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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.

Joe Biden gave a nice speech, but for me Michelle Obama was the star the first night.

I read her book this winter and I’m almost certain I’m the only white male below the Mason Dixon Line to do so…but I like Michelle.

The parts about her book I enjoyed the most were the chapters about her parents and how hard they worked to give Michelle and her brother Craig a fair shot at the American Dream.

I actually find her story almost as inspirational as that of Barack Obama’s. The difference is he’s a dreamer and she’s a pragmatic realist. Make no mistake about it…Barack Obama was an inspirational president unless you live in Oklahoma, Alabama, or some other SEC outpost.

And yet…Joe Biden and Kendra Horn are both leading in the polls in Oklahoma County as I blog. Maybe there is some hope and change within us.

I think Michelle’s speech basically said ..’We’re better than this. We’re better than being run into the ground by a grifter who no one would have ever heard of if his daddy Fred Trump hadn’t left him $420 million dollars in 1980 dollars. No one would have ever heard of this person otherwise because he’s failed at every thing he’s done from a business and personal standpoint. He’s a punk.’

We should all be courteous and respectful of one another. We should look for the good in others because it is all around us every single day even within the people who voted for Donald Trump.

There is an inherit goodness in the American people which needs to be rekindled.

But most of all the American Dream should be available to 330 million people if they’re willing to take the right path and do the difficult things.

I loved her speech and I have to be the only white guy in Oklahoma who would write this on his Thunder basketball blog.

But this is why I have a blog.

Be better…America. Be better.

This is why I beat Vegas with boring regularity on NBA and NHL games.

Same thing with the Thunder without Dort. Without Dort the Rockets will frolick.

Go Portland!

Michelle Obama’s brilliant DNC speech coming up next. There are times we don’t go high. One of those times is when you’re dealing with a pathological lying grifter. This would be one of those times.

Patrick Beverly NBA champion has a nice ring to it. I don’y know if the word prohibitive is the right word, but it’s close to desbribing what is about to unfold in the bubble.

The Clippers have a nice team with enough star power in Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Marcus Morris to win sixteen games in the bubble.

They also have enough guys like Patrick Beverly to do the dirty work which is needed to win a championship.

Their first half defense was lackluster tonight, but you know what they did besides winning Game 1…they made Luka D take a hit every time he touhed the ball. Just like in hockey they want Donic to be worn out by Game 3.

In actual hockey the Boston Bruins without Tuuka Rask in net roared back against the Carolina Hurricanes to take a commanding 3-1 series lead despite being without some key offensive pieces. The role guys did the heavy lifting in the third period.

Portland vs. Lakers and Thunder vs. Rockets tonight. This could be interesting.

As a sports fan you have to be discerning in picking your spots in the bubble.

Memphis out. A much healthier Portland Trailblazer team now the 8th seed in the West to face the Lakers.

This actually validates the seeding games which just took place. An injury decimated Portland team took the off time to get healthy and now assume the role of hopeful LeBron slayer in the first round in the West.

I’d much rather face No. 7 Dallas or No. 6 Utah than this Portland club. I might even go as far to say I’d rather face No. 5 Houston than this team.

So this is kind of interesting. I’m sad we won’t get to see Ja Morant in the playoffs as he was easily my Rookie of the Year winner. But this makes the Lakers take notice that they could actually be playing the third most dangerous team in the West in the first round.

Ask yourself this… would you rather play the Nuggets or this Portland team with Lillard and McCullum in the first round who now have Collins and Nurkic back to round out the lneup.

This is good for the bubble. The bubble needs all the help it can get to make this a more compelling watch than Shark Week.

Go Portland!

I’m ready. Portland vs. Lakers and OKC vs. Houston are the two series which have my interest in the first round in the West.

Of all the teams in the NBA the coronavirus helped one team the most…the Portland Trailblazers. They got healthy. They regrouped. They have virtually nothng to lose to a Lakers team which is not as good or deep as they were before the play stoppage.

These two series have my interest.

The humidity in Oklahoma is unbearable this week. I’m a Cali boy living in SEC country. David Boren was so completely wrong. OU and O-State are SEC culture fits if ever there were two out there waiting to be invited to play real college football again.

The one thing I truly love about Oklahoma is the completely insane misdirected influence college football has on our daily lives. I’m so glad the Big 12 decided it was time to face the truth and head towards becoming SEC brethren.

The music is to get my mind off the dewpoint in Deer Creek. Lethal dewpoint for sure.

Not to pound my own chest…but I am truly a great post season arena NBA fan. I refuse to wear the T-shirts…but otherwise I’m a difference maker in the arena. If Sam Presti put five hundred like me behind the Thunder bench he wouldn’t need 18,000 and change.

The fans are what make the NBA great. Period.

The seeding games are over for the Thunder. They finish 4-4 and are the fourth seed in the West. OKC will face the Houston Rockets, but both Russell Westbrook and Lu Dort are questionable healthwise to start this series of real games for the first time since March.

This is why it’s hard to be an NBA fan at times. Five months of sitting around doing pretty much nothing and when the lights come on for real without fans two of the more compelling players in this series may be watching.

Yawn.

Robert Gordon Orr born in Parry Sound, Ontario. The greatest most complete hockey player to ever grace the planet. Unlike the frilly Wayne Gretzky…Bobby Orr was physical and could fight with anyone in the league.

Barry Sanders is my favorite football player of all-time. Roberto Clemente is my favorite baseball playuer of all-time. Michael Jordan is my favorite basketball player of all-time.

Bobby Orr is my favorite athlete of all-time.

He changed the game of hockey as an offensive defenseman and was a fierce yet quiet leader.

I play this video at the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs every year as my homage to Bobby Orr and the glorious game of hockey.

Bobby Orr is why I’m a Boston Bruins fan and why I wear my Bruins cap to work every day in Oklahoma.