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It was a very nice Mother’s Day for me. I didn’t exchange one word of politics with any other human. I had a great dinner with my mom and then went home to watch The Last Dance.

I was not let down by Episodes 7 & 8. In fact—as much as I loved the segments with Michael learning how to overcome the Detroit Pistons…this was the perfect emotional fit for me on a Mother’s Day week-end. This tugged at my heart.

We got to see Michael behind the competitive wall which he built around himself as the player who had to overcome the Detroit Pistons and their Jordan Rule’s doctrine.

Winning at any level is tough. But think about what Michael Jordan did in his last six seasons in the NBA. He won six NBA championships in six seasons which means his team never lost a playoff series.

Kevin Durant without Steph, Klay, Draymond and Iggy by his side never won an NBA championship.

Russell Westbrook without Kevin Durant on the court with him has never won an NBA playoff series and is a collective 4-12 in post season games played.

James Harden has never won a Western Conference Finals. Chris Paul if memory serves me correct has never played in a Western Conference Finals. Paul George did make it to ONE Eastern Conference Finals before LeBron reminded him of the food chain order of NBA life.

The adjective ‘great’ gets thrown around too much in today’s sports lexicon.

But Michael Jordan was truly great and to be great for a sustained period of time you have to be a tough-minded son of a bitch. You have to possess the will to get up every morning with that son of a bitch mindset.

Which brings me to Scottie and his unfortunate handling of the situation in ’94 versus the NY Knicks when Phil drew up the final shot for Tony Kukoc with 1.8 seconds left.

Did this diminish Scottie’s place in my Pantheon?

It did. To me…if you want to be the guy…this is when Scottie instead of not going back in the game….. simply should have said to Phil in front of the team, “I’ll make it. I’ll make the shot.”

That’s the difference between Michael and Scottie. Don’t get me wrong–Scottie Pippen is an easy Hall of Famer and was possibly a better defender than Michael Jordan.

But Michael was that rare and exceptional athlete who never left a doubt in either his teammates’ mind or Phil Jackson’s mind who was running the show.

True… Michael did get the ball to Steve Kerr and John Paxson in clutch situations…but it was Jordan who in his drive to win who initiated the play on the court—instead of staying on the bench.

Pauli is my diva female black lab. She was preceded by Dakota who was a female black lab as well. Two best dogs I’ve ever had in my life. I would never say this within earshot of Pauli in fear of her getting a big head, but hands down—Pauli is the far superior of the two dogs.

In smarts, heart, character, and speed…Pauli has the DNA of a rare champion. She is no ordinary lab.

So it appears my brother David now has a black Great Dane named Duke. Pauli and I were looking at Duke on David’s Facebook account and I somewhat offered a challenge for Duke to come to the ranch in Deer Creek and maybe race Pauli as a learning experience for Duke.

Now…my cousin Jan then interjected Duke would run Pauli ragged. Which of course did not go unnoticed by either me or Pauli.

Pauli has chased off 220 pound mountain lions out here near our forest lines…beating an unschooled Great Dane pup will not be be that big of a deal.

Pauli stands around 22 inches and weighs in at 71 pounds. We were talking and mutually decided she might want to shed about four pounds for this ‘Duke challenge.’

This will be good for Pauli. She’s become a little complacent out here being the alpha with all these lazy Edmond dogs. Acorns and the trees if you know what I mean?

Pauli starts training tomorrow.

It’s hard for me not to love Dennis Rodman. His own story intertwines with that of not one NBA dynasty, but two. Not bad for a kid who went to college at Southeast State in Durant, Oklahoma.

I pray Dennis is in a good place and at peace with himself.

The Last Dance resumes on Sunday night with Episodes 7 & 8.

Big storms rolling thru Deer Creek as I type in tonight’s song. Back when I used to run Daily Thunder and didn’t have to contend with Royce Young and his cabal of weak Edmond fanboy millennials… this is what we would play After Dark on a stormy spring night during the NBA playoffs.

It seemed like the Thunder always won when it stormed.

It is what it is. Great song though.

This is a great little interview with Rachel Nichols, Scottie, and Steve Kerr. I always enjoy her work. How odd two chicks…Rachael and Doris Burke are my two favorite NBA hoops interviewers.

Scottie is probably No. 16 on my Pantheon of all-time greats depending and how I’m feeling about Isiah Thomas that particular moment. As a point forward he was the perfect compliment for Michael. He could conceivably rank higher if not for a few moments in his career when he hurt his own legacy to an extent.

But Scottie was just a great basketball player and almost got the Blazers past Kobe and Shaq and into an NBA Finals in Portland. I always think of Durant to a certain extent when I’m watching old footage of Scottie running the floor with the Bulls. Putting aside Durant’s exit from Oklahoma City…Kevin Durant is one helluva basketball player. I probably have Kevin as No. 17 on my list right now and will move him higher depending on what I see after the return from the Achilles injury.

Here’s what I say about Durant…he got Oklahoma City to four Western Conference Finals and one NBA Finals with Scott Brooks as his head coach and with Thabo, Kevin Martin, and Dion Waiters as his shooting guards. Kevin Durant did this in the rugged West and he did this with Russell losing his point guard mind at times.

Do I think if Kevin had come back in 2017 they would have beaten the Warriors?

No. Not a chance…because Russell at least to this point still doesn’t get it. I don’t think Russell is stupid or selfish. I just think in Russell’s head he’s never come to terms with the fact that in the last six minutes of playoff games against elite competition he still doesn’t trust his teammates.

Russell, the ball isn’t your best friend…your teammates are. Let’s go, dude.

Who would be the right coach for Russell?

Maybe…Steve Kerr. They could read Michelle Obama’s book together and bond. Don’t laugh. It was a great book and Russell has a signed copy of the book.

We should all try to be inspirational in these trying times. To do good deeds to help others who could use a hand here and there. We should put politics aside at this point and realize we’re at a pivotal juncture in our history. We need to reinvent decency as a country again.

Have an inspirational Wednesday.

Kind of incredible when you think about the fact Phil Jackson as an NBA head coach won a combined eleven world championships with the Bulls and Lakers.

Six with Michael. Five with Kobe.

I remember him as a player with the NY Knicks. Nice solid player. Kind of what I would describe as a Nick Collison type. It’s very rare great players turn into great coaches in any sport. Players like Phil Jackson or say Pat Riley are the types who take it to a higher level as a coach than they did as a player. The desire to fulfill as a coach what they couldn’t accomplish as a player.

Someone on a Thunder Facebook chat group posted the above question in regards to a Phil Jackson All-Star team from LA and Chicago.

Ten players. Who would I go with?

I’d go… 1 Michael, 2 Kobe, 3 Scottie, 4 Shaq, 5 Dennis, 6 Pau, 7 Ron Harper, 8 Horace, 9 Stevie Kerr, and 10 Big Shot Bob Horry. Maybe Derek Fisher if I go eleven…which I think I might.

I go with Kerr and Horry because I think they were both winners with a penchant for coming off the bench and doing some clutch things in big moments. Same reasons for Fisher.

I’m sure I’ve left some very deserving players off here, but this would be my first draft of the team.

With all due respect to Isiah Thomas … I don’t see a debate on this issue. The debate I think which could be in play is if NBA play is resumed this season and the LA Clippers with Kawhi Leonard beat LeBron’s Lakers in route to Kawhi’s third ring with three different teams. Then we have a real debate.

In 2014, Kawhi’s San Antonio Spurs shocked the world by dismantling the Miami Heat Super Team. Kawhi was Finals’ MVP. Not LeBron, not D Wade. Not Timmy Duncan

Kawhi then went on to win his second ring with Toronto last season and another Finals MVP trophy.

This is why I want Adam Silver if nothing else to put in place a four team tournament with the Lakers, the Clippers, the Bucks, and the defending champion Toronto Raptors. I could care less if the Oklahoma City Thunder play another game. The Thunder aren’t a contender beyond the first round and it was a nice little feel good season with the Thunder going 40-24 in a season in which we all thought they’d be tanking after the departure of Jerami Grant to Denver.

I’d pay extra cable fees to see this four team tournament.

As a passionate NBA fan who’s been watching the league since say 1963 or so when I was six years of age….. I want to see LeBron, Kawhi, and Giannis square off. I don’t care if there are fans in the arena or not.

As far as Isiah…he was a feisty little shit of a terror on the floor. I have him No. 15 on my all-time list ahead of Scottie, ahead of Charles Barkley, even ahead of Cupcake for the time being. But Isiah was a train wreck as a GM later in his career.

There is no way in hell I would take LeBron over Michael. No way.

As Scottie Pippen accurately states in this video he took away from Michael’s assist totals because Scottie was the Bucs’ point forward. Michael would run the break with Scottie dishing the ball.

Michael Jordan was 6-0 in NBA Finals play.

Isiah, please. Enough already.

No where else in the wolrd can you follow this dream. I would strongly suggest putting the partisan nonsense aside and focus on what it means to be an American in the coming months. Just be an American.

As I watch this film on Michael Jordan….I can’t help but keep thinking of Russell Westbrook.

What was it in Michael which allowed him to give the ball to John Paxson and Steve Kerr in those two critical championship windows which Russell couldn’t quite come to terms with in Oklahoma City?

Maybe just too much of the competitive dog in him. Maybe. I laughed last night watching Michael pitching pennies. My best man in my wedding is like that. We almost got in a fight once skipping rocks on an Illinois River float trip. We were betting on most number of skips.

I like Westbrook. I want him to win a championship. I want him to cement his legacy. He was good to the people of this city even if he wouldn’t answer Berry Tramel’s questions at the end. BTW…I like Tramel as well and he’s the one guy in this market who in retrospect Russell should have opened up to from a media standpoint. The nonsensical way Russell handled that whole Little Nick Gallo fiasco was Little League and that’s on Russell. Kind of like me finally getting banned on Daily Thunder.

I’ve thought about Russell in Houston all season long as he tries to find that missing piece of his game.

I truly think Bennett and Presti did the right thing by moving Russell to Houston, but I like the way they put Russell in a place where he still has a chance to flirt with a championship. He earned that much by what he did for this city.