Wow. I am totally spent and have no voice left. I’ve never made a list of the top ten regular season games in Thunder history, but this one tonight inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena would probably be in my top five after I go thru all the games played here in the Thunder era.
Just a fabulous game from wire to wire. It had everything a fan of the game could want and then some.
I’m whipped. That’s my recap.
Paul George with 43 points and the game winner with 0.8 seconds left in the second overtime.
Sacramento Kings in town tomorrow night on the second night of what should be a challenging game on the second night of a back to back.
I’ve seen a lot of these guys over the years. I think for sure Marcus has been the better player in the NBA once they were separated from each other, but I wouldn’t discount Markieff. He could very well end up as Billy Donovan’s No. 8 guy in the rotation and do some positive things for the Thunder. I forgot they were Philly kids though, so that gives Markieff more sway with me. The Thunder need more from this spot than they’ve been getting from Patrick Patterson so I can’t view this as anything but a smart hedge move which could have some nice upside for the Thunder. For me, it’s another reason I have Sam Presti atop my list for NBA Executive of the Year.
With 25 games left in the regular season I don’t feel like I’d want to bet for or against this team once the playoffs begin. I had the Thunder as a No. 4 or a No. 3 seed in the West before the season, yet there are times when I watch them I feel like they could be the second best team in the entire league. A prime example being the last game played before the break when I had them No.2 heading into New Orleans where they promptly stunk losing to a Pelicans team which is in complete disorder.
I could see the Thunder losing in the first round for the third straight season or getting on a nice little run and making the conference finals.
Who would know?
But I know the Thunder without Durant are 3-8 in post season and have not sniffed a first round series win. The Thunder have not been relevant in post season without Durant. You would think with a solid first seven rotation of George, Westbrook, Adams, Grant, Schroder, Ferguson and Noel this team should be built better for post season. For me, Markieff Morris is a complete wildcard. He could help or he could show up at the arena stark naked with a Roger Stone tattoo on his chest. I have no idea. His career to me seems to have had some real emotional swings. So we’ll see.
We know the Thunder are good in transition. We know with Adams they hit the offensive glass hard. They’ve gotten better as far as assists to turnovers per ratio. We know since Alex Abrines went awol the Thunder of all things came together as a three point shooting team. I think their free shooting will be fine because for the most part you’d expect the ball to be in the hands of George, Schroder or Westbrook in the last six minutes of games. Steven Adams is the only top seven player who makes me nervous from the line.
This is a team which on paper and per payroll should be right there in the Western Conference Semi-Finals with a fighting chance to advance to the Western Conference Finals. This is a team to me which should have enough maturity to finish 17-8 or so in these final 25 games to finish somewhere around the 54-55 win range. If they don’t win 54 games I wouldn’t have Paul George as my MVP. It that’s simple. Do something of consequence as a team. Show me something.
If this doesn’t happen and the Thunder again exit in the first round I’d consider their season a massive underachievement. Of the Thunder’s remaining 25 games it breaks with the Thunder playing fourteen games at home. In twenty of these games the Thunder will be playing teams with a chance to make the playoffs. If I were going to circle one team in this entire league from this point forward which should be playing with a massive competitive chip on their collective shoulder it would be the Thunder.
But for me the elephant in the room always comes back to Russell Westbrook and his decision making in the last six minutes of games against good teams when it matters. The play in the road loss to Boston being a prime example when he pushed the ball frenetically on a 1-3 situation. That’s not having numbers. You push the ball when you have the odd man advantage. It is the most basic premise in offensive transition in both basketball and hockey. It’s basically just calibrating the odds in your favor. And that’s what still to a certain degree scares me about Russell Westbrook even though it’s obvious he’s at least trying to change. But can he change when all the chips are on the table…that’s the question for me?
So for while the Thunder’s three point shooting and overall team defense are certainly big keys, the biggest key is Russell Westbrook.
I actually watched part of this college game. Other than watching some of OU’s games this is the sixth college basketball game I’ve watched this season. It’s stunning for me to admit this because during the Billy Tubbs era in Norman… it was rare for me to miss a Sooner home game.
I loved those years. Billy’s arrogance. The Jack Nicholson schtick. The rivalries with Norm Stewart and Jerry Tarkanian. Ed Hightower. The Big Eight tournaments in Kansas City at Kemper. Chanting in unison to the Kansas fans in 90′ at Kemper, “Don’t come back,” on the Saturday evening game when OU had the Jayhawks down by twenty-six points after the scene of the crime game in the ’88 national championship final.
Those were the days.
These aren’t those days for college basketball. Nobody except for maybe half or so of the iconic programs in the country seem to care all that much about college basketball anymore. The ratings are down while the NBA ratings have climbed and are now second only to the NFL as the most watched of the four major professional sports.
College basketball is a dirty game. A game with no real identity anymore. Ask Billy Donovan off the record why he lost his luster for coaching the Gators in Gainesville. It’s not a good sign when the FBI is spending as much time trailing men’s college basketball programs as they are following Trump and his Russians.
But then again…Billy Donovan was a Rick Pitino disciple and in all candor Pitino’s exit from Louisville is about as dirty as it gets without having Russians peeing all over themselves in a Moscow hotel room.
I hope Bill Self is okay…I really do. We’ll see.
Interest in the college game is down. In reality it’s only a relevant sport when March Madness swings into gear before the Masters in Augusta.
Some might say the one and dones have ruined the game. Personally…like so many things in life I think it was monetary greed by all concerned which has ruined the sport. It’s a dirty money game. This would be the perfect subject for the next Michael Lewis bestseller. The title would be easy…’Dirty Money’.
So last night with no NBA hoops I decide I’m going to watch Duke vs. North Carolina with President Obama sitting courtside and not one minute into the game it was over for me as the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, Zion Williamson, hurt his knee by blowing out his tennis shoe.
It was eerily symbolic of college basketball’s fall in the pecking order of sports.
Zion Williamson shouldn’t even be playing college basketball. He should have gone straight from high school to the NBA. Who does the NCAA think they’re kidding here?
Fans have smartened up. Even in rogue right dumb Oklahoma. Every Thunder game sells out while both OU and O state play in half empty arenas. Nobody cares.
College basketball has some serious soul searching to do if it has any designs of being relevant other than just in the month of March.
Of course it is and has been ever since July 4th, 2016. It may be Paul George’s career MVP year, but make no bones about it… this is the team Sam Presti built for Russell Westbrook to drive. This is the racecar the NBA Executive of the Year has rebuilt with precise care and diligence to fit Westbrook.
This Thunder team from one thru thirteen can run the court. It may be the fastest team in the league baseline to baseline. They’re all athletic. They’re all long and look like they might be related to Stacy Augmon. At times I find myself calling Jerami Grant ‘The General’ and then realize father Harvey is home watching. Dave Sieger would smile watching this team when they bring their Big Boy defensive game to the arena. When they want to defend they look close to special.
Take Westbrook out of the mix and you have five players in George, Adams, Grant, Ferguson, and Schroder who are all having career years. Putting numbers aside–this is the smartest basketball I’ve ever seen out of Nerlens Noel at the NBA level. He appears functional and beyond.
We were supposed to believe without the fragile Alex Abrines this team couldn’t shoot threes, but in reality ever since Abrines went back across the Atlantic Ocean to follow his heart the Thunder have been one the league’s better three point shooting teams. Go figure.
Paul George is in the running for MVP. Dennis Schroder is in the running for Sixth Man of the Year. Terrance Ferguson is in the running for Most Improved Player and Paul George is a double nominee for Defensive Player of the Year. And of course–I have Sam Presti currently in the lead for NBA Executive of the Year.
So I ask myself this question…would any of this be possible without Russell Westbrook driving the Thunder bus?
And my answer is no.
Other than shooting the three–Westbrook is having the best year of his career in pretty much every category…. rebounding, defending, assists, steals, and most of all leadership. His free throw shooing will be back by April.. I almost feel certain.
I’ve been tough on Russell Westbrook at times on my blog this season pleading with him to morph into Maurice Cheeks 1983. But you know what, for the most part he’s almost there. He’s given up parts of his game. Maurice Cheeks made Moses Malone and Dr. J better players. Russell Westbrook is doing the exact same thing with Paul George and Steven Adams every night. Every single night. Paul George is in the running for MVP not in spite of Westbrook, but because of Westbrook.
As we get ready to start the back third of the regular season I write this with total confidence this is still Russell Westbrook’s airplane only with Paul George in the co-pilot seat instead of Durant. As Westbrook goes, so will go the Thunder.
I find myself having to play this at least once a month to get thru the presidency of Anne Coulter’s pet idiot. For some reason–Dave Chappelle telling poor whites the truth gives me some sort of validation on here. BTW…if you didn’t see A Star is Born—Dave has a nice small part in the movie.
Anyway…this was my February fix. Peace….Anne Coulter finally got one right. ANNE COULTER +1 Yes….our POTUS is an idiot. But at least he’s our own private Russian asset idiot. That’s called setting the bar low. Is it too much to ask your president to act like he made it from the fourth grade to the fifth grade?
With Nick Collison’s jersey retirement ceremony coming up I thought maybe taking a look at some of the more prominent players for Seattle from the ’79 NBA championship team might kind of be fun. I was twenty-two years of age at the time and very much remember that NBA Finals which pitted the Sonics vs. the Washington Bullets led by Wes Unseld and Earl ‘The Pearl’ Monroe.
The Sonics won the series and to date it is the only world championship won by the Sonics/Thunder franchise. Brown’s Sonics appeared in another NBA Finals and lost to Washington in ’78 while the Thunder made the 2012 NBA Finals before losing to LeBron’s Miami Heat in five games. In addition, George Karl’s ’96 Sonics team made the NBA Finals and lost in six games to Michael Jordan’s Bulls.
Brown was drafted out of the University of Iowa by both the ABA’s Kentucky franchise and the Sonics in 1971. Brown was the 6th player taken in the first round. His career got off to a slow start only playing in 33 games and averaging 4.2 points a game. It would be the only season in Brown’s thirteen season career in which he didn’t average in double figures scoring the ball.
Brown was a two time NBA finalist and an NBA-All Star in 1976. He started at times earlier in his career, but as the captain of the ’79 championship Sonics team he was the Sixth Man as Gus Williams and Dennis Johnson of later Celtic fame were the starting backcourt.
Downtown Freddie Brown holds several individual franchise records of note. He shares with Russell Westbrook the record for most points scored in a regular season game at 58 points. He shares with Ray Allen the record for most points scored in a playoff game at 45 points. And he shares with Gus Williams most steals in a game at 10.
Downtown scored 14,018 points in his career and averaged just over 14 points a game. He played from 1971-1984 and like Nick Collison only played for one franchise in his entire professional career.
His No. 32 jersey was retired and he’s one of the greatest players in the history of the Sonics’ franchise which now resides in Oklahoma City.
This is what I’m going to write about on Friday morning. I’m just putting up the pics to get me in a state of mind. Between then and now I’m going to do something on Downtown Freddie Brown and finish my Oscar pics with an emphasis on Green Book. If Dave Chappelle were with me right now he’d shake his head and say, “Will you look at these people standing by the fence in this heat.” Sheesh.
I want my blog to read like a magazine of sorts. Of course… I want the Oklahoma City Thunder to be the cornerstone, but I also enjoy following other things and writing about other things. Since in reality we have no newspaper in Oklahoma City…I want my blog to reflect not only on the Thunder and OU football, but a feel for what’s going on from a political sense in our country. We have no Op-Ed page in Oklahoma City, nor any real diversity of thought in written form on what should be the state’s leading newspaper. There is not one single politician in Oklahoma I admire or respect currently….both parties. So I want my blog to reflect what this Oklahoman’s perspective is of the world at large beyond the prism of the predictable rogue red prism which is Oklahoma.
I have no political slant per se. I’m not an ideologue. I disdain both parties, but for different reasons. I’m an equal opportunity disdainer. They’ve both become worthless for different reasons. I disdain the GOP because they don’t give a shit about the human element in governance. I disdain the Dems because they don’t have the discipline to govern with a pragmatic hand. Somewhere in between these boundaries is where I reside. If I had to vote right now at this precise time on the 2020 election…I’d vote for Michael Bennett from Colorado—the moderate Dem. You can’t give everything away as Bernie Sanders wants to promise. You can blend a combination of capitalism and socialism, but you can’t go all the way either way I wouldn’t think or you’ll lose the essence of the American Dream and what makes America special. The middle class is what makes America special. FDR and LBJ both knew this and nurtured it with the New Deal and the Fair Deal.
This will require a deft hand. Not the clumsy club of someone like Trump or an American Heritage Foundation puppet like Mitch McConnell. Learn something today and google Grover Norquist. Do it. You’ll learn something about your country and why in part this is where we are.
I was thinking of Sean Spicer the other day and wondering if his life is okay. If he got out in time and didn’t ruin his professional reputation by being associated with Trump. Compared to the person who replaced him…he was actually pleasant considering his job was to be the personal spokesman for a pathological liar. But still, in a weird way…I kind of miss him.
Fairly soon I want to start following the 2020 election process. I’ll probably wait two more weeks to see if Biden and the kid from Texas enter the race. Bill Weld a liberal Republican (whom I like) has announced he’s going to run against Trump. Weld is a smart dude. He has no chance whatsoever, but he’s smart and interesting to listen to if you ever get the chance.
I see no one as of yet who I think could go on a stage with Trump and handle his antics. Maybe it’s Melania since she’s the national spokesperson for anti bullying. But we’ll see. High level content doesn’t matter anymore in American politics. I’m not sure exactly how a candidate should run a race in this new country we live in.
Kanye West 2020 anyone?
Everyday we’re watching history. I hope enough people are paying attention.
I went to a high school called John Marshall. It was a tough place back in the mid 70’s with about a 50/50 ratio of black and white. I was a three sport kid entering 10th grade. I was the starting third baseman on back to back AAU state championship teams in junior high. I was the starting two guard on my 9th grade team. And a safety in football on the JV team. After my first semester in the 10th grade when I came back with a robust 2.8 grade average my parents told me I had to drop a sport. It was basketball because I knew at best I’d never be anything beyond the 11th or 12th guy even by senior season. Baseball was different. I was always one of the three or four best players on any team I played for…and that continued all the way thru high school.
But the thing I really loved about John Marshall was that sports assimilated me to the world we live in today…black, brown and white. Sports are that way. They bring people together because the goal is to win regardless of the color of your skin. Just win, baby—even if your name is Michael Jackson and you’re white. Just win.
Maybe Trump would have turned out differently if he’d gone to John Marshall and had a dog at some point in his to this point worthless miserable life. I think back to those days in the parking lot when all of us were dancing to this as one after a big win. I thought of myself as black because the black girls just thought I was it with the Michael Jackson shit.
People who have played sports understand what I’m writing here. It’s one of the reasons I believe sports are so integral in establishing relationships regardless of the color of your skin.