Month: December 2019

Just when you witnessed a first half which made you think it’s time for the Thunder to go full bore in tank mode, Sam Presti’s reset experience in Oklahoma got a serious shot in the arm.

At 11-14 and down to the rebuilding Chicago Bulls by as many as 26 points in the first half–the Thunder did their best imitation of Lincoln Riley’s Sooners in Waco when OU came all the way back from a 28-3 deficit with a perfect second half of play.

An NBA fan couldn’t have ask for two more different halves of play in an NBA game. The 26 point deficit was a tie for the largest Thunder comeback in their history. The comeback from 26 points was the biggest comeback in any NBA game this season. Period.

Some in the arena left at halftime thinking the Thunder were 11-15. But not to be as Chris Paul played the best half of basketball he’s ever played inside of Chesapeake Energy Arena either as a member of the New Orleans Hornets or the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Like Jalen Hurts in Waco–Chris Paul put the Thunder on his back and carried them to an improbable 109-106 win which puts Presti’s feel good Thunder in the No. 7 seed in the West twenty-six games into the season.

Chris Paul’s line of 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 rebounds was as good or better as anything seen in Oklahoma City during the recent Westbrook years of havoc and mishap in many a fourth period. This was point guard play which looked like basketball instead of a clusterfuck with a basketball. There seemed to be a reason for every action Chris Paul made with the ball.

So here the Thunder sit on December 17th as the No. 7 seed and with both Golden State and New Orleans both locked at the bottom of the West in full tank mode. Add to the fact the Portland Trail Blazers have been decimated by injuries as well.

Why do I mention this?

I state it because with these three teams mired at the bottom of the West— the Thunder’s playoff math is completely different in mid-December. A coherent argument now exists for the Thunder to not tank, but rather to play this out at least until the trade deadline in February and see what the playoff math looks like then.

Sam Presti has a team which isn’t terrible. You still can’t compare them to the Washington Nationals or St. Louis Blues, but they have our attention in Oklahoma City a week out from Christmas.

The Thunder are 11-14 and quite frankly I don’t give a shit about their season on this December 15th.

The House this week will vote on whether to impeach Donald Trump or not.

It should be a simple decision unless you hang a portrait of Roger Ailes above your fireplace and watch more Fox than should be medically allowed.

This is not complex. For those of us old enough…we learned this back in the fourth grade in history and civics discussions.

Mini-Putin has worn me out. His supporters even more so. Their duel dull wit and even duller sense of what the American presidency should be is not going to change.

This is Thomas Friedman debating this generation’s version of Ayn Rand. If you’re a millennial … google it and learn something today.

Discussions such as these won’t be found in the razor thin Daily Oklahoman. Pragmatic measured honesty isn’t promoted to their readers.

I’m to the point where it’s hard to write anything regarding Donald Trump. I mean…what do you even write or say?

As a country, as a culture, we’ve gone beyond Ground Zero. If we were some third world village somewhere in the world where’s there not access to books and things as such I would maybe understand it. But this is too much.

And the thing is…he’s probably going to be re-elected.

It’s stunning to observe the daily assaults on democracy in the genre of a worldwide reality television aired by MSNBC, CNN, and Fox on a 24/7 basis.

I give Trump this much…he understands Twitter, cable television and the power they can weld.

It’s so refreshing this season to see young guys like Diallo, Ferguson, and Lou D actually exerting effort on the defensive end of the floor as if they… you know… care.

You get these three in the rotation at the same time and you’d have some very interesting perimeter defense and athleticism. Shooting would suck, but you work around it if you can.

My new hero in Thunder blue…. Lou Dort.

This is just so Sam Presti.

I took a week off on my blog from even writing about the Thunder thinking they’d be on the cusp of a nuanced tank two weeks before Christmas. I thought I’d enjoy college football’s Championship Week and get on here tonight with the Thunder standing somewhere around 8-15 after twenty-three games of their regular season.

Instead—these Thunder of Presti have confused me even more as they’ve now peeled off three wins in a row over the likes of Minnesota, Portland, and Utah—with the last two wins coming on the road in gyms where even Durant and Westbrook had some trouble winning basketball games.

Go figure.

Add to the fact it appears Presti was hiding a gem of a role player in a person named Lugeuentz Dort who was the Thunder’s second round pick from Arizona State this past summer.

So who is this Luguentz Dort?

He has a body like Marcus Smart. He shoots threes worse than Andre Roberson, yet looks decent at the free throwline and at the rim. Looks like the next linebacker Lincoln Riley should be recruiting and plays defense like Patrick Beverly against the other team’s best guard.

Amazingly, the Thunder now sit at 11-12 and are the No. 7 seed in the West. And here I sit for the first time in a year actually somewhat intrigued by the Thunder because of a role player named Lug Dort.

Like Operation Bongo—this could only happen in Oklahoma City which has another vote on MAPS to begin later this morning if you didn’t vote early. I’m voting for Dort.

Tank, rebuild, reset…I have no idea what the Thunder are doing. But I do know this after watching all the bullshit in Oklahoma City last season with Presti’s team of effort indifference. I know I’m going to click on Fox on Wednesday night and watch Lou Dort hound Buddy Hield in Sacramento in a game which all the sudden has the Thunder one game under .500 and apparently for the time being in the hunt for a playoff spot in the West.

I guess we in OKC should have known with Sam Presti in this season of the reset or rebuild or tank in Oklahoma City.

It was a year ago today in which Jalen Hurts replaced Tua in the SEC Championship Game with the Tide seemingly too far behind Georgia to come back to win and advance.

Yet, with the spotlight burning brightest…Jalen Hurts brought Alabama all the way back to defeat the offensively challenged Bulldogs.

Fast forward—one year later to Championship Saturday as Jalen Hurts with the aid of a miraculous rally against Baylor and a big favor by the Oregon Ducks can more than likely get back to the Final Four as a starting quarterback.

It couldn’t be written any better albeit if Alabama’s porous defense was waiting in the Final Four bracket for Jalen Hurts. But that’s not happening because Alabama is done for this season with two losses and a defense which now has Mike Stoops as a defensive consultant.

Jalen Hurts can’t be picky. This is the moment you know he and his family have been pointing for since he was replaced by Tua as the starter at Alabama.

On the other side of the field the story for the Baylor Bears is equally compelling as National Coach of the Year probable Matt Ruhle has his Baylor Bears one win away from the Final Four if his team can defeat the Sooners.

Two years ago, Ruhle started the rebuild in Waco following the slimy reign of Art Briles and Company. Almost as corrupt as the Trump administration—the successful rebuild in Waco has to rank right there with the reset at Penn State following the Jerry Sandusky scandal with Joe Paterno.

Two years ago–Baylor went 1-11 in Rhule’s first season following the decadent wake of Art Trump in evangelical laden Waco where the Baptists preach moral guardianship. What a joke. How ironic Ken Starr’s worthless ass was intertwined with the Decadence on the Brazos. Amazingly–Lindsey Graham wasn’t Briles’ defensive coordinator.

Last year Baylor made one of those Mike Gundy signature minor level bowl games which no one in America really cares about unless you’re a wrestling and golf school.

Yet–today, Baylor rests on the cusp of historic greatness if Brewer, Mims and Co. can stop the Sooners string of four straight Big 12 championships.

Boone must be kicking himself up in oil and gas heaven for not dumping Gundy and making the Matt Rhule hire in Stillwater after the Gundy affairs with Arkansas and Tennessee.

The Big 12 stands front and center of the college football world today with by far with the most compelling storyline narratives on Championship Saturday.

Obviously–I’m an avid OU fan. But Baylor is a story which tugs at the heart for the right reasons.

But by the same token–the Hurts story is just as compelling. How ironic it would be to have Nick Saban sitting at home with his porous Alabama defense watching Jalen Hurts playing in the national semi-final game wearing the iconic interlocking O-U on his helmet.

This should be on my campaign blog. This might be one of those moments we look back on if Pete B emerges from Iowa heading into New Hampshire as the leader.

David Axelrod is a smart guy. The manner in which he steered Obama was artful.

My thought is this…if you want to prove Trump is unfit for office then don’t leave the appearance your son took a position which was obvious political patronage. And beyond that…act presidential.

Don’t act like you’re debating Trump on his latest Viagra performance results.

Oregon finally played up to their preseason hype and rightfully ended this nonsense about Utah being in the Final Four.

Utah played two good teams this season…USC and Oregon–and lost to both teams by more than one possession. Utah would have finished third in this year’s Big 12 and only that because Texas was a huge disappointment at 7-5.

OU now has a path to the Final Four. They need to just beat Baylor by any score and have Georgia lose to LSU. If LSU lost to Georgia and OU or Baylor routed the other that might make for any interesting discussion, but one would think LSU’s resume would still be enough even though they basically play with a Big 12-like defense this season.

It should be a great Saturday double header for college football junkies. Does anyone think Wisconsin has a chance versus Ohio State?

I don’t, but that’s why they play the games.

This is very interesting to observe. After Michael Bloomberg entered the race the Dems are now down to five white candidates qualified for the next debate to be aired on PBS. Not that it matters much in that like me no one found the last Democratic debate watchable as ratings plummeted to only 6.5 million viewers.

Add to the fact Cory Booker and Julian Castro have not qualified for the next debate as well while thankfully neither has Tulsi Gabbert.

The party of racial diversity suddenly has older white people on their stage minus Pete B trying to ignite the Obama coalition to beat Donald Trump.

Are you kidding me?

Joe Biden can’t count to twenty in these debates without getting lost at thirteen. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are both so far to the left they have less of a chance than George McGovern or Walter Mondale.

Amy Klobuchar…really?

This would leave Pete B who is clearly a pretty smart kid. But I have to ask this question aloud—if the country wasn’t ready for Hillary Clinton in 2016 why would it be different for an openly gay man in 2020?

So does this mean Michael Bloomberg might actually have a chance with his strategy of not entering the race until after Iowa and New Hampshire?

Bloomberg is perfect for me because he’s a social liberal and a fiscal conservative, but I’m not the average voter in flyover America.

This should be noted…Hillary Clinton didn’t lose the Rust Belt just because of rural white males. She lost because black voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and North Carolina in urban cities were turned off by her campaign.

Of the whites still in the running…the only one with any real black support is Barack Obama’s vice president–Joe Biden… an older white person.

So while we watch the Dems moving towards Iowa we have to somewhat ask ourselves ‘What happened to the party of racial diversity on its way to Iowa’?

Was it Michael Bloomberg or was it a mirage or was Barack Obama just an outlier who captured the imagination of the Bill Clinton black voters across America?

This is very difficult blogging on a team which is halfway hedging between tanking and playing for real. Here’s the thing I look at the most…the Thunder to date have won ONE game this season against teams with a winning record.

One in twenty games. That pretty well sums it up for me. One in twenty games and one game remaining this season against the Warriors and Pelicans.

It’s tortuous listening to all of these local Thunder media types trying to hype the 8-12 Thunder as a playoff contender.

Just tortuous.

And those millennial kids at the Daily Thunder. God bless them for their spirit to actually watch these games and try to write them up as if anyone really cares right now.

Indiana 107 – OKC 100

That’s my recap. Next up the surprising Phoenix Suns on Friday night inside the Peake.

I’m doing videos and pretty women on my recaps on nights when the Thunder lose.

Putin – trump 2020