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Well, if you didn’t stay up to watch the Warriors blow a 24 point lead against the Memphis Grizzlies you missed quite a game. It marks the second time this season the Warriors have lost to the Grizzlies. Draymond Green and Kevin had a little spat following the end of regulation when Kevin took a shot Draymond wasn’t happy with given that Steph Curry was in the midst of a forty point night. And, yes, I’m smiling as I type all of this. Here’s the their post game comments. Draymond very passionate and animated as the alpha in the relationship, Kevin submissive and wearing his mauve scarf. My aunt has a mauve scarf like Kevin’s, just saying. Again, as a Thunder fan, been there, done that with the whole alpha, beta thing with the submissive Kevin Durant. While this was going on LeBron added Kyle Korver to his roster in Cleveland yesterday. Here’s Draymond’s post game comments.

I don’t want to get too emeshed too early with our newly elected reaklity television star president, but when it’s Fox itself even calling him out I feel like that’s completely fair game. I’m not sure it Donald Trump and his supporters remember things like the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and quite frankly the nexus of Ronald Reagan’s presidency– so from time to time I might put something up like this just for me if no other reason.

No big surprise to me that Joe Mixon announced he’s leaving OU and making himself available in the upcoming NFL draft. He’s clearly a first round type of talent player, but with considerable character baggage attached. Mixon would be a great fit for any number of teams with his size, his ability as a receiver, his ability to return kicks, and the fact he’s a pretty good pass blocker as well.

What Mixon did was terribly wrong, and in retrospect it’s debatable if Bob Stoops and David Boren helped him long term or hurt him long term by the manner in which they handled all of this. I know this though, we are a culture of second chances and redemption whenever possible. Mixon may not get drafted because of this incident, but at some point a GM in the NFL will give him a shot to be the next Tyreek Hill. If a conservative market like Kansas City could give Tyreek Hill a second chance at football, I’m almost certain an NFL team will give Joe Mixon a chance for the very same reason Bob Stoops and David Boren gave Joe Mixon a second chance–namely to win football games and make money.

Below is Tyreek Hill’s signature moment at Oklahoma State. The next week he was arrested for assaulting his pregnant girlfriend. Mike Gundy immediately kicked Tyreek Hill off his football team. Tyreek Hill now stars for the Kansas City Chiefs who are the No. 2 seed in the AFC heading into the playoffs this week-end.

When people say it’s not about the money, it’s almost always about the money.

For the third straight game, OKC did enough things right to give itself a chance to win on the road in the final four minutes. But as has been the norm in 2017 so far, Russell Westbrook couldn’t close the game when it mattered as the Thunder lost to the Rockets by a 118-116 count on Thursday night.

It was a wonderful game to watch from an entertainment standpoint. OKC led by as many as fourteen points in the first period and trailed by as many as eighteen points late in the third period. It was a game of runs and runs being answered. It was a game featuring the two leading MVP frontrunners. But here’s the thing, even though Russell Westbrook scored 49 points it didn’t matter because it will be his last shot which defined this game and the Thunder to this point in the season.

With the score tied and the clock around 24 seconds and a three second gap left between the game and shot clock—OKC had the ball and called timeout. What they talked about I have no idea. Because no semblance of a basketball play transpired. Russell Westbrook dribbled the clock down then jacked a contested three. No penetration. No backing his man down. Just that—jacking a three.

3.8 seconds left and you know what Mike D’Antoni and James Harden decided to do, they decide to run a basketball play. Imagine that. Who would have thought? Nene ends up with the ball down low, gets fouled, makes two free throws and the game is basically over with .7 seconds left. Ball game. Houston wins its sixth straight while Oklahoma City loses its third straight.

Russell Westbrook did have a marvelous scoring night, but if Aaron Rogers passes for four hundred yards, but throws an interception with twenty seconds left that’s kind of the thought you carry around with you in retrospect.

I challenged Andre Roberson to so something in my last recap and he answered tonight with a 14 point, 9 rebound, 2 steal game. But even more, he held James Harden to another subpar shooting night and 26 points. Roberson pulled his link on the proverbial chain.

Enes Kanter was good in this game and was instrumental as the Thunder made their comeback in the fourth period. Kanter double doubled with 15 and 13, but quit getting touches as the game wore down. Same with Victor Oladipo who hit four threes on the night, but still didn’t have the trust of Russell Westbrook when it mattered late in the game. Note to Russell, please pass the f–king ball.

Stat of the night–Houston 27 assists, OKC 15 assists. This is really a very simple game. You move the ball, create space, then finish. If you don’t move the ball, you don’t contend for championships. This isn’t differential equations.

Russell Westbrook is a beautiful basketball player with the heart of a warrior,no pun intended, but until he learns how to trust his teammates this team is in for more of these finishes when they’re playing against playoff caliber teams.

If you doubt my word, ask Mo Cheeks—he knows.

OKC drops to 21-16 and down to seventh place in the West.

At home on Saturday night against the Denver Nuggets.

As bad as Russell shot the ball the last night I don’t think there’s anyway this was intentional. He would have missed him by several feet if he was actually trying to plunk him. I would think it’ll be rescinded like two other technicals were earlier this week. I know there’s no excuse for intentionally hitting a zebra in the head with the ball and youngsters at home should never plunk a zebra even if he’s having an absolutely wretched game, but this official was genuinely awful.

For the second road game in a row on the OKC Thunder’s Black January schedule, the Thunder played well enough in the first 43 minutes or so to give itself a reasonable chance at a road victory. But for the second game in a row the Thunder withered in the final minutes as the ball stuck way too much in Russell Westbrook’s hands resulting in some bad shots down the stretch. For the record, the Bees or whatever their name is made enough plays, namely some big offensive rebounds in the final minutes and feasted on a cornucopia of free throws. I think I heard Brian Davis say the Bees went 40-49 at the line, so I’ll go with his number without checking nba.com because it’s late and I’m tired.

For those keeping track of such things, this marks the first time Charlotte has beaten the Thunder in the last twelve games. So consider, in this Durantless era so far in OKC, both the Hornets and the usually dysfunctional Sacramento Kings have ended mammoth losing streaks versus the Thunder during the first half of this season.

Prime among the culprits in this loss was Russell Westbrook. His judgement wasn’t stellar, he took way too many overall shots (10-31) and way too many threes (2-12) for a player who’s not a great three point shooter. But what sticks out the most is his decision making the final five minutes, as in it wasn’t what the Thunder need from their MVP canidate coming down the stretch. If Westbrook plays poorly in the fourth period in a close game, more often than not OKC is going to lose.

For the second game in a row the Thunder basically got nothing out of two of their starters in Andre Roberson and Domas Sabonis. Shout out to Roberson and Sabonis, “Your team needs something out of you.” Something. Anything.

Steven Adams was exceptional and is my Thunder player of the Game. Adams double doubled with 18 and 12 and should have gotten more touches than he did. Amazingly, he only got to the line twice which is nonsense if you watched the game and all the contact he absorbed near the rim. Total nonsense. The zebras were absolutely horrible in this game as the Bees went to the line 49 times, which btw is the second highest amount of free throws a Thunder opponent has taken since the Sonics were moved here from Seattle. I have no idea if Westbrook meant to hit that one official in the head with the basketball, but I have no problem with it even if he did considering how genuinely horrific that specific zebra was during the course of the game. Rant over.

Enes Kanter had a nice game, but was pretty much it for OKC’s bench as he scored 22 points and grabbed 8 rebounds.

Abrines hit a couple of big threes and took an elbow late in the game for which he was given a foul. Alex should have thrown a ball or something, but he’s too nice.

Make this clear in my recap closing, OKC didn’t lose this game because of the genuinely horrific game these zebras called, they lost this game in the final five minutes because they played lazy, dumb basketball.

Tomorrow night in Houston versus Harden and his surging Rockets.

Putting the Christmas collapse versus Cleveland aside, the Warriors are 30-5 with the best record in the NBA to date. San Antonio, Toronto, and maybe Houston are somewhat in the discussion, but unless there’s some key injuries, we’re marking time to a Warrior-Cavalier final for the third season in a row.

For those not fully aware Kevin Durant now resides in the Bay area, this January could be your winter of discontent. This won’t possibly be tough, it will be the toughest month the Thunder has experienced since that first 23-59 season way back when. Durant is gone, but more to the point the Thunder schedule in January is sadistic. Of OKC’s fifteen games in the month, twelve of these games will be played away from home. OKC lost 98-94 to the Milwaukee Bucks on the road on Rose Bowl Monday. It doesn’t get easier, instead it gets incrementally tougher as each week in January is peeled off the calendar.

Tonight marks the first night of a road back to back in Charlotte. Tomorrow night it’s Houston where James Harden and his new coach Mike D’Antoni have the Rockets surging as the third best team in the West and possibly the best surprise story in the entire NBA so far. This could be the month James Harden passes Russell Westbrook as the MVP frontrunner.

Of OKC’s fifteen games games in January, ten will be played on the road against teams which if you include the 8th place Sacramento Kings will be participating in the NBA Playoffs. Of OKC’s fifteen opponents in January, only the Minnesota Timberwolves aren’t trending upwards post New Years. And consider this, OKC plays Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio all on the road in the final two weeks of the month. Yikes.

If Durant were still here with Ibaka, you might look at that schedule and think to yourself either 10-5 or 9-6 depending on the urgency meter of Durant and Westbrook. With this young group, you hold breath, whisper a prayer, and wish for the best.

Tonight’s it’s Charlotte after the Thunder lost at Milwaukee on Monday night after Westbrook struggled late in the game. OKC is now 21-14 and the 6th seed in the West and the Thunder need to squeeze out wins anyway possible in January. If you’re one of those fans who can’t handle tough games, tough endings, and probably an overall tough month—-you might be better off seeing movies or reading books till February when the Thunder’s schedule inverts where the Thunder play nine of eleven at home.

If you told me right now the Thunder could go 7-8 or even 6-9 this January…I’d take it.

I didn’t even watch the Thunder game last night as college football was center stage for me. Wisconsin beat Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl as expected to somewhat give the battered Big 10 some semblance of a consolation prize as Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State all lost their bowl games.

The Rose Bowl was expected to be a great game and it was as USC won at the horn with a field goal to survive Penn State by a 52-49 score in one of the greatest Rose Bowl games ever. Just a great game by two teams who came into the bowl season on a run and who both would have been fun to watch if the playoff field had eight teams instead of four. Neither is on a par with Clemson or Alabama, but Penn State did beat Ohio State and USC did beat Washington so there’s that to consider in hindsight.

The two semifinal games on Saturday were horrible as both Alabama and Clemson easily won to advance to the national championship game. The same thing happened last season as Alabama crushed Michigan State and Clemson crushed OU to easily advance. The field needs to expand to eight teams or else there’s no reason for a non Power 5 non-champion like Ohio State to be included in the field of four.

OU beat Auburn in the Sugar Bowl by a 35-19 score in a game in which none of Auburn’s three quarterbacks showed much of anything doing anything of consequence. Auburn became one dimensional and OU can defend one dimensional teams. Two dimensional quarterbacks not so much. Where OU has trouble is in defending teams with QBs who can get on the corner and run as well as throw the ball. Fortunately for Auburn and Gus Malzahn, Baylor transfer Jarrett Stidham from this point forward is Auburn’s quarterback.

Baker Mayfield, Joe Mixon, Lincoln Riley, and Brent Musberger all had nice games for OU. I had no idea Brent was on payroll in OU media relations, but now I know. Joe Mixon as usual was good catching the football as something of a hybrid back coming out of different Lincoln Riley alignments as a wide receiver inside of a running back’s body. Think about what Green Bay is currently doing with Ty Montgomery and it doesn’t take much imagination to see a coach like say Pete Carroll in Seattle doing the same type of thing with Joe Mixon for a very cheap price tag since Mixon has devalued himself with the assault video. Anyway, Mixon should move on to the NFL as Tyreek Hill did and get on with his life as a pro.

Putting aside the score and the horrid Auburn quarterback play, it was a dark night for college football at the Sugar Bowl. Brent Musberger appeared clueless and was bombarded on social media for his stupid comments regarding Joe Mixon. OU players further embarrassed themselves by jokingly punching Mixon on the sidelines after a scoring drive. And the perfect touch for a dismal evening was climaxed by Auburn fans chanting ‘He hits women.’ I’m fairly certain David Boren doesn’t want that Auburn chant included in his next OU ad where he waxes of national merit scholars at OU.

So, basically, one entire year has passed and nothing changed in college football from last season when Alabama outlasted Deshaun Watson in a 45-40 thriller in the national championship game. The two best teams in college ball will be playing each other once again next Monday night in Atlanta for the trophy. Hope the Thunder aren’t playing on Monday night or I’ll be missing my second Thunder game of the season.

My wife went to Auburn and over the years and they’ve become my second favorite college football team. I’m wearing orange tonight and have my orange Styrofoam Auburn No. 1 hand with me for the watch party I’m heading off to in just a bit. We’ll see how physical bad ass Joe Mixon truly is or if he just beats little women in Norman bars. I’ll do my best on the Thunder recap, but tonight college football gets my primary focus.

War Eagle!