Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

Kudos to Coach Kerr. Even if Billy Donovan feels the same he can’t say it in Oklahoma. But still, glad to hear this from a prominent NBA coach. Amen, Coach Kerr. Amen.

How awkward. Donald Trump is the originator of the Birther Movement and kept at that nonsense for almost five years pandering to the dumbasses in the alt right movement. Then there’s Barack Obama who’s called Donald Trump completely unqualified to be POTUS. So…I’m wondering what Rudy Giuliani has the over/under for Trump actually calling Obama for counsel once he assumes office. Trump has yet to assume office and he’s already made the complete transition to being a professional politician. Namely saying into a camera saying something he doesn’t whatsoever believe, but still saying it with a straight face. The effort for calming the markets by both is appreciated.

I watched the game, but my mind drifted throughout the game with all which was going on in our country the past two days so this will be brief.

Toronto beat the Thunder on Wednesday night by a count of 112-102 behind Demar DeRozan’s 37 point performance. The game featured the NBA’s two leading scorers in DeRozan and Russell Westbrook. Russell Westbrook scored 36 points on a 9-26 shooting night, but had eight turnovers.

OKC came out beautifully leading 12-0 at one point, but once DeRozan got going, the Thunder really never could come up with an answer to stop him. Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams had nice nights, but beyond OKC’s core three there wasn’t enough ball movement or distribution on the night to outscore the Raptors.

OKC did pull within four points late in the fourth period, but then faltered on four straight offensive possessions which ultimately led to their first home loss of the season.

OKC drops to 6-2 for the season and this is one of those close games against a quality team which OKC will need to win later on in the season if they aspire to stay a top four team in the West heading into post season.

Orlando up next on Friday for the Thunder.

The day after the most interesting day in American presidential history since Truman upset Dewey, we unexpectedly saw one of the brightest days in American history follow it. Granted–there were some protests in some cities protesting New York Democrat Donald Trump’s election to the White House. But those were insignificant and not representative of America from coast to coast with people who go to work, have a mortgage, and pay their own health care premiums.

What inspired me first was Hillary Clinton’s remarkably gracious concession speech. It was incredible and set the tone for a truly remarkable day in America. Hillary Clinton let her guard down with a speech for the ages as she spoke firstly as an American while imploring this country to accept the election results and come together as a country. It was a beautiful speech, and quite frankly, it’s unfortunate Hillary Clinton didn’t show more of this side of herself during the campaign.

Not long after Clinton, Barack Obama made an equally gracious speech directed towards President Elect Trump making it clear a dignified transition of power in America will occur. It was an equally classy speech.

For his part, New York Democrat Donald Trump then contacted both Senator Charles Schumer and Representative Nancy Pelosi and urged them to all work together in the coming days. Which if you really think about it will probably happen because as a New York Democrat, Donald Trump as a New York entrepreneur already has a working relationship with both of them as his own lobbyist and has made political contributions to both of them previously.

House Majority Leader Paul Ryan, a Republican, then threw out the olive branch to New York Democrat Donald Trump after a very contentious campaign in which they didn’t speak to one another for the most part. Same type of comments came from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, another Republican, who like Ryan showed immense distaste for President Elect Trump during the campaign.

What a lovefest… which makes all of us wonder why we had to watch the previous sixteen months of bullshit. Trump is a New York Democrat and if he could just possibly keep his Billy Bush inner self to himself and Rudy Giulani, there’s actually a chance this might possibly work and some things might get done.

Amidst all the distress in the wee hours of election night as the markets seemed on the edge of imploding downward, lo and behold, Clinton, Obama, Trump, Ryan, and McConnell all acted as Americans and hopefully gave us an overly optimistic glance at what government could possibly look like in this country with Trump (New York Democrat), McConnell (Kentucky conservative) Paul Ryan (Wisconsin conservative), Chuck Schumer (New York progressive), and Nancy Pelosi (California progressive).

Instead of the Dow tanking as it appeared it might do, the exact opposite occurred on Thursday as it closed at an all-time high for the simple reason this wasn’t completely Brexit II. But more of a growing frustration that parts of America are having trouble with the Technology Revolution combined with the recent Obamacare premium increases. Perhaps, most revealing in this election is Pennslyvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin all went for a New York Democrat running as the Republican nominee. If you take away those three states, the electoral map basically played out much like it did in 2012 when Obama defeated Romney. So it’s not like there’s this huge national mandate when you consider Clinton won the overall popular vote.

Other than the repeal of Obamacare, I didn’t view a national mandate of any kind, but more of just frustration from angry white people with Washington for never getting anything done in a bipartisan manner. Plus, let’s be honest–there is a racial element to this. White America wanted their country back though they may not have said it openly or to pollsters.

For as distasteful as some of us found New York Democrat Donald Trump’s behavior during the campaign, perhaps there is hope he can conduct himself as an adult not sitting on the Jerry Springer set or with Billy Bush on a bus.. Just acting like an adult would be a modest starting point. It’s unbelievable we’ve sunk this low as a country, but here we are.

So…here we are with reality television star Donald Trump as our 45th president in perhaps the most bizarre presidential election in American history. Am I shocked? No. Because way back in the GOP primaries Donald Trump acknowledged he could shoot someone in broad daylight and it would not deter his supporters from voting for him. Do we really think the Billy Bush bus sex talk ever meant that much? Or more to the point, do we really think James Comey determined this election? I don’t, simply because Hillary Clinton was already distrusted at historic levels well before James Comey became a figure in this presidential election or Trump admitted to Billy Bush he couldn’t help himself from gulping Tic Tacs, kissing and groping strange women, or busting in on nude Miss USA Teen contestants. None of Trump’s character flaws mattered to angry white America. The recent Obamacare premium hikes probably mattered, a lot.

Clinton won the overall popular vote, but lost battleground states Florida, North Carolina, and Ohio–then got flipped in Pennslyvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Even liberal Minnesota hadn’t been called when I fell asleep. When a Democrat can’t carry Minnesota comfortably, that’s a significant problem.

So what we have here is America saying the individual character of their president means absolutely nothing. Not turning over his tax return mattered. Not paying federal income tax mattered. Disparaging Hispanics, blacks, Muslims, and women didn’t matter. Calling war hero John McCain a poser didn’t matter. Slandering his fellow sixteen GOP presidential nominees didn’t matter. Insulting a Gold Star family didn’t matter. The bankruptcies and not paying his creditors didn’t matter to working class angry white America. A history of leasing trophy wives didn’t really matter. Having a riff with Pope Francis didn’t matter. Disparaging Little Marco Rubio’s penis or Lyin’ Ted Cruz’s wife did not matter.

None of the above mattered because angry white America decided it was time to have a non professional politician in the White House. Think about this in closing–Donald Trump without ever having served any public office or providing any recorded history of doing anything of significance for the public good easily disposed of America’s two royal families… the Bushes and Clintons.

Who would have thought sixteen months ago Howard Stern’s favorite sleaze chat interview would easily dispose of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton enroute to the occupying the White House?

Both political parties are in flux on November 9th. Trump eviscerated the Dems and Pubs alike. He’s nothing even remotely like Ronald Reagan. Reagan and 41’s Republican Party is now officially dead. Poof gone. The Clintons and Obamas are dead. Dust in the wind. And there stands reality television star Donald Trump along with alt right guru Steven Bannon atop the heap of political human carnage whether you like it or not.

I never should have written anything on my modest Thunder blog in regards to this presidential election. But here we are on Election Day. I made my choice and it wasn’t John Kasich ultimately.

All I will say is pray for our country, pray for our children, and pray for our grandchildren. Pray for America. Pray for the original concept of America. Pray we can take the collective step back as a nation and start listening to one another instead of setting each other on fire.

For the second straight game, a stunning third period run propelled the Oklahoma City Thunder to a relatively easy 97-85 win over the Miami Heat on Monday night inside Chesapeake Energy Arena.

The Heat had drawn to within 55-51 early in the third and Russell Westbrook was struggling scoring the ball. Enough of that. Westbrook promptly made his next three shots igniting his team. By the time the run ended it was a 20-0 spurt with the game essentially decided. Westbrook either scored or assisted on every Thunder point in the run. In his 26 minutes of play, Westbrook’s line reads, 14-5-11.

OKC’s 6-1 start is the best ever beginning to a Thunder season. If you want to go back to when this team was the Seattle Sonics it’s the best start since 2004. It also marked the 400th win in Thunder franchise history which is the second fastest climb to the 400 win plateau for a franchise moving to another city. I think Syracuse to Philly was the fastest to 400 wins after a move if I read it right.

Domas Sabonis had his best game as a professional with his first double, double on 15 points, 10 rebounds, with four made threes.

Enes Kanter had a nice night with 24 points, 10 rebounds.

Victor Oladipo kicked in 17 points and appears to be getting more comfortable with every game.

Steven Adams and Andre Roberson were very good defensively and key to a Thunder defense which limited the Heat to a 36.9% shooting night. Miami’s big name center Hassan Whiteside was a complete non-factor scoring only five points. Dion Waiters, in his OKC return, went 1-9, scored two points, and received a nice response from the OKC crowd. Nice kid, wish him the very best, but he’s still extremely inconsistent.

My Three Stars of the Game… 1 Westbrook, 2 Sabonis, and 3 Kanter.

So here we are as Thunder fans sitting at 6-1 with the best record in the West and second best in the entire NBA so far into this very young season. The Thunder are a perfect 4-0 at home and somewhat the early season darlings of the league considering they’re doing this without Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka.

A great start by the Thunder. Billy Donovan has a point guard named Russell Westbrook with a core of kids who are competing hard every night and getting better every game. Different players are getting more involved offensively as Westbrook feels more comfortable with his supporting cast.

You could literally hear Billy Donovan shouting, “Move the ball,” to his team during that third quarter blitzkrieg. Move the ball, play smart team defense, stay healthy, and get some good bounces and this team could be pretty decent.

But know this, considering where this city was on July 5th, it’s a remarkable beginning to a basketball season and reminder when you have a bulldog point guard named Westbrook you can still be pretty good.

Toronto in Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

About this time last year, Russell Westbrook introduced Kevin Durant for his induction into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in Tulsa. On November 17th, Russell will be inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame with Michael Jordan doing the honors.

How cool is that?

It’s a shame it’s not Durant doing the honors, but then again so much has changed in their world since Durant went 10-31 in Game 6 against the Warriors and decided to join the team he couldn’t make a shot against in Game 6.

It’s a great honor for Russell. He deserves every bit of it. We’ve watched him grow up and become quite a young man before our very eyes.

So…here’s what I’m saying, kind of. Michael Jordan introducing Russell, while Draymond Green explains the inner nuances of Kevin Durant inner man. You can make your own peer association judgements on that if you want. I’m not going that deep. It’s pointless.

We’re one day away from the election and I’ve kept my word by not putting anymore of that nonsense on my Thunder blog. Washington’s State’s Mike Leach is a Trump supporter, but I’ll overlook it with him because he’s my favorite college football coach.

I’ve always loved Leach because he speaks his mind and is never boring. He’s one of only five college DI coaches who never played football at the college level. He earned his undergrad at BYU with a degree in American studies, then earned his juris doctorate at Pepperdine.

Leach became Bob Stoops’ offensive coordinator at OU in 1999 before taking the head job at Texas Tech in 2000. Leach went on to be a great success at Tech before his ‘firing/resignation’ after the Adams James’ incident in which he ordered James to stand in an equipment shed while the team practiced. Leach claimed he was just following concussion protocol although he did later admit Adam’s father, Craig James of ESPN, was a pain in the ass who called frequently about his son’s playing time. Under oath, Adam admitted he found the entire shed incident funny.

Leach took a break from coaching until he landed the Washington State job in 2011. Make it clear–Washington State has not had recent success in football. But lo and behold here the Cougars stand at 7-2 and atop the PAC 12 North heading into the second week of November.

Leach’s book, Swing Your Sword, became a NY Times top ten bestseller. Great book and the forward was written by my favorite contemporary author, Michael Lewis of all people.

Leach is somewhat unique in that he encourages his players to read books, take challenging courses, and eventually graduate with a degree. Go figure.

Leach’s other interests beyond football are pirates, Geronimo, Daniel Boone, grizzly bears, chimpanzees, whales, and American artist Jackson Pollock.

Led by Russell Westbrook’s balanced evening of 28-6-8 in 28 minutes of play, the OKC Thunder used a 31 point third period to dispense of the youngish Timberwolves by a 112-92 count inside the Peake on Saturday evening. OKC improves to 5-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 at home so far this season.

A nice bounce back game from the loss in Oakland on Thursday night where northern California embraced the courage of Durant for having the grit to join fellow All-Stars Steph, Klay, and Draymond in pursuit of a more organic culture. Note sarcasm dripping. If Jerry West were sitting next to me in a bar and we were both drinking beers chit chatting-I’d have no problem whatsoever looking at him and say,”Are you kidding me? Really?”

But here’s the thing, since that game Golden State has lost by twenty to the Lakers while the Spurs lost at home to the Clippers by twenty-four points last night. So–without even looking at nba.com to peruse the Western Conference standings I’m going to guesstimate our Thunder are back atop the West at 5-1 even though we know they’re not going to finish there.

OKC is an uber, uber young team albeit Russell. The fact OKC has started this well far outweighs one loss on the road on the second night of a road back to back in an emotional setting for the Oakland Super AAU team which in reality has been anything but super to date excluding their desire to humiliate the Thunder on national television. Other than that game–they look awkward. Klay Thompson doesn’t even look like the same basketball player. Maybe he could come play here and he’d get some shots. Note to Klay–KD won four scoring titles here regardless of the bullshit you’re reading now. You’ll get your shots here. We’d take you.

5-1 is a great start for this Thunder team with so many new young faces. Here’s the thing–albeit Westbrook, these Thunder kids are as young as the Minnesota Timberwolves and this in no way should ever be overlooked as this season moves along. With growth, there will be some tough learning moments.

Five Thunder players scored in double figures against the Wolves. Westbrook 28, Kanter 20, Adams 14, Dipo 12, and Samaj 10. Nice balance as Westbrook got everyone involved. Jerami Grant and Jofferey Lauvernge both continue to gobble up more rotational minutes on the second unit and I agree with Donovan on both counts. I like both of them even taking into account Jerami shoots three even worse than Andre. But those dunks…omg

Andre Roberson had nine points and actually went 2-3 on threes. Christon had a very solid night at backup point guard with 10 points and 5 assists. Abrines played something like 17 minutes and didn’t make a field goal–which is nonsense because there’s no reason whatsover for him to be on the floor if he’s not making threes. None. Shoot the ball, Alex.

My three stars of the game goes 1 Westbrook, 2 Townes, and 3 Kanter.

Minnesota’s Karl Antony-Townes led all scorers with 33 points and is a legit big time talent.

As a rogue Thunder blogger I couldn’t be happier. 5-1 exceeds any expectations I had regarding the start of this season. Great start. These kids will do nothing except get better every time they step on the floor.

Miami Heat in Oklahoma City tomorrow night. Should be an excellent game.