Month: November 2017

Without starters Carmelo Anthony and Steven Adams, the Thunder were missing two key clogs of their starting five inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Sunday night. But it didn’t matter as Jerami Grant and Dakari Johnson started in place of them and did well enough for the Thunder to beat the dumpster fire Mavs easily by a count of 112-99.

It’s sad seeing presidential aspirant Mark Cuban’s Mavs this bad, but when you’ve lost by eight to the equally woeful Sacramento Kings earlier in the week—you need to take care of business and continue your team climb out of the darkness.

And climbing out of the darkness is exactly what OKC is doing here after falling to 4-7 to Denver in a loss so painful Paul George had to say something to his other two stars on this OKC mini Super Team. Depending on what you think Paul George did or didn’t say—I’m sticking with my original premise that he looked at Russell and said, “If I don’t ever touch the fucking ball…I can’t help you with any of these teams, let alone Cupcake.”

I’m fairly certain Tramel, Royce Young, and Bret Dawson won’t write it up like this with language as such, but then again they never played sports at John Marshall and don’t have NBA-DNA coursing in their veins like I do.

Since Russell apparently got the message that, yes… indeed Paul George was acquired this summer for Oladipo and Sabonis these Thunder are 2-0 and at 6-7 only one game removed from being .500 after a wobbly losing streak of four games.

Ever since Paul George let it be known he likes to get super star touches just like Cupcake did during his time here… PG has been brilliant in back to back games going for 42 and 37 points versus the Clippers and Cuban’s horrific Mavs.

Paul George has been brilliant in back to back games in filling the Durant role with a more blue collar version of what Durant used to provide for this Thunder franchise before Draymond Green convinced him sometime before Game 6 he should go ahead and become a Warrior for life.

So, here’s the thing, even when Carmelo rejoins the lineup from his sore back woes, it should be Paul George getting his twenty shots every night for two simple reasons…he’s younger and is a better basketball player still in his prime.

The Thunder host the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night and the Bulls aren’t very good. If the Thunder can take of business and climb another couple of inches out of the darkness they will be 7-7 heading into a Friday night road game in San Antonio. But we’ve been here before with this Thunder team…so let’s see what they do with the Bulls first.

But for sure we do know this after Games No. 12 and 13….when Russell gets Paul George into the flow and keeps him in the flow—-it doesn’t look all that different from Westbrook and Durant.

It was easier than most of us thought it would be as OU dismantled No.6 TCU 38-20 with a haymaker of a first half which had the Sooners leading 38-14. I can’t imagine the Sooners playing a better half of football in every facet of the game.

Baker Mayfield was namely Baker Mayfield as he inched closer to being OU’s sixth Heisman Trophy winner. Running back Rodney Anderson scored four touchdowns while continuing his excellent run of football which started in the Texas game. From that Texas game and beyond both Rodney Anderson and wide receiver Marquise Brown have made this OU offense a different animal. This OU offense can do it all and may very well have the best offensive line in the country.

But what made this game different was OU’s defense. For the first time since the Ohio State game, the Sooner defense played four quarters of quality football and it came against a high octane Big 12 offense. For the first time I can ever remember…OU played four freshmen in their secondary. You can see OU getting better every week since the unexpected Iowa Sate loss. This was the first game since that loss in which no drama was needed in the second half.

This game was basically over when Anderson scored his fourth touchdown of the first half with seconds remaining. OU ran clock the second half as TCU seemed content with the notion this game was over early as well.

Overall, an interesting week-end of college football. Auburn spanked No. 1 Georgia. Miami routed No. 3 Notre Dame. Mississippi State pushed Alabama to the limit. The poll will look markedly different on Tuesday. If there was any question as to whether or not OU controls their own College Football Playoff destiny—that question was dimmed this week-end.

It’s very simple for OU…win out and they’re going to college football’s Final Four for the second time in three years with Baker Mayfield.

Win, survive, advance. Get better every week. That’s been head coach Lincoln Riley’s mantra since the Iowa State loss. Riley was calm after the loss to the Cyclones. Said this wasn’t new ground for the Sooners having to play a sequence of elimination games leading into early December. Said he was familiar with this rodeo, so to speak. His poise didn’t seem ruffled or that of a normal thirty-three year old rookie head coach.

Three more games to be played and won by the Sooners if they want to be part of this season’s College Football Playoff. But for the first time since the Iowa State loss, the path to getting there is very clear for the Sooners. Take care of business, just take care of business against Kansas, West Virginia and the opponent in the Big 12 Championship Game and it doesn’t matter what the rest of the college football world does to itself these three remaining weeks.

With Paul George scoring a Thunder career best 42 points, the OKC Thunder won their first game of the season over a Western Conference team by beating the LA Clippers 120-111 inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. This is the Paul George… Thunder fans have been thirsting for ever since his airport arrival this summer brought him to Oklahoma City in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domas Sabonis. This is the big dog every OKC fan wants to see wag his finger at Kevin Durant in eleven days (who’s counting) when the Warriors visit the Peake and say, “Not in my house, Cupcake. Not in my house.”

So maybe, just maybe, this is the beginning of what we thought this could be for this Super Team of Dysfunction twelve games in. One would think or hope following the loss to Denver, that there was stone cold silence in that post game team meeting until Paul George stepped forward, then said to Russell Westbrook, ” I can’t help you unless I touch the fucking ball. Pass the ball.”

From what I’ve seen twelve games in, this is something Russell Westbrook is going to have overcome if this Thunder team truly wants to contend for a championship. Russell Westbrook is going to have to understand there’s a fine line balance between being the reigning MVP versus feeding the two new big dogs Sam Presti has put at his disposal.

I think it’s that simple because I think the role players on this team will figure out what they have to be every night. The question is if the guy I used to lovingly call Wild Thing or Bad Little Dude (BLD) can come to terms with the morphing of his game to a championship level or just be happy being the millennials’ version of Allen Iverson.

So the question for Russell Westbrook is how bad do you want to beat the Warriors and ascend to a championship? How much of your game are you willing to morph to feed the Big Dogs, yet remain assertive enough as you were in the first period of this win over the Clippers?

Clearly, this was Paul George’s game, but Westbrook set the tone early with his energy by getting to the rim and more importantly, the free throw line. This Westbrook looked much more like Mo Cheeks of the ’83 Sixers than anything yet I’ve seen from BLD this season.

Russell, please listen, I love you. I love what you’ve meant to this city. Truth is, this blog wouldn’t be here if you weren’t still here. But the dysfunction has to stop. Even Kobe knew when it was time for Big Shot Bob Horry (see millennials scratching heads…wtf Bob Horry) to have the ball in his hands. Do your thing when it’s there, when it’s not let the Big Dogs run. I repeat, make sure the Big Dogs run. That’s what your teammates, your coach, and your city knows you have to do in order to win a ring at some point in your career.

Steven Adams was a scratch in this game and Dakari Johnson got the start… he played well against Deandre Jordan. He’s another nice piece at Billy Donovan’s disposal on nights when Steven can’t go or the opponent isn’t playing small. He has a nice court presence and is a surprisingly good passer with a feel for the game.

Other than that-I’m ready to move on to Game 13.

So…twelve games in and this aspirant Super Team stands 5-7 after beating the Clippers in a game they had to have or else the wheels would have become even more wobbly. Evidently, Paul George looked into Russell Westbrook’s eyes and his eyes told Westbrook he’d go that mile with him if only he could touch the ball more than once in the fourth period.

I know, it’s only one game and bad habits die hard, just ask Nature Boy Ric Flair, but on this November night in Oklahoma City, the Thunder as a team worked their way thru the darkness and saw a sliver of light emanating inside Chesapeake Energy Arena. On this night, Russell Westbrook saw the light and his team followed. Funny how that works.

Dallas Mavs inside the Peake for a Sunday night game.

In case you missed the ESPN 30/30 film Nature Boy, you should make sure and see it. I don’t follow pro wrestling, but this film was incredible. Had me from start to finish. Watch this for one second and look at me with a straight face and tell me Donald Trump didn’t in part create his own politician-wrestler character with more than a touch of Ric Flair attached.

LET’S GO THUNDER! Wooo!

Amazing how things went south so fast in basically the span of seven days. It was last Friday night at home against the Celtics when the Thunder rolled out a pristine first half performance against Boston in rolling up an 18 point lead. But ever since that second half collapse, this Thunder team has gone from that seasonal pinnacle moment to being the biggest disappointment in the NBA so far this season.

The Thunder have now lost four straight since they beat the Milwaukee Bucks to improve to 4-3. None of the losses have been blowout losses. In every game the Thunder have started well, but as the games wear on, for a variety of reasons this team doesn’t match their opponents with smarts, poise, discipline, and just basic execution during the last six minutes of close basketball games.

This game followed the same pattern as OKC opened an 11 point lead early, but by halftime Denver only trailed 53-51. The game was tied 75-75 entering the fourth period, but has been the case during this swoon the Nuggets won the fourth period 27-19 as the Thunder still stand alone as the only Western Conference team without a conference win.

But even worse is the fact this Thunder team have run the table in NW Division play going a collective 0-5 versus the Wolves, Blazers, Nuggets, and Jazz. Stunning, put aside for the moment the ludicrous notion this team could beat the Warriors, Rockets, or Spurs four times in a post season fortnight, but right now any win over any Western Conference team would feel like a breakthrough moment.

Russell Westbrook wasn’t good on Thursday night as he went 6-22 in the game and basically melted down in the fourth period as the Thunder from the point the score was 93-90 couldn’t execute much of anything offensively or defensively.

The bench was awful for the second straight game. Paul George played 42 minutes, but never got into any offensive flow whatsoever and had one shot in the final period. The lone bright spot was a nice offensive night from Carmelo Anthony, who scored 28 points fueled by a 6-10 night from beyond the arc.

As per Newsok, the Thunder didn’t make their players available post game to the press for thirty minutes as it was stated by Paul George the team had a meeting airing out their individual concerns about how bad they’re playing as a team.

Fairly huge game for the Thunder tonight in OKC as they host the Clippers in what appears to be a very big game considering it’s only Game 12 of an 82 game marathon.

This team needs a win in the very worst way. It’s a team in need of some type of positive reinforcement that they can work through this and emerge as a playoff caliber basketball team in the West.

I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say tonight versus the Clippers the Thunder need to toughen up mentally and find a way to win an NBA basketball game.

It’s a cliché, but it’s gotta be ten or eleven guys pulling their link on that collective chain. It’s gotta be those guys scratching, clawing, and bleeding for that inch which separates winning and losing. It’s gotta be doing the little things, the battles which don’t always show up on a box score. In a word, this team needs to locate their collective heart tonight or this could turn into a very long season in a hurry.

If ever there was a time for this, it would be now. I might be wearing this out before Thanksgiving if these guys don’t get it together.

What should we think about this OKC Super Team which wasn’t organically put together like the Durant-Westbrook-Harden Super team of 2012?

Being 4-6 and being the current 12th seed in the West doesn’t so much bother me because the Thunder save the Utah game have been in position to win every game they’ve played in so far. It’s not like Clay Bennett and his ownership group didn’t payroll a roster with upside–so I’m not hitting the panic button just yet.

But if the Thunder drop two more in a row then the ‘seriously concerned’ button comes on my Thunder dashboard Friday night after the Clippers game.

To date, as I wrote the Thunder are currently the 12th seed in the West and every Daily Thunder Regular Season Contest bracket sheet is probably hurting somewhat because of this fact unless somebody had them at No. 9 or No. 10. Delve even deeper, and you’ll observe OKC is the only team in the West without at least one win against another Western Conference team to date.

One thing about the Durant Era is very clear, those teams never lost many games in a row and usually bounced back from a loss with a vengeance, albeit the three straight they lost to the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, and we saw what happened there as Durant said I’d rather play with Steph.

But to date, these conference losses aren’t coming against the Warriors, Spurs, Rockets, Clippers or even the Grizzlies. This 0-5 slate against the West so far has come against Utah, Minnesota (twice), Portland, and the feeble Kings.

Yeah, I know, Billy Donovan under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement isn’t allowed to ever raise his voice with any of the Three Superstars, but he might in a gentle tone remind them before tip tonight if they don’t win any games against Western Conference teams this season they’re not making the playoffs. And, I’m almost certain Adam Silver wouldn’t grant them a special exemption to play as an Eastern Conference team in post season.

So what Billy Donovan might need to do in accordance with the terms of the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement is pull Westbrook, George, Carmelo, and Steven Adams aside away from the rest of the team and say something pretty much like this,” You guys are each making over $20 million and playing like the four biggest pussies in the league. You hold my future as coach of this team in your hands. Players make the coach, always have, always will. So if you’re not going to do one fucking thing I’m asking you to do then tell me straight up right now so Presti can figure out an exit amount and I can go coach college ball again somewhere like say…. North Carolina.”

It’s a star driven league and players make the coach.

Always have, always will.

Pretty simple. No overthink needed.

Seems except for me and Erik Horne there’s lots of white guys covering the Thunder here in Oklahoma City. Btw…I don’t consider myself white any longer as a protest statement to Caligula being elected POTUS. Consider it my John Carlos moment. White guys who voted for Trump don’t get it. I’m prolly the only white dude in Edmond who voted for Barack twice. It must be the John Marshall in me. White dudes don’t feel the game like we do. It’s who we are. Tramel no bruh. Royce Young no bruh. Bret Dawson not even close to being a bruh. Anyway…I came across these three guys doing this video on NBA Super Teams and it cheered me up.

Well, you, know…when you really think about it Super Teams in the NBA don’t always come thru as planned. There’s just too damn much to think about as far as egos, stats, legacies, etc.

The swarmish little Fox wannabee bruh Brian Davis wants you to think this is going to turn out like the 2012 LeBron/Dwayne/Bosh Super Team, but I gotta be candid…I’m not getting a good vibe ten games in.

Russ is too stubborn. Carmelo has been on bad teams for too long. And Paul George is trying to be too nice.

Here’s what I would do if I were coaching this bunch. I’d say quit fucking thinking so much and play the game you love with passion and reckless abandon. You’re not going to beat the Golden State Warriors anyway. Quit trying to be something you’re not, turn it loose, play like you did when you were a kid and have some fun out there. Too much thinking is going on. Read and react. Communicate. Move the ball. Head on a fucking swivel. I’d then put the Al Pacino video on for them and tell it’s time to start winning.

All these white people trying to make this so over complicated. I say…if you’re going down in flames, go down in style. Quit playing scared of failure.

This game might qualify as one of my lowest moments in ten years of watching the Thunder play basketball. It depressed me almost as much as the Trump presidency to see this team with this much potential play this bad this early in a season which may or may not hold much hope for the Thunder being relevant in April.

Disgraceful is the word I feel most inclined to use. The Thunder’s collective performance was disgraceful.

Sam Presti and Billy Donovan need to have a closed door meeting sometime today if they haven’t already. The question Sam Presti needs to ask of Billy Donovan is if he thinks he can effectively coach this basketball team moving forward.

From what I witnessed on Tuesday in a disgraceful performance at Sacramento is maybe he can’t. Ten games in it appears his team isn’t listening and the body language is bad…as in superstar prima donna NBA bad. You don’t see players do this with Greg Popovich or Steve Kerr or even upcomer Brad Stevens. They wouldn’t stand for it.

I’m trying to be fair. I really am.

This Kings team was 1-8 entering tonight and losers of seven straight games. The notion OKC could lose this game never entered my mind. In fact, when OKC went up 25-10 after the first period I started clicking my remote to catch parts of the new ESPN 30/30 film Nature Boy. The film was about pro wrestler Ric Flair. Since I’m not really a pro wrestling fan the story fascinated me. I knew about Hulk Hogan, Junkyard Dog, Rowdy Roddy Piper and the such, but I had no idea Ric Flair’s life was so depressing. Such a sad movie, but if I had to guess, I’m almost certain Donald Trump created his persona from in part…Ric Flair. Don’t laugh.

Anyway, back to the Thunder in Sacramento. After the first period—it was pitiful. This team didn’t look like they’d practiced or looked at film or had a walkthrough or even cared how they played. It was a disgrace.

It somewhat reminded of a game back in Year 1 when OKC played like this and PJ Carlesimo never coached another Thunder game. But if you look up and down that Thunder bench you won’t see a young Scott Brooks or a Monty Williams in wait. So—I’m not sure what Sam Presti does. I love Mo Cheeks, but he’s never gotten it done in several opportunities of being an NBA head coach.

OKC scored 16 points in the second period. Then after talking about it in their locker room they followed this with scoring 16 points in the third period. At one point the Thunder trailed by as many as 12 points, but made a run, got within one point, and then of course folded their tents when it mattered coming down the stretch.

Steven Adams and Jerami Grant were decent, the rest of the team was a dumpster fire.

The final score was 94-86 as if it mattered.

Collectively, OKC’s Super Three shot 15-54 on the night. The ball did not move. There were times I’d sit there counting endless seconds of dribbling by either Westbrook, Carmelo, or Paul. I had OKC down for 15 assists as a team. I just don’t get it. These three guys can move to Los Angeles tomorrow and they’re not winning a ring there unless they play the game the right way.

I don’t know what to say beyond this. I really don’t. If as a coach you can’t get your team to listen to you then you shouldn’t be coaching the team. But having written that–I’m not exactly sure who I would suggest Sam Presti talk to about coaching his three superstars.

OKC at Denver on Thursday night.

Basically, the setting for this Saturday night is OU needs a win over TCU, period. Just a win because that’s all this season has been since Iowa State beat OU 38-31 over a month ago before anybody really knew Iowa State was pretty good.

Just like that ESPN 30/30 film where Jimmy Valvano and N.C. Wolfpack win, survive, and advance in somehow winning the 1983 NCAA Basketball Championship.

Win, survive, and advance.

I was there at that 2008 Tech game and it was awesome. Best environment ever for an OU home game as Sam Bradford clinched his Heisman and the polls leapfrogged OU over Texas into the national championship game matchup with the Florida Gators.

This is what Baker Mayfield wants from the OU fans on Saturday night when the Horn Frogs invade Norman.

And my guess is…he’ll get it.

I love the look on Leach and Graham Harrell’s faces as this is going down.

Usually—this isn’t a homer blog, but this week it is.

BOOMER!

Win, Survive, and Advance. Probably my favorite ESPN 30/30 film. Just a great story. The ending when the team reunites years later is incredible.

If you don’t follow Oklahoma football you probably don’t know there have been five Heisman Trophy winners to date from OU. In this order they go…Billy Vessels ( Bud Wilkinson), Steve Owens (Chuck Fairbanks–who went on to coach the Patriots), Billy Sims (Barry Switzer), Jason White (Bob Stoops), and Sam Bradford ( Bob Stoops).

After last week-end’s games, Baker Mayfield is the leading candidate for this year’s Heisman Trophy heading into the second week-end of November. Mayfield has been a back to back finalist the two previous years and would become OU’s sixth Heisman winner if he ends up winning the award.

His coach, 33 year-old Lincoln Riley, became the first coach in OU history to win eight games or more in his first season as OU’s head coach in Bedlam. When you watch this team play every week it’s clearly a symbiotic relationship between quarterback and coach. Each an extension of the other. The defense still has a multitude of problems, but each week they just find a way to win games in the second half. And as it turns out, the loss to Iowa State isn’t a disgrace in that the Cyclones are one of the biggest national feel good stories of this college football season.

TCU at OU this week-end in what should be a game which is a polar opposite of what we just saw in Bedlam. OU won’t just be given oceans of space by the TCU defense, this game should be a different animal. Gonna have to fight for those inches. Scratch, claw, and bleed for that extra inch.

For me. I love this, I won’t be able to fall asleep tonight and it’s only Monday. We used to play this in our hockey locker rooms. Billy Donovan might want to start playing it to see if his team will wake the fuck up. Just a thought.

Well, another Bedlam has come yet again with O State team owner T Boone Pickens losing yet once again to his tormentors… the Oklahoma Sooners. In case you’re not keeping track—Boone is now 2-11 versus OU and in reality is really 1-12 because the game where Big Game Bob lost his mind and repunted to Tyreke Hill shouldn’t count as a win.

Dear Boone,

Not that I don’t somewhat share your concern for your team not being able to beat the worst OU defense I’ve ever seen in OU football history, but it comes with the territory when you purchase the ownership share of a Big 12 football franchise for half a billion dollars.

Dude, when you over pay for a commodity and it doesn’t pan out it goes with the territory of free market entrepreneurship.

How anyone would have paid this much for a franchise which under the coaching tenures of Jimmy Johnson and Pat Jones beat OU a total of zero times during their combined stays at O State is beyond me. But Mike Holder talked you into it and you own it.

Now as some in the know privately know…Les Miles and his family wanted to stay at O State beyond his four years, but you chased him off because you wanted Les to report to you daily with the stuff Jerry Jones demands of Jason Garrett.

So with Mike Gundy and his warts….. his losses to OU, his mangling of the English language during the Rant, his mullet, the flirtations with Arkansas and Tennessee, and his seemingly never ending feud with you… this is of your doing and nobody else.

But putting the losses to OU aside and the fact he won’t play anybody that’s any good in non-conference play….he’s actually done a pretty decent job and seems like a decent man.

So here’s my advice following this year’s Bedlam loss…don’t say a word.

Not one single word.

Jerry Jones has Jason Garrett, you have Mike Gundy. It is what it is. Que sera…sera, what ever will be will be.