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Some say teams take on the competitive swagger of their coach. The Golden State Warriors appear to be one of those teams.

Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Klay Thompson form the greatest current trio for any team in the NBA. GM Bob Myers and special consultant Jerry West found three players who starred in college at Davidson, Michigan State, and Washington State respectively, who while very good college players, have all taken their professional games to an even higher level. All three are winners. All three unselfish. All three with high BBIQs. Oklahoma City clearly has a herculean task in front of them tomorrow night at Oracle Arena where the Warriors have yet to lose this season.

A piece was recently written by Adrian Wojnarowski addressing this very subject matter. Because of Golden State’s current bargain contract with Steph Curry, it’s finically conceivable the Warriors could keep Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, yet still have space to add Kevin Durant.

Talk about a scary thought for not only the Oklahoma City Thunder, but for the rest of the NBA as well. Golden State without Durant is currently on the periphery of becoming a dynasty as it is. With Durant–the Warriors would have two generational scorers on the floor at the same time while both still in the prime of their careers.

Plus, the Warriors could potentially further revolutionize their small ball philosophies by going Draymond Green at center, Durant at power forward, Harrison Barnes or someone else at small forward, Klay Thompson at shooting guard, and Steph Curry at point guard. Think about that.

Not only would it make the Warriors untouchable to defend, it would destroy one of their primary rivals in the West in the Oklahoma City Thunder.

But beyond that, it would possibly create a super dynasty in Golden State which could possibly challenge dynasties from other eras if these guys buy in like Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli have done contractually with the Spurs in the latter years of their careers.

Golden State isn’t like the Buss children running the Laker franchise into the ground. GM Jim Myers and super consultant Jerry West are shrewd basketball minds. If you doubt, consider how quickly Golden State emerged from a promising young team to the monster we already see on the cusp of a potential 70 win season and a repeat in a collective bargaining era when repeating isn’t an easy thing to do in either the NBA, NFL, NHL, or MLB.

Although I hate the thought of what it would do to the Oklahoma City Thunder and the competitive balance of the entire NBA as a whole, it’s an intriguing possibility to consider for not only Golden State, but for Kevin Durant as well.

Whether it’s just a rumor which never materializes, from a historical view you could very well see this move trumping Lebron’s move to Miami when the Heat then played in four straight NBA Finals and won two championships.

The notion of Curry, Durant, Green, and Thompson together exceeds any roster combination the rest of the league could answer as LeBron ages and the Spurs encounter life after Duncan, Parker, and Ginobli retire.

It would be a move which could possibly bring Golden State multiple championships and sadly define the Harden trade as one of the worst in NBA history. As OKC still to this very juncture almost four years removed from the Harden trade haven’t addressed their dilemma at the shooting guard position.

 

For the second time this season, Orlando’s Magic toyed with the notion of beating the Oklahoma City Thunder. But in the encore performance of the overtime thriller from earlier this season, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant imposed their will during this game’s final minute of regulation. For the most part it was a game of 231 combined points, not great defense, but plenty of entertainment value as this one only required 48 minutes for the Thunder to escape with a rousing 117-114 win over the Magic inside a rocking Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Fast forward.

A Westbrook layup tied the game at 114 apiece with 29.4 seconds left. On Orlando’s ensuing possession, Serge Ibaka blocked Victor Oladipo’s layup at the rim. It was Ibaka’s sixth blocked shot of the game.

Dion Waiter’s grabbed the loose ball, then quickly moved the ball to the capable hands of Kevin Durant who dribbled past half court and hit nothing but net with a long three which swished with 0.5 seconds left. Timeout, Magic. Orlando got the ball to a swerving Oladipo on the ensuing inbounds, who then missed iron on a well guarded three as time expired, and for the second straight game–Durant and Westbrook saved the Thunder against a young Orlando team which has difficulty closing games.

Russell Westbrook registered his third straight triple double and eighth of the season. This one was eye popping though–even for Westbrook as he went for 24 points, a career high 19 rebounds, and 14 assists.

While Westbrook was his usual high energy self, Kevin Durant was elegant, efficient and scored 37 points on the night, including the game winner.

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are my co No. 1 Stars of the Game.

Victor Oladipo was magnificent again torching OKC for 37 points and making it a trying night for Dion Waiters. But before you go all analytical goofy comparing charts, graphs, real plus/minus vortexes, El Nino, and a stubborn westerly flow jet stream, remember Oladipo pretty much did the same thing to Andre Roberson in the overtime thriller back in Orlando. .. only from his back and out of bounds.

Serge Ibaka had an interesting line with 9 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 blocks. Dion Waiters scored 8 points on a 3-8 shooting night.

OKC’s bench scored 32 points as a unit with Kanter and Payne leading the way with 13 and 9 points respectively.

OKC improves to 38-13, winners of five straight and 12 of their last 13, but every soul in Thunder Nation knows what awaits in California on Super Bowl Saturday Night on ABC.

Namely, a Golden State team which improved to 45-4 tonight with a 134-121 pasting of the Washington Wizards. On the night, Curry and Co. went 20-42 from behind the arc in preparation of showing the NBA world on Saturday they hunger to be regarded as a historical team before all is said and done this basketball season.

It’s time to see what Oklahoma City is or isn’t.

Mike Jackson

Orlando Magic visiting the Thunder tonight in the final prerequisite game before the much anticipated track meet at Golden State on Saturday night.

OKC and Orlando met earlier in the year in a classic game in which the Thunder made a miraculous comeback highlighted by a Westbrook half court heave and some great shot making by Magic guard Victor Oladipo. OKC finally escaped with a pulsating 139-136 double overtime win in a game which became a Thunder instant classic. It was clearly a classic regular season game where your relatives and friends were calling or texting during the final minutes asking, “Are you believing this game?” I’m guessing Brian Davis peed on himself at least twice coming down the stretch. It was a great last twenty minutes of ball.

Magic come in tonight a pedestrian 21-26 and have fallen back in the standings after a promising start to the season. Orlando currently sits as the 11th seed in the East.

Like many teams in the East, Orlando has some nice young talent, but still a star player away from being a serious playoff contender considering  the plethora of good to medium level teams in the East this season.

I’d prefer not to talk about the rumor-story circulating about Durant possibly going to Golden State in free agency. That would not only be depressing from a Thunder standpoint, but from a league standpoint as well. Golden State is the last team in the league which needs Kevin Durant. Jim Myers, Jerry West, lighten up. You’ve made your point already. You have a potential dynasty, except you didn’t trade part of it to the Houston Rockets.

Thunder come in tonight at 37-13 and 4-0 so far with the Dion Waiters starting experiment starting to get some traction from most smart B-ball people except some of the Daily Thunder analytic youngsters who all find themselves trailing yours truly in the prestigious Daily Thunder Western Conference Regular Season Seeding Championship.

Some nice play by the Thunder in their last two games as the roster as a whole has stepped up and shown some energy, passion, and overall caring.

OKC needs to take care of this Magic team, play sharp, play crisp, and don’t get anybody nicked up tonight before heading out west to play the defending champion Warriors who are already 45-4 without Kevin Durant.

OKC is 34-9 with Durant, and my hope is the Durant to Golden State story circulating is just one of many false stories which should come rolling along as the season moves towards summer. I mean, the Warriors already have Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Harrison Barnes.

I can’t help it—I’m already thinking about Golden State this Saturday myself and wondering if Billy Donovan is going to stick with Adams and Serge together–or come out small.

Hope the Thunder are more focused on the Magic than I am, because the game every fan in the NBA has been wanting to see is in the on deck circle.

Haven’t seen the Vegas line, but I’ll go OKC -13 tonight.

 

 

OKC Thunder 114 — Washington Wizards 98

While most of the nation had an eye to Iowa’s presidential caucus, OKC’s Thunder easily handled the underachieving Wizards by a 114-98 count on Monday night inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena.

OKC came out fast, led early, and was never really in danger while improving to 37-13 overall and 34-9 in games Kevin Durant has played.

This is a Washington team most picked to be top six team in the East, my guess is there will be a coaching change at some point this season or at the conclusion of the season. I would think Randy Wittman’s days are numbered.

Russell Westbrook had his seventh triple double of the season and eighteenth in the last two seasons. Again, the type of line which makes me want to believe OKC can possibly get where they want come April…. 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists. Russell Westbrook is my No. 1 Star of the Game.

Kevin Durant went 29, 8, and 4 was just basically Kevin Durant playing against inferior talent.

Serge Ibaka was functional with a double, double of 19 points and 10 rebounds.

Dion Waiters had an off shooting night going 3-11, but grabbed 6 rebounds, dished 3 assists, and had 3 steals. But keep this in mind, even when Waiters is missing shots he’s doing something Andre Roberson will never do with the starters…namely–spacing the floor because he can’t be left alone by opposing defenses. And I don’t care how many white guys who never played basketball and have twenty thousand gazillion versions of plus/minus say otherwise. Against elite competition your shooting guard has to BE ABLE TO SHOOT THE BALL OR AT LEAST CREATE THAT ILLUSION.

OKC’s bench was good scoring 32 points. Enes Kanter led the bench with 14 points, while Cam Payne returned to action and had what I thought were 13 minutes of serviceable play.

My takeaway is simple, OKC won the game, played well, took care of business like professionals, and hopefully got showered in time to watch four different presidential canidates claim they won the Iowa caucus,  thankfully none of which were Donald Trump. Note to the Big Donald—don’t skip any debates in New Hampshire.

Orlando Magic in town on Wednesday night.

Mike Jackson

Wizards in town tonight sporting a disappointing 21-24 record in a season in which there were supposed to show Kevin Durant he could come back home and win a championship. Wizards are currently in the tenth slot in the East, two and a half games back of Detroit for the eighth spot. I could see Kevin Durant leaving OKC in 2017 after he’s completed his one year option season next season, but Washington D.C. isn’t where I’d see him going. Maybe either LA team, maybe the NY Knicks, maybe with Popovich in San Antonio, maybe back with Harden, maybe even with Pat Riley in Miami, or staying put in Oklahoma City, but not with the Wizards at this point.

Steven A Smith talking again about Durant and Westbrook both heading to the Lakers in 2017. But there’s a problem with that, the Lakers do not have strong or wise ownership with the Buss children as they did previously with Dr. Buss, who knew what he was doing.

I would also ask myself this question if I were Kevin Durant’s surrogate uncle/advisor…if after all these seasons together with Russell Westbrook in Oklahoma City and only one NBA Finals appearance to show for it—what makes you think going in tandem with Westbrook to any future destination improves your chances of winning a championship? Maybe at that point, it would be better for both to go separate directions. I mean, who’s to say Durant and Harden back together isn’t  potentially a better pair suited to win a ring together.

Anyway, it will be fascinating to watch as it unfolds from an NBA historical perspective

Back to tonight. OKC comes in with a little bit of swagger possibly after winning a big game against the Houston Rockets. For the first time in a while, both Durant and Westbrook led by example on the defensive end and temporarily quieted the justified criticism targeted at OKC’s defense.

It’s a big week for OKC with homes games against Washington and Orlando, then the much anticipated Saturday night game at Golden State. From what I read, Cam Payne is a game time decision tonight as far being given a green light from the concussion. Another game to see if Dion Waiters as a starter makes him a consistent player or if this has just been one of Dion’s mini up cycles?

I respect what Andre Roberson brings to the table for OKC, but I firmly believe for OKC to beat the teams like Golden State, Cleveland, and San Antonio in a six or seven game series they need someone to fill the shooting guard position who can actually ‘shoot’ a basketball here and there. So I think it’s a relatively important thing if Dion Waiters can become consistent with the starters these next few weeks. If not, OKC has a problem.

Haven’t looked at the Vegas spread yet, but I’d think OKC -7 would be reasonable.

So nice not having a Thunder game for two days. KD talked of a little bit of burn out in January. I get  it…I was feeling his pain along with he and the team. Too many games in one month. Still a great week-end of sport with a stirring upset on the women’s side in in the Aussie Open. Plus, OU’s No. 1 men’s team travels to LSU and gets a dramatic road win which will keep the Sooners at the top of the poll. Ben Simmons may well be the best prospect in college ball this season, but Buddy Hield is the NPOTY without question so far. He wants the ball in clutch situations, Simmons doesn’t. Seth Greenberg, grow up. End of discussion.

A few changes in this week’s poll. San Antonio drops to third after two lopsided losses to Golden State and Cleveland. Granted, they were without Tim Duncan, but they should have been competitive. Cleveland jumps a notch to second with four straight wins with Lue and LeBron  co-coaching the team and getting Kevin Love more involved. Memphis Grizzlies getting traction and inching upward. Still not ready to move Toronto into the fifth spot. But I’m watching the possible inversion of Toronto and the Clippers closely. Detroit shows me they’re not ready just yet…they drop from my poll and are replaced by the surging Boston Celtics.

OKC Thunder still fourth. Show me something this week against Washington, Orlando, and Golden State and I might move you to No. 2. Show me.

1          Golden State Warriors

2          Cleveland Cavaliers

3          San Antonio Spurs

4          Oklahoma City Thunder

5          LA Clippers Clippers

6          Toronto Raptors

7          Chicago Bulls

8          Memphis Grizzlies

9          Atlanta Hawks

10        Miami Heat

11        Boston Celtics

12        Dallas Mavs