Welcome to OKCThunderGround!

There was a lot of chatter the other day at the OKC Wellness Center and it wasn’t so much about my Jamal Murray jersey, but why Josh Giddey is still starting even with the horrific metric ratings he has so far in this series.

“Guys,” I said, “You’re preaching to the preacher.”

Biker Brian, one of my faves then exclaimed, “But it’so obvious, MJ. Damn…this is worse than Gunnar Gundy. Not even close.”

I was proud of myself. I remained calm and very adult. Then… I replied, “Perk never came off the floor in the 2012 NBA Finals when the Miami Heat went small and shredded the Thunder.”

Biker Brian nodded.

I continued, ” Russell Westbrook was allowed to play out of control whenever he wanted and not answer Berry Tramel’s s gentle questions.”

I delved deeper,” Steven and Andre couldn’t even make a free throw and nothing changed till KD headed off to the Warriors.”

King Charles, a husky black guy, who fancies himself as the group’s Charles Barkley, interjected,”MJ…I didn’t know you knew this much about the Thunder since all I ever read on your blog is about the Warriors, Nuggets, and Trump.”

I smiled, ” When I want to I can shift gears and tell you things Little Nick Gallo and Low Energy Royce Young never knew they never knew. I can tell you what James Harden said to the cab driver as he got out of the cab at the OKC airport after he was traded that fateful night.”

In closing…I said…”Why does this Giddey thing surprise you guys? Sam Presti is an anal retent…period.”

Enough of that.

So yeah, Giddey will probably still start tonight.

But here’s my current Thunder Top Ten Player Rankings heading into tonight’s game.

1 Shai

2 Dub

3 Chet

4 Lu

5 Aaron

6 Cason

7 I-Joe

8 JWill

At 9 and 10… I break into situational considerations. In other words…do I need offense or defence at a certain juncture in the game.

9 Kenrich (defense)

10 Giddey (offense)

So… I actually watch enough of the Thunder to have a pretty good feel about the team.

Hope it’s a great Game 5 tonight.

Eternal peace, MJ

Be happy.

I’m thrilled the Nuggets played so well last night in Game 5. They’re now completely back in control of their own destiny. One more win and they become the first first team in six years to get back to a confernce championship game as the defending NBA champion.

Every Nugget played well last night minus Michael Porter who has now struggled in two straight games. Here’s the good new though…both Justin Holiday and Christian Braun came off the bench and were excellent in crunch time. Coach Malone kept Reggie Jackson on the very short leash I knew he would as a championship coach. Peyton Watson never saw the floor. This is how real coaches handle their rotations this time of the year.

My three Nugget stars went like this…1 Nicola, 2 Aaron, and 3 KCP. I thought this was by far KCP’s best game in post season. He had some air to his game last night. Little Bad Dude didn’t seem to have so much to say after this loss. Know what I mean? You’re either a real tough guy or a fake tough guy. I love this kid…but this learning experience I hope brings him along as a complete basketball player.

Thunder play the Mavs tonight in OKC in Game 5. We’ll see how Coach Mark handles his starting lineup and total minutes distribution.

As Donald Trump slithers down this latest rabbit hole with the Stormy Daniels deal…I honestly could care less. When you live in a state like Oklahoma which is right right there with Mississippi with the worst educational system in the country…you learn to live with this bullshit.

I would guess Trump will win Oklahoma by a 76-82% plurality.

Whatever.

Here’s what I can control…my sense of justice, my bank of wisdom, my objective knowledge, my sense of the truth…and my effort to be compassionate.

Beyond, that…as I’ve learned these past eight years in Oklahoma—it’s probably a waste of time writing much or saying much about Donald Trump. It would be like pissing into the wind. Literally.

Know what I mean?

Have a great Wednesday.

Peace, MJ.

So yesterday…I strut into the gym proudly wearing my powder blue Jamal Murray jersey amongst a sea of Thunder dudes. They have come to love me however because of my tenacious work ethic in the room. They love MJ.

So….one of them hoots, ” MJ…you must be very, very happy today and livin’ the good life.”

I give them the Hang Loose sign with my right hand and and reply, “Ya, MJ is very happy. Very happy that I no longer have to grind my teeth watching Thunder bullshit with Josh Giddey still starting when in fact he should be the 8th or 9th guy in the rotation. MJ told you guys this would be the way it goes.”

This starts all of them on their individual greivances with Coach Mark and the whole Josh Giddey bullshit situation.

I smile to myself and whisper to self…”Fuck with them a little bit, MJ. Have some fun.”

So I say out loud while bearing down on the terrain bike, ” Ya….Maybe Coach Mark will start either Gunnar Gundy or Little Nick Gallo ahead of Aaron Wiggins this time.”

They go berserk. MJ loves it.

Let me share something with you….’There is a fine line between bullshitting and lying”, it is up to you the reader to decide if this is how it actually went on Monday inside ‘The Room’.

However it goes…this is my story and I’m sticking with it.

Long story short…Shai’s gritty performance saved the Thunder from Coach Mark’s pathetic decision to keep starting Josh Giddey.

But me? I’m lazored in on Game 5 tonight in Denver.

I couldn’t give a f–k what Coach Mark does or doesn’t do. Fool me once, it’s on you. Fool me twice…it’s on me.

Eternal peace, MJ.

Be happy.

LET’S GO NUGGETS!!!!

Anthony Edwards…I be watching you…mon. Don’t be talkin’ shit no more to my guy Jamal. I love you Bad Little Dude, but till you and anyone on the Thunder actually WIN SOMETHING keep the bullshit talk to yourself.

Dagger.

Know what I mean?

If you do it…then you can talk.

MJ

So…I wore my powder blue Jamal jersey to the graduation cookout in Seminole this Saturday. And I will admit I gotta a few WTFs and glares from several of my OU friends out there, but when I calmly and without emotion explained why my NBA heart now resides in Denver it somewhat was accepted ….especially after the Thunder lost their second straight to fall behind the Mavs 1-2 in the other Western Conference semi.

I actually love the Thunder players. I think their future burns bright. But at this point in my life…I feel so much more comfortable in Denver because most people there agree with me on the state of Donald Trump and our country. I can openly have conversations about how I see all of this playing out in America.

Plus, of course…there’s Chris, Elaine, Master Robert and Aubrey. Can you believe it… a Seinfeld guy like me ends with an Elaine as his daughter-in-law. God is looking out for MJ. Not a doubt in my mind.

And let me add this….I’m not, nor ever have been a member of the Democratic party. Nor am I even anything remotely close to being lit and woke. In fact….I might be the least lit-woke person in Denver when I’m there.

For God’s sake… I voted for Gerald Ford in 1976 and given the three knuckleheads running this year….my three leading choices right now are all dead. Those being Gerald Ford, Bush 41, and John McCain.

It must be the RINO or squish in me. If only I could click my heels three times and move the mini ranch to Denver… I’d think about it seriously. But I would miss my friends, my wild animals and birds, and my family. So I guess in reality….I’ll just be a dual resident of sorts.

Aaron Gordon was my No. 1 star in this Game 4. Nicola was my No. 2 star and Jamal was my No. 3 star. Kudos to Anthony Edwards for a great game, but his mates didn’t show up.

I’ve come to this conclusion…Minnesota is a better team without Rudy Gorbert. He if nothing else gives the other team an obvious guy to foul on any TWolf offensive possession. I’d foul him more… especially when Ant gets going. Just to muck up the pace. Like a boxer clutching when he’s trapped in his corner. Just foul Rudy.

If the Thunder want to become a legit championship team…this is what they would do….they’d trade Josh Giddey and some other assets and add a player like Aaron Gordon. Aaron would be the perfect fit with Shai, Dub, Chet, and Lu. Hell..Aaron Wiggins could even be that guy, but the Thunder don’t coach that way.

Perfect fit. By the way I’m a Modela type of guy like Aaron.

Coach Malone has been brilliant since the Game 2 home blowout loss. He moved Justin Holiday into Reggie Jackson’s role. Kept Christian Braun in the 7th spot. Removed Peyton Watson from the rotation currently, and shortened Reggie’s leash enormously. The problem with Reggie Jackson is this…he thinks he’s Kobe Bryant and in fact he’s not even close to being Austin Reaves.

Denver bench 27 points. Minnesota bench 13 points. Huge.

I might at a later point post the late first half Jamal fifty-five foot dagger heave. But not now. This post was about Aaron and why I appreciate him so much as a Denver Nugget fan.

What a hsignificant game in Denver on Tuesday for Game 5.

Huge.

Eternal peace.

MJ

I’m so glad Coach Malone got the attention of his team and they played up to their standards last night in Minnesota. Perfect. As in picture.

They cleaned up the sloppy turnovers, especially the live ball turnovers which fuel young teams like Minnesota and OKC, set better screens creating more space and time,…and hit open shots.

This is not complex.

The two stars, Jokic and Jamal led…and the others followed their lead. As I wrote before…I thought Coach Malone would go with Justin Holiday first off his bench…and he did. And as I also wrote on my blog… “I would put the whiney little bitch Reggie Jackson on a very short leash.”And Coach Malone did this as well.”

Perfect.

Now go win Game 4 tomorrow and this series is right where it needs to be for the defending champs.

Not complicated.

Somebody please tell Jim Traber and his callers that most NBA playoff series actully begin with Game 3…not end.

I need to be off. I have a high school gradution to attend in Seminole today.

Remember…make sure and tell your mommas how much you love them tomorrow.

MJ

Jim Traber and his commenters were already saying this series was over after one game, but I’ll just politely state on here that pretty much tells you something about the types who call in to the No. 1 radio sports talk show in Oklahoma.

Sigh.

I’m just sayin’ I’d guess quite a few of Markwayne Mullins most ardent supporters can’t get enough of Traber’s show. I will say this though, Traber’s always got some drama in it somewhere. That must be the ratings secret. Kind of like Jerry Springer.

The OKC-Dallas series now genuinely begins with Game 3 in Dallas on Saturday. Anybody who knows anything about NBA playoff basketball knows there’s no need to panic until you lose a game at home. The Mavs have yet to lose at home in this series. Whereas, the Denver Nuggets lost both of their first two games at home and are in serious trouble. And the OKC Thunder just lost at home….they’re not in trouble yet.

I’ll state this again for the Thunder fanbase since I’m about the only blogger in this market who just objectively tells it like it is because 1, I know what I’m talking about, and….. 2, I have no economic stake if I piss off someone at the Thunder.

I DON’T CARE WHAT THE THUNDER THINK ABOUT MY BLOG.

I have no agenda. Except I really do hate tanking to an excess.

As far as the Thunder…I have no idea why Aaron Wiggins isn’t starting and Josh Giddey isn’t the Sixth Man at this point. But it is …what it is.

I’m going to go take my Mom to her favorite Mexican restaurant here in a few hours for Mother’s Day and then settle in to watch Game 3 between the Nuggets at Minnesota. I’ll be curious to see if Gobert coming back slows down their energy and pace from Game 2.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers.

I need a song break. My work ethic on the blog this week was better.

MJ

As Billy Tubbs once learned in a basketball game in Norman…”No matter how bad the officiating gets you can’t throw things on the floor.”

So as Jamal said…”It is what it is.” The officiating was so bad in Game 2 even when Coach Malone was deliberately trying to get a technical to wake up his team in Game 2…he couldn’t get one.

But you cannot throw things on the floor and the NBA fined Jamal a hundred thousand dollars to make a pittance gesture that the Nuggets are not being given preferential treatment.

Here a simple fact…the Nuggets were putrid in Game 2. Jokic and Jamal committed 10 combined tirnovers. Michael Porter played like an even more scared whiney little bitch than Reggie Jackson.

But as Jamal said…”It is what it is.” Period. Let’s see some basketball in Game 3 from the Nuggets.

The Nuggets will either show up tomorrow night in Minny or their season is over.

I feel better having addressed all of this on the underground blog.

Just saw the NBA regular season MVP voting results. I’m surprised. I went 1 Shai, 2 Ant, and 3 Jokic.

Like I’ve written on here many times…I write what I think and feel. Nobody owns me. I had Shai by a nose over Ant just like Mystic Frank in the Kentucky Derby. I’m surprised it went this way.

MJ

Editor’s note: My apology to Mystik Dan. I called him Mystik Frank on the previous post. What a race!!!

No…the Minnesota TWolves are not a mirage of any sort regardless of Jamal Murray’s leg injury status. These guys are for real. These guys are legit.

Remember in last year’s NBA Playoffs the TWolves had neither Naz Reid (the winner of my prestigious TSNS Award this season….Toughness, Smarts, Nasty, Snarl), and excellent 3D wing player McDaniels was injured as well and not available.

I can’t remember which one of these dudes broke his hand punching a wall late last regular season after a defeat…. but that has stuck with me on my TSNS charting of players in the NBA ever since. Dr. El Prez loves both these guys. You cannot subsitute for having players who detest defeat. Lombardi charted players in this manner as well. These are the guys you want next to you in the foxholes on your flanks.

So…basically Game 3 tomorrow night in Minnesota is an elimination game for the defending champ Denver Nuggets. THEY ARE IN SERIOUS TROUBLE.

Also…remember this…last year the Denver Nuggets had my winner of last year’s prestigous TSNS Award when Bruce Brown easily won the award. Not even close. Bruce Brown is not a member of this Nugget team, while unfortunately…Reggie Jackson is. If I were Coach Malone…what I’d basically do tommorow night…is go with Justin Holiday, Christian Braun, and Peyton Watson off the bench unless one of my top eight guys has to leave the rotation and keep Reggie in the seat next to me.

I remember last spring when the Nuggets had completed their magical run to the NBA ‘ship and I walked into Dr. Showalter’s office wearing my official 2023 Denver Nugget Championship ball cap. He looked at me and smiled. He asked, “So you’re a Nugget fan and not a Thunder fan?”

I replied, “Yep…the Thunder lost me with all their tanking and scripted losing for three straight seasons. Tanking isn’t in my DNA.”

I then told him about my week in Denver over Father’s Day Week and the championship parade.

He replied, ” You’re still remembering that little talk we had about the holistic approach we’re going to take with this very serious Stage 4 cancer situation you have…right?”

I nodded and answered, “Yeah, absolutely. Trust me….Mike knows when to do his cancer work… then live well, and when to take a nap moving forward. We’re good. I won’t over do it.”

He wrote something down on my chart, smiled, gave me a little fist pump and walked out of the office.

I’ll write something about the Thunder after their first ‘real’ NBA road Playoff game in Dallas. New Orleans was total shit. In fact, the feeble Pelicans were the team I seeded No.16 in this year’s complete ranking of the sixteen teams who advanced to the NBA Playoffs.

Don’t take this wrong Thunder Trump Rabble Nation…I think the Thunder are legit as well. But let’s see the Thunder play a legit road playoff game against a good team before we annoit them as winners in the West.

In closing…a shout out to Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan. That ending was epic…literally one for the ages.

Peace always. Be jammin’ and be happy.

MJ

Heavy rains have caused us to reschedule our fishing trip to Lake Sequoyah in Arkansas. No big deal. Will try again next week if there’s a two day window.

Actually…it may be a blessing because I can now lock in on Game 6 between the Mavs and the Clippers tonight. Then focus in on Game 1 between the TWolves and defending champ Denver Nuggets.

So who I am actually rooting for at this juncture? That’s a good question.

Even though I’m very much impressed by the Thunder’s top seven players…the fact they represent the mecca of white suprememacy domestic terrorists kind of drops the Thunder out of my top four list.

Can’t do it. Especially when you consider the Thunder were ostensibly stolen from Seattle to OKC to help the city heal from the 1995 Murrah Building bombing.

I mean think about this…how dumb can you be as a community to have that incident on your resume and then endorse a grifter/domestic terrorist like Trump thirty years later by a 75% plurality.

Nope…. can’t do it. Couple the Trump domestic terrorism angle with the fact a top flight Texas high school football program wouldn’t associate themselves with Little Nick Gallo and Michael Cage… andI just can’t fake the Thunder love even though they play twenty minutes from the mini-ranch in Deer Creek. I could care less what the Jim Trabers of this world think .I’m nobody’s sycophant. Too bad Low Energy Royce Young of the once great Daily Thunder can’t make this claim.

So… probably as we stand right now with my ever changing basketball heart…I’d say my heart is leaning this way…1 Denver, 2 Minnesota, 3 NY Knicks, and 4 Dallas Mavericks.

Two shout outs before I go work out….1 Congrats to Jalen Brunson and his ‘Nova mates for advancing to the semis. The other shout is to Buddy Hield for his great game coming off the bench last night. Tough play at the end, but the Knicks were the better team and that’s just the way it goes sometimes

This song is being posted to hopefully calm down all you Trump evangelical Christian terrorists. Why the hate? You live in a country with the largest GDP and most freedom loving rights. Why the hate?

Hang loose.

MJ.