In the news: Thunder Coach Donovan is camped out in my subconscious but quadruple OT eases pain

As the TI crew diligently dive into the OKC Thunder offseason Billy Donovan has taken residence in my subconscious and only a quadruple OT eased my pain.

Sitting through eight quarters of basketball isn’t the typical event for most fans. For those of us hoops heads who tend to watch more than one nightly game throughout the season, it’s common. But even at that, there is the typical food, beverage and texting breaks. This match between the Portland Trail Blazers and the Denver Nuggets, however, featured the best and most competitive game to date in the 2018-19 playoffs. It was a marathon of eight consecutive frames: four regular quarters and four five minute overtime quarters.

Incredibly, neither coach Terry Stotts (Blazers) or Mike Malone (Nuggets) flinched electing to predominantly stick with their starters. That was at least until players started fouling out and players became so fatigued you could tell they were barely dragging themselves back to defend.

Denver’s Torrey Craig who only recently got inserted into the starting rotation logged the least minutes of all starters with 36. The remaining Nuggets starters averaged 54 minutes with Nikola Jokic playing a game high (and fourth most in history) 65 minutes. Jokic who looks slow on most nights quite literally looked like he could use assistance to get up and down the court as the third and fourth quarters raged on.

As for the Blazers, CJ McCollum took top honors with 60 minutes and the Blazers starters averaged 53 minutes each. Even former OKC Thunder center Enes Kanter logged 56 minutes despite his shoulder injury.

Ironically it was fresh legs which won the day as the Blazers Rodney Hood entered with just under two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Hood went on to score seven of the Blazers final nine points (Seth Curry shot two free throws on a purposeful game end foul) to give Portland the 140-137 victory.

At the end of the second overtime Dame Lillard picked up his favorite position between the top of the arc and the logo hoping to point to his watch. Gary Harris in an eerily similar defensive coverage to Paul George got lucky as Dame’s shot hit the rim and missed dropping.

Of course, ESPN elected to revisit recency history upon returning from commercial break to highlight a certain 37′ shot which had fellow scribe Rylan Stiles and I begging Lillard to hit another walk-off shot just so we could stop seeing that image repeatedly shown on TV programs. And with the hopes, the image (pictured below) might get usurped.

Yeah, no such luck.

CJ McCollum who had just nine points at the half went on to score 41 points while Lillard had to settle for a mere 28. The ever-growing in popularity dynamic Denver duo of Jokic and Jamal Murray led the way for the Nuggets. The Joker dropped an insane triple-double of 33 points, 18 rebounds, and 14 assists while Murray dropped 34 points with nine rebounds and five assists.

Ultimately, it was an amazing game with Stiles and I only disappointed it didn’t set a record by reaching five overtime frames.

Billy Donovan has camped out in my subconscious and it’s driving me insane:

So here’s the irony while Stiles and I sat on different coasts watching the game and kibitzing our entire conversation centered around OKC Thunder head coach Billy Donovan and our absolute belief he’ll be cut.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

I’m in the camp which feels it’s impending (read: this coming week) while Stiles just wants it to happen regardless of date.

As you can see this subject is taking an inordinate amount of time occupying our conscious and subconscious thought.

Stiles dove into the Kendrick Perkins recent interviews and discussion surround the Durant era in OKC and nominated Monty Williams as a coaching candidate. As it turns out it was too little, too late since the Phoenix Suns announced (hours after we ran this article) they had hired Williams.

"So while OKC fans on the outside, including myself, believe the OKC Thunder did enough to court Kevin Durant and make him feel wanted, if Perkins goes on National Television to say this, I can not outright call him a liar. He might be more informed than anyone. Besides, it is not up to us to decide what is good enough for another human. No one knows what would have made Durant stay."

Also of note, check back later this morning as Stiles serves up yet another candidate for your perusal.

With my mind obsessing over nothing but this subject, I pulled my top five from a growing list of reasons why Donovan should get his own vaudevillian hook directly out of town.

"Sam Presti is at a crossroad. He can’t keep trotting out teams who’ll regularly make the postseason but never be capable of deep runs. Not with commitments to two superstars and an annual luxury tax bill. Push has come to shove and with that even Presti’s job shouldn’t be considered safe."

That wraps up in the news for May 4. Enjoy your weekend fans and let us know your thoughts in the comments section because we aren’t giving up the fight.

Hey, if we post enough articles on potential head coaching candidates it might move Sam Presti. At least, that’s what my conscious mind is telling me.