Blazers vs. Thunder: Pre-game preparation
vs.
Portland Trail Blazers (30-18, 12-13 road) vs. OKC Thunder (11-38, 8-18 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 102.8 (28th), Portland: 113.6 (2nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.3 (21st), Portland: 109.1 (19th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.7 (7th), Portland: 86.1 (30th)
The story lines are there. We got Oden vs. Durant for the first time. We’ve got the “rivalry,” that really isn’t a rivalry at all. The slow-it-down Blazer offense against the high-tempo OKC game. Blazer head coach Nate McMillan against his former team – sort of.
But the best storyline is that it’s a Friday night game against an exciting team that I hope to be like in the next one or two years. The Blazers have built a contender through primarily the draft, the same way Sam Presti is trying to do, and have a strong, young core.
As for the game, the Blazers are on a quick three-game roadie and lost at Dallas Wednesday night. But like a lot of teams, they’re very mediocre on the road (12-13). Oden and LaMarcus Aldridge will be a handful for the Thunder tonight because OKC really can’t match that size inside. While there’s a bunch of big guys at OKC’s disposal, I don’t know if any of them really match up all that well. And Brandon Roy is one of my favorite professional athletes. He’s the rare combination of Glue Guy that does all the little things with superstar talent. I wish OKC had him. I wish he could be my favorite player.
But instead of your typical, what we need to do, what they do well, who’s gonna win thing, I did a little question and answer with OregonLive.com and you can find that HERE. And they were kind enough to return the favor as Sean Meagher answered a few questions:
What’s the general feeling toward Oklahoma City from the Blazer perspective? Some from the Pacific Northwest genuinely hate us. Is it that way in Rip City?
I think for the most part yes. The I-5 Rivalry was a long-standing tradition between the Blazers and Sonics. Other than the proximity and familiarity between the two franchises, I think it hit a little to close to home with owner Paul Allen putting the Blazers up for sale (as short-lived as it was) not too long before the Supes were sold. And I think the general feeling is that Clay Bennett stole the team from Seattle.
A lot of people in OKC kind of see the Thunder as a wanna-be Blazers – young, fresh and (hopefully) upcoming. What say you?The three pieces of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green seem to be a very good start. What’s made the Blazers so good this year is the depth. Portland has 10 guys that legitimately contribute on a nightly basis and five players that average in double-digit scoring. From what little I’ve seen of OKC (and feel free to correct me where I’m wrong), it seems to be the three headliners and a fairly sizeable drop-off in production. The Thunder seem to have the 1-3 locked up, and if they can lock up Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin in the upcoming draft, the inside game starts looking much improved. Sam Presti is a branch off the Spurs’ tree, much like Kevin Pritchard, and he’s done an impressive job in the draft so far. But I don’t know that OKC is ‘wanna-be Blazers’ quite yet.What’s the general feeling in Portland about skipping on Durant? Is there a nagging “what if?” in everyone’s heads or is everybody still confident in Oden?After Oden was shelved last season with the micro fracture surgery, I think the initial thoughts from the fan base definitely centered around “what if?” There’s no doubting Durant’s talent and its fun to think about what he could accomplish were he paired with Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge, but Greg Oden is a rarity. I don’t think there was one GM who would’ve picked differently than Kevin Pritchard did on draft day. With Oden, and he’ll be the first to tell anyone, it’s about patience. Big men don’t make a huge impact over night; especially those coming off a year on the shelf. The feeling within the organization is that Oden is progressing as he should at this point in the season. He has his ups and downs, but he is playing his first NBA season, that’s to be expected. When it’s all said and done, both will probably be looked at as damn good NBA players.I for one, am really jealous of the Blazer fan base. It’s one of the most dedicated in all of sports, with great people and what is now, a model organization. And both OKC and Portland are in similar situations being the only pro game in town surrounded by in-state rivals. What advice could such a well established fan base that’s known as one of the best give to an albeit frenzied, but new group of fans?Well, this is a good fan base to be jealous of: passionate and knowledgeable. It’s all about the product. The Blazers had such a good product for such a long time, the entire community in Portland backed the Blazers for the better part of 20 years. As was well documented, things faded for a while after the collapse in the 2000 WCF and the “Jail Blazers” image, but Blazermania is once again getting back to feverish levels. The Blazers are the only pro game in town, so all the attention is focused on the team and when you get a good group of guys who do well on and off the court, it’s hard not to back them 100%.Big thanks again to Sean. Tip at 7 p.m. Go Bolts.
