Preseason Thoughts: Nuggets 114, Thunder 101
The Thunder lost their preseason opener to the Nuggets on Wednesday, 114-101. But hey, basketball! Here are five takeaways from it:
- Steven Adams was like, amazing, in the first nine minutes. He put up 14 points on 7-8 shooting, set up a number of times by Mitch McGary driving the center of the lane and drawing big man help. Adams was active on the offensive boards using his size to overpower Timofey Mozgov a few times. In the end, as expected, Adams fouled out in just 21 minutes and had 15 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Also, he hit just 1-of-5 from the free throw line, which is disconcerting considering how much work he’s put in at the line this summer.
- Jeremy Lamb was straight oof. He was the first off the bench, and he played mostly terrible. It’s only one preseason game, but 1-of-14 shooting and 0-of-6 from 3 is bad in any game. He looked uncomfortable and once he missed his first few, clearly started pressing. And the more shots he missed, the worse his haircut started looking. The slight positive is the fact he got to the line 10 times (hitting nine), which afforded him 11 points. That’s an improvement of sorts from last season where the free throw line was foreign land to him. So that’s something!
- Mitch McGary can play. He worked hard on Kenneth Faried and got lost in help a number of times, but his offensive feel is clearly excellent. He handles exceptionally well for a guy his size and has no problem taking a few dribbles to draw defenders, setting up a drop-off to the other big on the floor. He flashed consistent range out to around 20 feet, splashing a number of jumpers. The final line for McGary: 14 points on 7-14 shooting with four rebounds and two assists in 36 minutes. Pretty solid.
- Andre Roberson got the start at shooting guard, which was expected. He was decent. Nothing too notable (2-6 shooting, didn’t take a 3), but was his typically solid self on the defensive end. He picked up three steals, had seven boards and two blocks, and finished a nice bucket in transition. Roberson’s offense is what will hold him back, but as long as he’s active — cutting, running the floor, attacking the glass — he might just find enough offense by happenstance to warrant the starting spot. Because his defense is that good.
- I hope it was just a preseason thing, but the Thunder wore white shoes with their road blue uniforms. It looked awful. More awful than Jeremy Lamb.
Next up: At the Mavericks on Friday.