Thunder at Spurs: Pregame Primer

vs.

OKC Thunder (0-0, 0-0 road) at San Antonio Spurs (1-0, 0-0 home)

TV: TNT (Cox 31, HD 730)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:30 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs– 104.2 (8th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs – 100.0 (12th)
Pace: Thunder – N/A (N/A), Spurs – 95.0 (8th)

View from the enemy: 48 Minutes of Hell

San Antonio coming in: The Spurs last played yesterday beating the Hornets in New Orleans.

So this is going to be interesting. The Thunder kick things off on the road against the team looking for payback. And they’re doing it just days after making a massive trade and shaking up the foundation of their roster. Other than that, no big deal.

I’m not sure how much we should read into this game. We’ll be looking for a lot of stuff, especially how Kevin Martin fits and how the rotation plays out, but it’s the first game of trying it all out. Obviously winning is a priority, but we’ll just have to see how it goes.

Three Big Things

1. K-Mart. How does he fit? When does he play? How does he play? Where does he play? Working him into the rotation comfortably will be Scott Brooks’ biggest challenge. It shouldn’t be too awful hard though. Most likely it’ll work similar to Harden in that Martin will get a lot of time alone on the floor in the second and third quarter, while working in at spots in the fourth as well.

2. Who plays? Does Perry Jones III see time? Does Hasheem Thabeet actually back up Perk? Eric Maynor plays backup to Westbrook, but could Reggie Jackson play at all? And is there any chance of Jeremy Lamb seeing the floor?

3. Just play. There’s so much going on heading into this game that the important thing for the Thunder to do and remember is to just play. It’s one of 82. It’s really not that important. Don’t press too much, don’t try too hard. Just play your game, do your thing and let things develop naturally.

Tip at 8:30 CT. Go Season.