Thunder vs Nuggets: Pregame Primer
vs.
Nuggets (1-0, 0-0 road) vs. Thunder (0-2, 0-0 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 1300 AM The Buzz Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 97.4 (24th), Nuggets 91.9 (28th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 108.3 (19th), Nuggets 81.5 (2nd)
With Russell Westbrook now recovering from surgery on his fractured right hand the Thunder are now down to an eight-man roster for tonight’s home opener against Denver. Reggie Jackson told the media that he feels good, but now quite 100 percent and is expected to miss tonight’s game as well. So to review: No Durant, no Westbrook, no Reggie, no Lamb, no Morrow, no McGary, which means Sebastian Telfair is the only available point guard, and Andre Roberson the only available shooting guard.
Denver comes to the Peake 1-0 after a win over Detroit in its home opener Thursday night. The Nuggets have flown under the radar so far this offseason, but this team has talent and depth to burn. Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo spear head Denver’s attack, and will put even more pressure on Roberson and Telfair to defend without fouling.
If the Thunder is going to stay afloat tonight and moving forward it starts with Serge Ibaka. On both ends it’s time for Serge to take his next jump. Through two games Serge is averaging 16 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes. With his usage rate set to spike without Westbrook and Durant, Ibaka’s time is now.
And how about Perry Jones? When the dust of Thursday night’s utter madness had settled Perry Jones had poured in a career-high 32 points on 17 shots (58.8 percent) and added seven rebounds. Jones’ usage rate of 30.3 was a career-high and had an offensive rating of 120.8. Jones will continue to get opportunity there’s no question about that, but some consistency over these few weeks would do this team some good.
PS: That was the weirdest Thunder game ever right? My fourth-quarter emotions went something like this… “Russell’s out it’s just a matter of time”, “Do the Clippers want to win?”, “Oh my gosh it’s a single digit game halfway through the fourth”, “Hey it’s a four point game! Nice shot Serge!”, “OH MY GOSH TELFAIR… *hysterically laughing”, to then.. “Oh yea, Russell’s out. It was just a matter of time”.
I couldn’t decide whether I was allowed to be frustrated because we lost a close one or if I was supposed to feel ok because they hung in with the Clippers without the A team. It was weird, and close 1 a.m… Can’t remember a stranger game.
3 Big Things
1. Defense. Stop me if you’ve heard this before, but this has to be the Thunder’s calling card moving forward. Thursday night against the Clippers the defense played well, and gave Oklahoma City a shot (literally) to extend and possibly win the game. They’ll need more efforts like this one. Or this one.
2. Rebounding: Again with the Deja Vu, but this team has Kenneth Faried. If you watched Team USA this summer you know this guy is not just a reckless, high-motor type player — this guy has serious skill and a basketball IQ that seems to increase by the quarter. Serge has his hands full tonight keeping this guy off the glass.
3. Steven Adams: Adams has shown all of the skill and speed that we’ve come to love from him, including a growing imagination from the high-post, but this team needs more from him. Defensively Adams is still late getting out to bigs 18-20 feet from the basket resulting in open looks for guys like Lopez, and Griffin. Tonight he gets Mozgov who had 13 points and 11 boards in Denver’s opener against Detroit. It’s time for Adams to show be the player we saw in the preseason — against Denver Adams finished with 15 points in 21 minutes of play, and had 19 points on just nine shots against Dallas in 29 minutes. Funaki Up.
Tip at 7:00 CT. Go All Eight Active Players.
