AP Photo/Steve Yeater
And the award for weirdest game of the season goes to… this one.
First things first – after getting a nasty cut over his right eye that required five stitches, Russell Westbrook absolutely owned the fourth quarter. He scored 13 of his 21 in crunch time and basically shouldered his team, leading Oklahoma City to a 108-102 win over Sacramento. But on to the strange stuff. Read more…
vs. 
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.5 (18th), Kings – 105.8 (20th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.0 (5th), Kings – 110.4 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.9 (14th), Kings – 94.3 (6th)
View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom
This game is dangerous. Absolutely, in every way possible, a trap game. The Kings played Oklahoma City tough five days ago at the Ford Center and they did it by scoring almost at will. And at Arco Arena, they are a scary team. They’re 15-14 at home and have beat a good number of solid teams there, including the Thunder once earlier this year. Read more…
Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images
This game secretly worried me. A big tilt against Denver was on the horizon, the Kings aren’t a marquee opponent and the Thunder had cruised fairly easily in their last two. There was a lot of reason to come out unfocused, uninspired and unready.
And they were guilty of all three. On one end, at least.
The Thunder didn’t bring the calling-card defensive intensity they’ve become known for tonight, allowing the Kings to 107 points on 54 percent shooting. But the offense was clicking once again, keyed by Russell Westbrook’s 30 points and 13 assists and Kevin Durant’s 39 points, as Oklahoma City squeaked one out, 113-107.
There are multiple things to be flustered about from this one if you’re a Thunder fan. The aforementioned defense. The absolute stinker the Thunder bench turned in (15 points, 10 rebounds total). The lapse in focus at times. But the good news is, it’s a win. And when you’re battling for a playoff spot and now playoff seeding, just winning is kind of sort of good enough. OKC didn’t play its best game – far, far from it – but the Thunder had more points than the other guy when the clock read zero and that’s what matters. Read more…
vs. 
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.4 (16th), Kings – 105.6 (20th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.7 (3rd), Kings – 110.3 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.8 (14th), Kings – 94.6 (6th)
View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom
We don’t pile into the Ford Center so much anymore to catch a glimpse of a star, but more to see our Thunder in action. And I definitely prefer it that way. But there are certainly some can’t miss guys still. LeBron. Kobe. Wade. Dwight Howard. And while Tyreke Evans isn’t a superstar (yet) in the mold of LeBron or Kobe, he is absolutely a player you need to admire live. His speed, his size, his ability – everything about his game is fairly breathtaking in person. Seeing Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green is plenty to get me to pay the price of admission, but Tyreke Evans is certainly added incentive. Read more…
(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
See, this is exactly what I was afraid of.
For some reason, something didn’t feel right heading into this game. Maybe it was because the Thunder was coming off a cakewalk against Orlando. Maybe it’s because it was on the road. Or maybe it was because the Kings have been playing better. Whatever it was, it just didn’t feel like a lock. Really, at this point, nothing does for this team.
Regardless of playing a pretty poo poo game, Oklahoma City had a shot to tie it in the end, with a Kevin Durant 3 falling short as the Thunder (3-4) lost 101-98 to Sacramento (4-4). It looks like a bad loss and in some ways it is. The Thunder was outrebounded by 15. At one point missed nine straight shots and went seven-plus minutes without a bucket. Shot under 40 percent. Missed a couple key free throws. And Tyreke Evans banked in a lucky jumper that basically broke OKC’s back. One of those nights.
Sure, they’re better. That much is clear. But we can’t forget this is a group with an average age of 24 and these nights are going to happen. If you expected a team that was going to be focused 82 nights and never lose to teams it shouldn’t, well, then you were expecting too much. The Thunder are a good team. They really are. But they aren’t ready to hit it every single night and win everything they should. Just aren’t. Read more…
vs. 
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, Tulsa Cox 27, HD 722; DirectTV 679, AT&T U-Verse 753)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 9:00 CST
View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 102.0 (23rd), Kings – 110.0 (7th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 97.2 (4th), Kings – 112.4 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 90.1 (27th), Kings – 93.6 (12th)
After starting 0-3 and one of those losses at the hands of the Thunder, the Kings are trying to win a third straight tonight. Granted, the last win was against the lowly Warriors, but winning in Salt Lake City is nothing to dismiss. The Kings are improving and are already a better team than what Oklahoma City saw opening night.
And now there’s no Kevin Martin, the only reason Sacramento was even remotely close in the first meeting. And you know what? That scares me. Read more…
(AP Photo/Alonzo Adams)
Well honestly, I’m not sure that could have gone much better.
Oklahoma City’s starting five poured in 91 of the Thunder’s 102 points, as OKC rolled Sacramento 102-89 to open the season 1-0. Which also means we’re enjoying the first winning record in Thunder history.
Now, now before we get ahead of ourselves here we must understand this was a stinky Kings squad. And it’s just one game. Nobody should start dreaming of playoffs or a .500 record or anything like that. Yet.
Yes, everything went very well. If you scripted this out, I’m not sure it would’ve gone this well. OKC started with great energy, basically burying the Kings early. The Thunder outscored Sacto 39-22 in the first and really never looked back. The closest the Kings really got was the 13 they lost by when OKC had scaled everything back. Offensively, the Thunder looked near unstoppable. Weapons everywhere, points from everywhere and crisp, clean ball movement.
Russell Westbrook looked like an absolute STAR going for 14 points on 7-12 shooting, 13 assists, seven boards and just two turnovers. If this happens all season then maybe we can start getting ahead of ourselves. The new and awesomely improved Westbrook was something else. He played with his usual fire and energy, but really harnessed it. He just sees the court and plays so much better. A perfect example among many: the bounce pass to KD for a dunk late in the second quarter. He read everything perfectly and instead of jumping and getting caught mid-air and trying to force it to Durant, he slowed down and made a smart but decisive one-handed bounce pass. That play really summed it all up for me. Westbrook is a new player. A new and much, much better player. And he was pretty good to start with. Read more…
vs. 
TV: Thunder TV – KSBI 52 (Cox 15, Tulsa Cox 3, HD 715)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CDT
View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (29th), Sacramento – 105.5 (25th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 109.4 (20th), Sacramento – 114.7 (30th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.6 (8th), Sacramento – 94.2 (7th)
And. Here. We. Go. (waves hand)
Basketball! Basketball! Basketbawwwwwwl!!!! We’ve waited six months for this night. We feel good about our squad and there is a good chance to start out 1-0. A less than awesome Sacto Kings team comes to town and if this Thunder team is going to improve the way we think it is, a win should happen this evening. Read more…
At least this one didn’t count. Wait, didn’t I just say that two nights ago?
The Kings walloped Oklahoma City 104-89 and it wasn’t even that close. The Thunder shot poorly from everywhere and didn’t play that great of defense. But we’ll just tell ourselves it’s because the starters didn’t play much. Jeff Green played just 22 minutes. Kevin Durant 26. Russell Westbrook only 14. We saw a lot of Serge Ibaka, James Harden and Etan Thomas, especially in the second half. Which is fine by me. We know who the first five are. We just need to figure out the next.
I’m not worried by anything I saw honestly. Sure it was ugly, but these guys are sick of this. They’re ready to play for real. This was the last go-through-the-motions meaningless game and I don’t think they cared a ton. OKC plays this same team in just five days so it’s not like Scott Brooks was going to go all out and try and get a win tonight. Of course you’d love to see a better effort, but I just saw the whole night as very meh and a chance for some late rotation guys to maybe prove themselves a bit. Read more…
vs. 
TV: None
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Stream: None
Time: 7:00 CDT
View from the enemy: Cowbell Kingdom
Finally, we can be done with these meaningless, pointless games. I want to lose for real! (Or win…)
Kevin Durant played 35 minutes in Austin Tuesday night, Russell Westbrook saw extended minutes and Jeff Green played a solid amount. I’d bet that all three of their minutes are cut down somewhat tonight. Darnell Mayberry presumes that we’ll likely see no strange lineups and the actual rotation tonight, but for how long? I don’t really know what to expect since there are six days off before the opener. Read more…
No. 6: Thunder comes up short on Super Sunday in Sacramento
I must admit, this game was kind of boring. It was at like two in the afternoon, nobody was there and it was between two bad teams. But it was just a really good game. Two great scorers went head-to-head as Kevin Durant scored 33 and Kevin Martin had 37 for the Kings. Russell Westbrook got to the line 22 times as he scored 34, assisted eight times and had six rebounds. Oh, and Uncle Jeff tossed in 28 and 13. Read more…
