Welcome to Loud City: An SB Nation Community

Navigation: Jump to content areas:


Pro Quality. Fan Perspective.
Login-facebook
New Blog: Cowboy Altitude for Wyoming Fans!

Game 1 Recap: Oklahoma City 102, Sacramento 89

Yahoo! Box Score:

Breaking News! The Thunder are the #1 team in their division, in their conference, and in the NBA. Undefeated, baby!

Well, that was a pretty big win, considering it was again a one-man-team. There was a point in time in the early 3rd quarter that Kevin Martin had literally half of his teams points. Now, that's acceptable early in the game or if you're having an absolutely monster night, but not in the second half of a blowout. In all honesty, nobody but Martin helped to step up and alleviate the scroing draught on the Kings. Cassipi had 18, but he scored most of his points in garbage time.

And that's why we won this game. We turned the ball over a lot and we had some missed opportunities, but when the other team has absolutely no scoring help for their star, they're not going to win a lot of games.

Granted, you could also say that the win was due to our excellent start, and that was also a contributing factor. Once the bar was set at 10 points, the Kings never managed to climb back within that range.

You could also chalk up the win to the excellent play from our starters. Sefolosha struggled as he tried to defend Kevin Martin, but Russell Westbrook had a near triple-double with 14 Points, 7 Rebounds, and 13 Assists, and Krstic, Durant, and Green all hauled in over 20 points. But, if you're going to give the Thunder Wonder award to anyone, you'd have to give it to Russell Westbrook, especially since he limited himself to two turnovers.

Star-divide

For those of you who don't know, my recaps use an award system. The Thunder Wonder is the award for the player with the best overall performance. The Thunder Down Under is the award for the player who was the second best contributor or that simply had a much better than usual night. The Thunder Blunder award is given to the player whose performance is the most detrimental to the team. Lastly, the Thunder Plunderer award is given to the player on the opposing team who hurt us the most. Clever, eh?

Nevertheless, the Thunder Down Under award goes to Nenad Krstic, who had an amazing night of 20 Points and 7 Rebounds. If anything was going to convince Scott Brooks of his starting spot, that would be it. Both Green and Durant had their usual nights, but Jeff Green had an usually high 3 blocks.

There is no question in my mind that Etan Thomas is the Thunder Blunder here. I don't need to list his stats; in fact, I'm not even going to list his stats at all. All I know is that whenever he got the ball in the post, it was almost a guaranteed turnover. Okay, granted, he only has one turnover on the stat sheet, but he had 3 shots blocked, and who knows how many more balls swatted out of his hands that were fortunate enough to land in the hands of teammates. He had one dunk, and believe me, I cheered for him when he finally got that dunk, but this guy has either got to step it up offensively, or pass the ball back out to the perimeter. To be honest, he's reminding me of me and Adonal Foyle on offense. And that's a very, very bad thing.

6725f3456e397d5234d9dc3451189500-getty-90040605lm013_kings_thunder_medium

Kevin Ollie is just as surprised as I am at his poor performance tonight!

I was a bit surprised by the poor play of our bench tonight. James harden had triple singles, which is to be expected for a rookies first game, but Nick Collison had 2 Points, 1 Rebound, and 3 fouls, while Kevin Ollie had 2 Points and 1 turnover. Collison should step it up after this game, but his might should really be a lot better than Etan Thomas', especially when those nights are against the Kings. I'm not really expecting much from Ollie, since he's a journeyman. Whats more puzzling about his performance is why Shaun Livingston never got any minutes. I thought we were in universal agreement that Shaun was being groomed for playing the backup role? Did P.J. Carlesimo take the coaches chair again? It would be great for me if he did, but bad for everybody else. Hopefully Livingston gets some minutes moving forward.

Also of note is the decision to put Kyle Weaver on the Injured Reserve. I have a feeling that will change over the next couple of weeks, but it might just be wishful thinking. Obviously, B.J. Mullens and Ryan Bowen were going to the reserve, but for that third spot, you have to decide between Thomas, Weaver, Ibaka, and White. In all honesty, you only need one of Ibaka or White, and the only reason Thomas is on the roster is because he's getting paid the big bucks. Heck, I'd rather have Weaver on the floor than Ollie at any point of the game. His future Thunder career is looking pretty grim at the moment, but he's just an injury or sloppy performance away from getting on the active roster and having a shot at playing.

There should be no question in anybodies mind that Kevin Martin was the Thunder Plunderer tonight. 27 Points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals speaks for itself. I think the tragedy of this guy is that while he scores in bunches on his own, he doesn't do a whole lot to improve the players around him. It's not necessarily a huge knock on him, but on a team that is struggling and needs some scoring help from other sources, it can't do a lot to help the win column.

9b6f01a1cccc9b495b568366fcd4f82e-getty-90040605lm026_kings_thunder_medium 

Durant and Westbrook "Thundering Up".

As an aside, I'd really like to applaud the Thunder's TV coverage team. I'll be the first to admit that Nenad Krstic saying, "Thunder Up", James Harden saying, "Community", and Jeff Green saying, "Rise Together" was hilarious, and it made no sense. And then when a ball bounces into the middle of an empty gym, and they start dancing like they're in a Space Jam music video, my jaw just dropped. I didn't know what to say. And then, when you had Brian Davis and Grant Long trying to be, "cool" by crossing their arms, I almost died of laughter. But, almost every other station used standard stock music, standard FSN or Comcast graphics, and an overall average looking product. But the Thunder went the extra mile to make their broadcast look presentable, and that all but makes up the horrible coverage they have early last year.

Also, some guy in front of me tonight had a sign that read simply, "Kings Suck". And he didn't just scribble it down, it looked like he spent a good 5-10 minutes on the sign. But why? It's too vulgar to get on TV, it's too simplistic to be of any worth design-wise, and it's stating the obvious. I mean, if he held up a sign that said "Beat the Kings" and it had artistic value or was a free give-away, then it's an acceptable sign to hold. But it wasn't any three of those things, so he might as well have held up a sign that said, "Birds Have Wings".

Next Game: October 30th, 2009 at the Pistons

Can we continue our undefeated run for 82 more games? Hey, anything is possible.

Lastly, apologies for the late recap everyone. I try to make it a point to do the recap on the same night, but I was just so exhausted after a long day that I needed a nights rest before completing this. Thanks for understanding!

0 recs  |  Comment 8 comments  |  Add comment |

Story-email Email Printer Print

Comments

Display:

I was very

impressed with RW0. He could be a triple-double threat every night. 13 assissts/2 TOs is probably the most impressive stat for me,

I know people like to dog Uncle Jeff for being more of an outside player, shooting 3s, rather than a true power forward, but 3 blocks? Come on.

Not impressed with Ollie and Thomas. I know they’re supposed to provide some veteran stability, but I got nothing. In fact, at one point, Thomas seemed a little miffed that Green got one of his rebounds. Stop thinking about your stat line.

by ElectricPencils on Oct 29, 2009 9:11 AM CDT reply actions  

Good review. Good lengthy review.

Also Known as "4D" one step beyond 3D

by daddydai on Oct 29, 2009 9:44 AM CDT reply actions  

thanks for the recap

gonna have to rely on these to get my thunder fix b/c I am not gonna get any Thunder games in H-town, unless they play Houston, and the 1 or 2 games they are on NBATV/ESPN/TNT.

Saw the stat line for the guys it looks like RW has improved, Green looks good at PF, and Krstic looks to be settling in at C.

Would have though White, Weaver, and Livingston would play more, especially given the articles about Brooks talking about those guys specifically and the work they did in the off-season. hopefully we’ll see those 3 more and less of Thomas/Ollie.

by ThunderHorn on Oct 29, 2009 3:50 PM CDT reply actions  

Look at League Pass!!!

If you have digital cable you can watch a few game with their free preview. Which is happening now.

The broadband version also has a free preview, and you watch the games you missed.

Also Known as "4D" one step beyond 3D

by daddydai on Oct 29, 2009 5:41 PM CDT up reply actions  

Nice Recap

Defiantly a good start, although Harden needs more minutes. As far as the Kings go, at this point I would be surprised if K Mart didn’t finish the season with at least an average of +28-30 ppg. Thompson might be ok, and Evens will be on again off again, but they really just don’t have enough scorers.

Also, I think technically Celtics are number one in the league at 2-0 and their game finished earlier.

by Jason Frost on Oct 29, 2009 8:15 PM CDT reply actions  

Sac

I like what I’ve seen from the Omari Casspi rookie, think he is going to make an above average pro.

by rickpidero on Oct 29, 2009 9:00 PM CDT up reply actions  

Boo to him.

Nearly all of his point came in the late 3rd and early 4th quarters. In other words, they came in garbage time. When he played earlier in the game and the Thunder were really trying, he was completely shut out. He’s mostly just a shooter, and I’m not too high on the guy.

Tony.psd = Da Man
Manger of Welcome to Loud City
#1 Warriors and Thunder Fan

by Zorgon on Oct 30, 2009 6:07 AM CDT up reply actions  


User Tools

Your SB Nation source for everything you could possibly want to know about the Oklahoma City Thunder. Quote to live by: "After all, one century's magic, another century's science. They thought Columbus was a nut job, right?"
Start posting about the Thunder »

Join SB Nation and dive into communities focused on all your favorite teams.

Connect_with_facebook

FanPosts

Community blog posts and discussion.

Recent FanPosts

Small
My Tibor Pleiss scouting report
Small
I am a Magic fan but I am just wondering
Lakers_627_071230_small
Four games announced
Small
Next years minute distribution and production levels
Small
Blazers got Cho...farewell.
Me_as_a_simpson_small
Should I Root For Your Team?
Bears-attacking-peyton-manning_small
Does LeBron's "Decision" actually make Durant the better man?
Small
Day 2: Live Summer League Stream
Small
Josh Smith
Small
Live Summer League Stream

+ New FanPost All FanPosts >

Follow WTLC on Twitter

Twitter-3_medium

Follow WTLC on Facebook

Facebook_medium

50 - 32

3

Lost 2

0

Northwest Standings

W L PCT GB STRK
Denver 53 29 .646 0 Lost 1
Utah 53 29 .646 0 Lost 4
Oklahoma City 50 32 .609 3 Lost 2
Portland 50 32 .609 3 Lost 2
Minnesota 15 67 .182 38 Lost 7

(updated 9.2.2010 at 4:09 PM CDT)

Loud City - Bring The Thunder (Rafter Banner)

Rafterbannersmall_medium

SBNation.com Recent Stories

NEW YORK CITY NY - AUGUST 12:  Kevin Durant #5 looks on during the World Basketball Festival USAB Showcase at Radio City Music Hall on August 12 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Chris Trotman/Getty Images for Nike) +4 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Routs Iran 88-51, Clinches Top Spot In Group B

Cleveland Cavaliers' Delonte West, right, shoot over Indiana Pacers' Jeff Foster in the first half of a NBA basketball game in Indianapolis, Monday, April 13, 2009.  (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) link

Celtics Sign Free Agent Delonte West

Rose +2 updates

FIBA World Championships 2010: Team USA Ekes Out 70-68 Win Over Brazil

More from SBNation.com >


Founders/Partners

Zorgonwebpinawesome_small Zorgon

Alec_guiness_small okluschen

Logo300x300_small okcthundercast

Community Manager

Blackbluelogo2_small daddydai

Contributing Writers

Threeofus_small gforce

Green_small illfreaky911

Hallofthegods_small Spencer Pan

Reffeet_small freelantz