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Thunder Full-Court Report: First Two Weeks of the 2013-14 NBA season

Alex takes a look at the first two weeks of the season for the OKC Thunder.

Rookie Steven Adams says, "No, no, no!"
Rookie Steven Adams says, "No, no, no!"
Brett Deering

There weren't very many teams seasons that started as crazy as the Thunder's did. First, the Thunder beat the Utah Jazz in their season opener.. barely. The final score to that game was 101-98, in a not-so impressive performance from the team besides star Kevin Durant, who put up 42 points. So many questions arose from the media, writers, and everyone in between, including me. I thought a couple things to myself after watching that game, and those were, "Are the Thunder going to miss Russ (Westbrook) this much?" along with, "Is Utah actually going to be relatively good?" and, "Do we even have a bench?"

Two days later, the Thunder went to Minneapolis and took on former sixth-man Kevin Martin and his Timberwolves. The outcome was not exactly what any Thunder fans or myself expected, as the Thunder just got smacked around with the final score being 100-81, and Kevin Love showing what we have been missing out on since injuries started hitting him hard. He had 24 points and 12 rebounds. For the Thunder, who seemed like our only hope, Kevin Durant, only scored 13 points in the loss. Off of the bench, Jeremy Lamb scored a nice garbage time 16 along with four rebounds.

Within the next couple of games, my questions were answered. Russell Westbrook, who was supposed to miss several months, was back for the home opener against the Suns. Without any hesitation, Coach Scott Brooks made no hesitation in putting Westbrook to work in his first game back since the Playoffs. Russ dropped 21 points and cashed in seven dimes in 33 minutes.

Since Westbrook has come back, the Thunder have yet to drop a game. They currently sit at 5-1, after beating the Wizards on Sunday night. Now, answering my other questions.

"Do we have a bench?"

Reggie Jackson has been asked to step up a whole lot, ever since Russell Westbrook was injured. He holds the record for the most points ever scored in an Orlando Summer League Game from this past summer, and he is currently avereraging 8.0 PPG along with 4.6 APG. He is now coming off of the bench. Big man Nick Collison is averaging 17.6 MPG along with 6.0 PPG. Jeremy Lamb is coming off of the bench every single game, and he looks FANTASTIC. With 10.2 PPG in only 18.0 MPG, he looks like a new player from last season. Rookie Steven Adams is still trying to get into the swing of things, and he did great at that last week against the Dallas Mavericks. He put up his first career double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Otherwise, Adams is averaging 7.0 PPG. Lastly, Perry Jones III, the 2012 first round pick is not doing great, but he is contributing 3.0 PPG off of the bench.

"Are the Jazz going to be good?"

I'll make this one short and sweet. The only team without a win currently, is the Utah Jazz, sitting at 0-7. They also have the worst point differential in the NBA at -13.

As of now, the Thunder are off to a loud start. Can Loud City stay atop the Western Conference with the Spurs?