Thunder vs Pistons 2018 pre-season game 1: George, Adams look to start off things right

Game: Detroit Pistons vs Oklahoma City Thunder

Time: 7PM CST

Location: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City

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The Thunder, after having rocked through an incredible and well documented off-season, finally take the court for real. Sort-of. They welcome the Detroit Pistons to the Peake to start what should be a new era of Bad Boy Basketball. Detroit, after having said goodbye to Stan Van Gundy, have a new sheriff in town in last year’s NBA Coach of the Year Dwane Casey. As you may know, Casey was fired from his head coaching job in Toronto days after winning the award, so he looks to renew himself and Detroit heading into this season.

As we know from experience, we shouldn’t expect too much from pre-season games. That said, there are always situational observations we can make toward how the Thunder might approach the upcoming season. While Russell Westbrook and Andre Roberson are definitely out and Paul George is listed as out for personal reasons, OKC will rely on newly acquired Dennis Schroder to run the Thunder offense.

What is interesting about Schroder in this particular matchup is he bears a striking resemblance in more ways than one to Detroit’s point guard Reggie Jackson. Jackson notoriously pouted his way out of OKC to move to Detroit (all hail Enes Kanter and his nips), and ever since has been trying to prove he’s a legitimate starting NBA point guard.

Meanwhile, be on the lookout for the offensive style OKC attempts to implement a year after the grand Carmelo experiment didn’t quite pan out as planned.

What will you be looking for? Join in the comments below!