1. I’m currently sitting on my couch as I type this. 182 days I sat in this exact spot just minutes after Damian Lillard waved goodbye to our season. Little did I know he was also waving goodbye to the Thunder as we knew them. One thing I’ve expressed since it all went down this off-season is that I looked forward to watching the Thunder with a bit less consternation. There was so much pressure in the previous 7-8 seasons that it often felt burdensome as a fan. Wins often eliciting more relief than joy. Losses eliciting mass frustration and anger. There has been a certain peace leading up to this season for me. A calm if you will. Pressure is down, expectations are lower, something new is starting. The night to night results matter less than now than the macro effects of those results. Trouble is, once the ball goes up, that peace sort of goes out the window. There is a line in the sand in sports: winning and losing. As a fan, when I don’t care who wins or loses? Well, that’s often when I don’t bother to even watch. So I found myself tonight feeling many of the same emotions I felt last time I sat n this couch to watch the Thunder. Granted, it was on a much lighter scale given the circumstances, but they were there nonetheless. Down the stretch I found myself grimacing and sighing a few times. When O’Neal hit that big three I even muttered an expletive. Now, this isn’t a “big” loss or “bad” loss or anything like that at all. As a matter of fact, tonight was almost certainly more positive than negative, but it’s sort of nice to know that the same feelings are there. It’s also a little scary.

2. Fun game. Mostly encouraging. The first quarter the Thunder were totally deer in headlights on offense. I’m not sure what was going on there, but I’ll chalk it up to opening night rust/jitters. Luckily, the Jazz weren’t a whole lot better and the lead wasn’t extended to an insurmountable amount. The explosion in the middle of the game from SGA was niiiice. He had a run there where the Jazz couldn’t touch him. He is clearly highly skilled and has a scorer’s mentality. I know he is listed as a point guard, but when I watch him I see a guy that WANTS to score and knows how to do it. He has the size to play either position and with the way the league is trending, I’m not sure it really matters anyway. This is why I think a CP3/SGA combo can work just fine without hindering the development of SGA at all. Plus, he will have plenty of opportunities this year to be on the floor when CP3 sits. Playing alongside one of the best/smartest/most crafty point guards the league has seen will only be beneficial to SGA. That duo worked extremely well tonight– and it worked against an excellent defensive team with the best rim protector in the NBA. I’m excited to see more of it.

3. Absolutely brutal night from Adams. Yikes. Hate to say it, but he probably cost them the game. Dennis wasn’t good at all either, but he’s less important game to game than Adams. Thunder need Steve to be consistently productive. He battled Gobert like he always does and was pretty good on the glass (especially late in the game), but he was dreadful on the offensive end. He isn’t going to get as many clean opportunities against Utah as he will against other teams, so it is even more imperative that he cashes in when he does get the ball around the rim. The misses around the rim hurt and the 1-5 from the free throw line really killed them, especially considering three of those misses came in crucial spots. Very bad opening night for Adams. That said, I think it was just that– one bad night and I’m not worried. I AM worried about TFerg. My biggest issue with him has always been that he is far too quiet. Not sure I’ve ever seen a guy get 20+ minutes in a game and register such little impact so consistently. Last year I often chalked that up to struggling with figuring out how to play with two ball dominant players. Tonight makes no sense though. I don’t think you can blame it on scheme or teammates either. It’s not like they are running plays for Diallo either, but he finds way to impact the game. On top of that, TFerg also was assigned to Mitchell (a tough task no doubt) and he wasn’t able to slow him down. So, if you are literally doing NOTHING on the offensive end and you aren’t able to be a defensive stopper either, what exactly is your function? I wouldn’t be so harsh about this if it wasn’t something we’ve already seen in the past. You could see very clearly tonight where Andre can figure on this team– as soon as he’s ready, he would be my fifth starter.

4. Good effort tonight and an enjoyable way to kick off the season. Some missed opportunities in the fourth quarter and a strong night from Mitchell ultimately doomed them. Certainly a loss you can live with. I think what impressed me the most was that the Thunder didn’t seem to be wildly over-achieving to be in that game late. Kind of look like two equal teams out there. Now factor in that many consider Utah a legit contender in the West and that’s potentially encouraging. It’s also game 1 of 82 and it may not mean jack squat. I do know that if the Thunder have any designs on being in a race this year that they absolutely must win games like the one coming up Friday at home against the Wizards. 182 days later and I still care. Glad to be back.

Nick Gallo (OKCThunder.com) recaps the Thunder’s win last night, focusing on their dominance in the paint: “All season long the Thunder’s priority defensively has been to contest well at the three-point line and force opponents to make tough shots over length on the move inside the arc. Tonight that strategy worked nearly to perfection. Cleveland may have knocked down 9 threes, but only attempted 23 for the game. Down low, the Thunder blocked 11 shots and forced the Cavaliers into 16-of-43 shooting (37.2 percent) in the paint.”

Royce Young (ESPN) on Russell Westbrook tying Jason Kidd for 3rd all-time in career triple-doubles: “Westbrook recorded his second consecutive triple-double and his third of the season, and he now trails only Oscar Robertson (181) and Magic Johnson (138) on the all-time list. To match Kidd, Westbrook needed just 760 games as compared to 1,247 for Kidd.” Continue reading →

On Episode 34 of the NTTB podcast, we discuss the following topics:

• Reviewing the Thunder’s draft
• Scouting reports on Hamidou Diallo, Devon Hall, and Kevin Hervey
• Melo opting into his $28 million salary
• Paul George’s upcoming free agency decision
• ESPN’s mini docu-series on PG’s decison
• NBA Awards Show
• Enes Kanter
• NBA Trades

Intro/Outro music provided by OSC Productions

Thank you for listening. We will be doing a podcast once a week. If you have any Thunder or NBA related questions, make sure you hit us up on Twitter (@alexroig_NTTB or @Montero_A13).

We are on ITunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, and Tune In under the NTTB Podcast. Make sure you leave us a 5-star review if you can. As always, Thunder Up!

https://www.buzzsprout.com/111153/737100-episode-34-not-a-chicken-spring.js?player=small