Los Angeles Lakers vs. Thunder preview (Game 18 of 82)

Posted on November 30, 2023 by Alex Roig

Los Angeles Lakers (11-8, 7th in the West) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (11-6, 4th in the West)
When – Thursday, 30 November 2023 at 7:00pm CST
Where – Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Offensive Rating – LAL: 111.3 (24th) / OKC: 117.0 (8th)
Defensive Rating – LAL: 111.7 (9th) / OKC: 109.4 (5th)
Net Rating – LAL: -0.4 (19th) / OKC: 7.6 (3rd)

The Set-Up

Expectations. The curse of becoming good. The “rebuilding team” narrative that plagued OKC for the past three seasons is now being replaced by the complaining culture when a team isn’t winning every game that it plays. “Josh Giddey doesn’t fit with this team.” “Mark Daigneault doesn’t know how to coach in close games.” “Is Lu Dort an anchor on the offense when he isn’t hitting his 3-point shot?” Et cetera. Et cetera.

But this is the natural progression in the NBA. If you are building through the draft, the progression is usually a couple of seasons of bad basketball, which gives you the young players you need to build off of. Then you have a couple of seasons of figuring out how to win consistently in the regular season (This is where we’re currently at). Then you hopefully have a couple of seasons of playoff experience. Then, if you’re lucky, you become a contender. It’s a process. People look at the finished product that is the Denver Nuggets, but forget that Aaron Gordon is in his 10th season, Nikola Jokic is in his 9th, and Jamal Murray is in his 8th. It takes time and it takes patience.

Season Series: This is the first of four meetings between the Lakers and Thunder this season

Betting Info

Line: OKC -5.5
Spread: O/U 233.5

Injury Report

OKC

None

LAL

Rui Hachimura (nose) – OUT
Jaxson Hayes (elbow) – Questionable
Jarred Vanderbilt (heel) – OUT
Gabe Vincent (knee) – OUT

Three Big Things

Protect the paint – The Lakers are one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league. They are dead last in 3-point attempts and 3-pointers made and are 28th in 3-point percentage. They get most of their points in the paint (49.4%, which is 2nd in the league). This will be a game where Chet Holmgren’s defense may have a huge impact in how the Thunder do.
SGA – The lights normally shine brightest when the Lakers are playing and that’s when SGA shines. Even when the Thunder were rebuilding, the Thunder (and SGA) would usually have great games against the purple and gold.
LeBron – We rarely get to see LeBron in OKC. Over the past few seasons, he’s either been hurt or he’s been “hurt” when the Lakers make their trip to OKC. I’m glad the Thunder are now relevant enough to the King to grace us his presence in OKC.

Denver Nuggets vs. Thunder preview (Game 3 of 82)

Posted on October 28, 2023 by Alex Roig

Denver Nuggets (2-0) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (2-0)
When: Sunday, 29 October 2023 @ 2:30pm CST
Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
Offensive Rating – Den: 114.6 (7th) / OKC: 113.2 (11th)
Defensive Rating – Den: 106.0 (9th) / OKC: 102.5 (7th)
Net Rating – Den: 8.6 (4th) / OKC: 10.7 (3rd)

The Set-Up

The home opener. The Paycom/Chesapeake/Ford Center used to strike fear in the hearts of opponents. Loud City was revered and was a part of the lore of Thunder fandom. But over the past few years, the pandemic did a number on us. Bally Sports did a number on us. And the rebuild did a number on us. Now, when the Paycom is full, it’s usually filled with jerseys of the other team.

It’s understandable. The covid years kept people away from the building. Bally Sports not showing on a lot of cable providers prevented families from developing a bond with this team. And rebuilds naturally keep people away. But last season was a little frustrating for someone who remembers “the good ol’ days”. While the Thunder weren’t necessarily playoff contenders, they were blowing past early season expectations and establishing themselves as one of the teams to watch for the future. The Thunder ranked dead last in attendance last season. But this year is supposed to be different. The Thunder are 2-0 and the expectations are a lot higher than they have been over the past few seasons. The expectations should also be higher for Thunder fans. Sunday afternoon, it’s the Thunder vs. the defending champs in a battle for conference supremacy. Okay, it’s not really that important, but the building should be full. Let’s get this season started off right.

Injury Report

OKC

Jaylin Williams (hamstring)
Kenrich Williams (back)

Denver

Jay Huff (ribs)
Vlatko Cancar (knee)

Three Big Things

Jokic – We’re finally here. When people brought up Chet Holmgren’s kryptonite, names like Joel Embiid and Nikola Jokic always came up. How would Chet defend against these behemoths? These freaks of nature? Well, the time is here. Expect the Thunder to double some, but also expect the Thunder to allow Holmgren to figure it out. There may be some ugly moments, but there may also be some moments of enlightenment.
Pace – The Thunder will want to push the pace in this game. They are currently middle of the road in terms of pace, but they’ve played two teams who love to slow things down. Denver is also one of these teams, but the Thunder will try to turn them over or grab and go as quickly as possible.
Let’s get crazy – I could definitely see coach Daigneault trot out some weird line-ups in this game. Maybe an all bomber line-up with SGA. Maybe a crazy wing-defender line-up with Chet in the middle. Maybe they’ll dust Davis Bertans off and use him. Expect insanity.

Thunder vs. Nuggets Primer (Preseason Game 4)

Posted on October 10, 2017 by Alex Roig

vs.

When: Tuesday, 10 October 2017 at 8:00 pm CST
Where: Pepsi Center, Denver, CO
TV: FSOK
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 930 AM (Spanish))

It’s been kind of a mixed bag when the Big 3 are out there on the court for the Oklahoma City Thunder. In the first three games of the preseason, they have been on the court together for only 20 minutes. They have been joined in large part by Andre Roberson and Steven Adams, but have also seen time with Jerami Grant and Terrance Ferguson. Here are a couple findings via NBAWowy:

In that time frame, they’ve scored 22 points to their opponent’s 17 points.
They were 7/9 from inside the arc, but only 1/5 beyond the arc.
Out of the Big 3, George performed the worst, shooting just 1/4 from the field.
In their time together, Westbrook was the only one of the Big 3 to make an attempt at the rim. George and Anthony took all their shots from the perimeter (16+ feet out) when the Big 3 were together.
Adams and Roberson benefited from the attention being paid to the Big 3, going 3/3 from the field in their attempts.
Their time together led to 8 free throw attempts.

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