Orlando Magic visiting the Thunder tonight in the final prerequisite game before the much anticipated track meet at Golden State on Saturday night.
OKC and Orlando met earlier in the year in a classic game in which the Thunder made a miraculous comeback highlighted by a Westbrook half court heave and some great shot making by Magic guard Victor Oladipo. OKC finally escaped with a pulsating 139-136 double overtime win in a game which became a Thunder instant classic. It was clearly a classic regular season game where your relatives and friends were calling or texting during the final minutes asking, “Are you believing this game?” I’m guessing Brian Davis peed on himself at least twice coming down the stretch. It was a great last twenty minutes of ball.
Magic come in tonight a pedestrian 21-26 and have fallen back in the standings after a promising start to the season. Orlando currently sits as the 11th seed in the East.
Like many teams in the East, Orlando has some nice young talent, but still a star player away from being a serious playoff contender considering the plethora of good to medium level teams in the East this season.
I’d prefer not to talk about the rumor-story circulating about Durant possibly going to Golden State in free agency. That would not only be depressing from a Thunder standpoint, but from a league standpoint as well. Golden State is the last team in the league which needs Kevin Durant. Jim Myers, Jerry West, lighten up. You’ve made your point already. You have a potential dynasty, except you didn’t trade part of it to the Houston Rockets.
Thunder come in tonight at 37-13 and 4-0 so far with the Dion Waiters starting experiment starting to get some traction from most smart B-ball people except some of the Daily Thunder analytic youngsters who all find themselves trailing yours truly in the prestigious Daily Thunder Western Conference Regular Season Seeding Championship.
Some nice play by the Thunder in their last two games as the roster as a whole has stepped up and shown some energy, passion, and overall caring.
OKC needs to take care of this Magic team, play sharp, play crisp, and don’t get anybody nicked up tonight before heading out west to play the defending champion Warriors who are already 45-4 without Kevin Durant.
OKC is 34-9 with Durant, and my hope is the Durant to Golden State story circulating is just one of many false stories which should come rolling along as the season moves towards summer. I mean, the Warriors already have Steph Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, and Harrison Barnes.
I can’t help it—I’m already thinking about Golden State this Saturday myself and wondering if Billy Donovan is going to stick with Adams and Serge together–or come out small.
Hope the Thunder are more focused on the Magic than I am, because the game every fan in the NBA has been wanting to see is in the on deck circle.
Haven’t seen the Vegas line, but I’ll go OKC -13 tonight.