It’s early in an eighty-two game marathon, but still a big game tonight at the Toyota Center in Houston where the 3-0 OKC Thunder meet the 0-3 Houston Rockets in an early season Western Conference statement game of sorts.
OKC appears to be back with Kevin Durant working his way into form from a foot injury which sidelined him for fifty-five games last season. The Thunder have reeled off three straight wins against the likes of San Antonio, Orlando and Denver. OKC’s offensive efficiency currently ranks second only to the Golden State Warriors. Billy Donovan seems willing to experiment with different lineups and has shown confidence in lineups favoring the presence of Dion Waiters and DJ Augustin when the Thunder go small. Russell Westbrook has been superb. Serge Ibaka, after two so-so performances, got his season untracked last night in an easy win over the Denver Nuggets. Enes Kanter appears comfortable coming off the bench and has provided instant offensive fire power.
Offensively—OKC doesn’t appear much different. Defensively—OKC still is a work in progress, but that was to be expected as the players become more comfortable with Billy Donovan’s philosophy of playing defense from a team standpoint.
OKC enters this game with it’s first 3-0 start to a season since the 2011-12 NBA Finals season. Conversely, Houston which is coming off a Western Conference Finals appearance has stumbled out of the gate going 0-3 against Denver, Golden State and Miami losing each game by twenty points. Last night in Miami — the Rockets blew a nineteen point halftime lead and lost by twenty. James Harden was 2-15 while Dwight Howard was a rest DNP. Terrance Jones and Donatus Motiejunas were both injury scratches. Not surprising Houston ranks near the bottom of the league in both team offensive and defensive efficiency one week into the season.
The addition of Ty Lawson at point guard has yet to show any positives as Houston has been subpar playing on both ends of the floor. Ineffective offensively and porous on the defensive end. Houston playing this bad is a storyline in the NBA after one week into the season. Big game tonight for Houston at home. A loss and they drop to 0-4, a win maybe kick starts their season.
Ask most fans in Oklahoma City which Western Conference team they relish beating the most and the answer usually is Houston. Respectful, heated, rivalries have evolved against both San Antonio and Memphis, but its not an understatement to say Oklahoma City doesn’t like Houston and vice versa. Obviously–some of this stems from the residual of the Harden trade, but much was added to the fire with Patrick Beverly’s questionable play near the scorer’s table which resulted in a post-season ending knee injury for Westbrook, and in a sense, the realistic end of OKC’s title hopes the season after their journey to the NBA Finals.
Big game for both teams as far as claiming Western Conference turf for the marathon journey down the road.