Hard to believe the season is twenty games in after tonight. The preseason excitement is gone for many. Golden State is 21-0 and the Thunder are already down eight games in the loss column before the first Monday in December.
Difficult to cling to the notion OKC is a legitimate contender considering how they play defense and finish close games, but still, there’s the hope Durant and Westbrook can create a winning streak and a run of games at some point.
The 7-14 Sacramento Kings in town tonight. A team which gives up just under 110 points a game. A team which is one of the worst defensive teams in the league.
Kings have some name recognition in their top three players with Rudy Gay, Demarcus Cousins, and Rondo. The remainder of the rotations are filled with Marco Belinelli, Omri Casspi, Darren Collison, Kosta Koufos, Ben McLemore, and Willie-Cauley Stein. But in the end–same old Kings. A horrible defensive team.
OKC is 11-8 and the third seed in the West. Under Billy Donovan they have mastered losing close games, having monumental defensive lapses at times, and are still not moving the ball. In essence–all the things he was hired to clean up.
Thing is…when OKC was healthy with Scott Brooks coaching–at least they still won even with the blemishes.
OKC should score whenever they want tonight. Nothing will be learned from this game. The Kings are bad and the Thunder haven’t been able to kick start their season so far.
Hard to be excited about this game.