Spurs vs. Thunder Preview

Written by Kyle Boenitz on Thursday, 01 November 2012 14:19.

The NBA decided not to wait too long to give us a rematch of last year’s Western Conference Finals. The Oklahoma City Thunder open their season tonight in San Antonio against a Spurs team that they sent packing before falling short against the Miami Heat in the Finals.

The Thunder will look a little different this year after trading reigning Sixth Man of the Year James Harden to Houston. In the trade, OKC acquired Jeremy Lamb and Kevin Martin. Lamb will be playing in his first NBA game, so he may not contribute much, but Martin is a decent scorer who could help fill the void left by Harden.

Along with the new cast of characters, the Thunder have a few other guys you may remember. Three-time reigning NBA scoring champ Kevin Durant is surely hungry after losing to the Heat last year and will be coming out of the gates hard hoping to motivate his team for another shot at a title. Along with Durant, the Thunder still have All-Star Russell Westbrook, Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. Even with the loss of Harden, this team is nothing to mess with. They’ll surely want to prove right off the bat that they’re still the best in the West.

For the Spurs, narrowly escaping with a win in New Orleans against the Hornets last night may have some effect on this game. All starters logged at least 30 minutes in a game that went right down to the wire. The Spurs won without Manu Ginobili, who’s been having back problems, and they may have to do it again tonight, as his status is still in question.

Tim Duncan and Tony Parker put on a great show last night, showing they’re still ready to carry this team, but all the Spurs’ role players will have to step up tonight if they want to move to 2-0.

Since the game between the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks has been postponed, the Spurs and Thunder are the only game on the NBA slate tonight. All basketball fans will be tuned in to watch what should be a very exciting matchup.

8 comments

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rtesoro440

Hey, they barely survived against the Hornets. We will see tonight "two games away." Will TD play the kind of game he played against the Hornets tonight? Maybe not with Perkins and Ibaka. Tonight's game will be reconfirmation of the disappearance to Green, Booner and Splitter in the WCFs. With 7 other guards who needs Manu!

ajd21

@rtesoro440 *think

ajd21

@rtesoro440 So what? The lakers are winless and Nash is injured. How do you they laker nation feels??

RG8907

1 Like

it's only the beginning of the season! besides, that Hornets team could challenge the 8th seed, especially since they have Davis, so last night wasn't going to be easy. a win is a win, and there was more good than bad to that game last night. not everything is going to work perfectly in every game. and no, tonight's game does not reconfirm anything yet. last year is last year. Duncan might not repeat his performance from last night, but that's not going to stop him from being effective. i do believe this is going to be a win tonight, and if not, then it's not the end of the world. it's only the 2nd game. adjustments will be made for the next game and so on and so forth. yes, we might still need a little help in the frontcourt, but there's plenty of time to find one, either by trade or on waivers. anyways, one game does not decide the future.

alon5joker

@rtesoro440 Just another troll look at all his other posts on different articles...please get a life

JohnAbney

2 Like

@rtesoro440 can we get tessoro the link to the thunders team blog? he obvious hates the spurs and loves the thunder.......

alon5joker

1 Like

Anyone know if Manu will be playing tonight? Hopefully bench steps up tonight.. yesterdays game was way too close for comfort. We need Manu to fire up the bench

Emicris

1 Like

Spurs by 6 tonight. Go Spurs Go!

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