Game Preview #8: OKC Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 8:20 AM CST in Game Previews

We cleared an important hurdle by beating the Mavs in convincing fashion and got just a wee taste of delicious revenge as a bonus. The Oklahoma City Thunder pose a test of a different sort. Now is no time to let up. If we win this one, we have our first 3-game winning streak of the young season. I'm ready for it--you're ready for it--are the Spurs ready for it?

Hell yeah!

That's the spirit, Cubits. Timmy, hug the basketball, and let's make the jump. Oh, that's right . . . you can't. How insensitive of me. Well, just hug the basketball, then, and let some of these new guys carry that weight for a while.

Still the man.

To commemorate our recent spate of un-Spurlike ferocious dunks from sources both likely and not, in which the funk was most definitely not faked, I give you the following musical selection to read by. As far as the accompanying video images, I, ah, well . . . I apologize. A little bit.

Let's talk about the elephant in the room first, shall we? I've made no secret of my admiration for one Kevin Durant. Are my allegiances divided for this game? Will I be publicly cheering for the Spurs while giving furtive fist pumps every time KD's shot drops? Let me put your mind at ease.

There will be nothing furtive about my fist pumps for Durant. 'Cause that kid lives up to every bit of the hype and still has that killer instinct, the kind that fame cannot extinguish.
I will be rooting for the Spurs every inch of the way.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself. (I contain multitudes.)

ANYway. I got these cookies for my housemate the other day just because they had such a great name. Sadly, they didn't live up to the promise, but they did end up serving another purpose:

"Cowboy Thunderclusters!" How marvelous is that?

We've always been a bit irked by the name "Thunder" for a basketball team (what is this, arena football?) and wished that OKC had chosen a more tangible name. Something you can at least quantify, for god's sake.

In our house, they are forever more the Oklahoma City Cowboy Thunderclusters.

Oklahoma City Thunder @ San Antonio Spurs
Where: AT&T Center - San Antonio, TX
When: November 14, 2009, 7:30 PM Spurs time
Watch: My35 HD (San Antonio); NBA League Pass (Everywhere else)

How They Stack Up


4-0	Home	2-2
0-3	Road	2-2
102.4	Offense	92.8
99.7	Defense	89.4
46.4	FG%	44.2
36.9	3-pt%	33.6
71.7	FT%	78.1
40.4	Rebounds	41.1
11.6	TOs	15.8
4-3	Last 10	4-4
Won 2	Streak	Won 1
3rd, Southwest	Position	3rd, Northwest


Country/Time Zone	Game Time
Argentina	10:30 PM
West Coast	5:30 PM
Philippines	9:30 AM
Central Europe	2:30 AM
Palestine/Egypt	2:30 AM
Least Coast	8:30 PM
Colorado/Furnace of Hell	6:30 PM
Perth, AUS	8:30 AM
Tokyo, JP	9:30 AM
Sydney, AUS	11:30 AM

Spurs (4-3)	Matchups	Thunder (4-4)
George Hill Sir Hotbod Handsomeface	Point Guard This is going to be a LONG matchup. Literally. Both these guys have tremendous wingspans, and are two of the best defensive PGs in the league. Westbrook has made considerable strides this season, but you can say the same thing for George. I'll give Russ the slightest of edges just because he plays more minutes, and he's a big-ass PG who will look to push Cubits around. Advantage: Thunder	Russell Westbrook Albatross Clone

Keith Bogans Surprise Package	Shooting Guard Again, it's another defense-centric matchup. Thabo is more athletic but Bogans is the wily veteran. We'll see who among these two can make the bigger impact in the game. Advantage: No one	Thabo Sefolosha Swiss Cheese

Richard Jefferson Debbie Dunker	Small Forward RJ showed he's capable of guarding KD when these two teams met during the preseason. But that's what it was, preseason. It will be fun to see these guys going at it on the offensive end of the floor. Advantage: Tied	Kevin Durant Durantula

Tim Duncan Grounded Hog Day	Power Forward Pop said either Tony or Tim will play in tonight's game. Let's go with Duncan. While he can't jump to save Pop's beard from getting shaved these days, the fundamentals will still be in full effect. Advantage: Spurs	Jeff Green Steady Eddie

Matt Bonner Clutch Bag	Center Forget about Krstic. Matt Bonner has definitely earned his ATS white box for the past two games. Advantage: Spurs	Nenad Krstic Yugoslavian Yoohoo

Manu Ginobili La Enfermedad	Bench & Role Players I've never seen a bigger disparity in terms of bench depth. Spurs all the way. Advantage: Spurs	James Harden Seasoned Rookie

Gregg Popovich Wino	Coach Scott Brooks and GM Sam Presti have really done a good job in slowly building up the OKC franchise, but they just took after their mentors, Pop and R.C. Advantage: Spurs	Scott Brooks Promising Coach
	images via yahoo.com

	Other Factors
Intangibles
We just came off a great victory against in-state rivals and playoff team Dallas, and the coaching staff is slowly discovering the gifts of one Richard Jefferson. Still, the Thunder have beaten the Spurs before and I'm pretty sure the Spurs coaching staff are aware of the dangers Durant and Co. pose. Advantage: Spurs
Mojo
Either Tim or Tony will most likely return to give us a huge boost. Getting our defensive mojo back the last timeout also helps. Advantage: Spurs
Winner: Spurs
I respect OKC, but hopefully we'll put the game away early so our older statesmen can get some rest before the upcoming road trip. Prediction: Spurs by 15

Keys To The Game

Make KD work - He'll score a bunch and make crazy wild shots, but RJ has to body him up and give him tough looks all through out.
Bench Production - We have a huuuuge advantage in this department, and herein lies the key if we are going to blow this game apart early. An early end would also allow us to see Hairston and/or Haislip get some minutes.
Keep up the Energy - Usually, big wins tend to drain some of the life out of a team. The Thunder are young, incredibly long and active, and it's important we match their energy on both ends of the floor and forget about our last victory.

Strength of Schedule

OKC is starting the front end of a SEGABABA after coming off a three-day break from a narrow road win over B-Diddy and the Clips. They'll finish their home-and-home against the Clippers (again) to complete the SEGABABA.

The Spurs had three days rest after that win over the Mavs, and the extended rest definitely helps our injured guys. The Silver and Black get another long-ass, four-day vacation before completing the second of their four-parter against the Mavs, this time in Dallas.

After that, the home-friendly first half of our season schedule resumes with a four-game homestand.

Last Time They Met

We handled the Thunder pretty well in a preseason game played in Austin where the Spurs went bananas from the three-point line, shooting 14-19 for a 113-96 victory. FinDog made Wayne proud by racking up 20 points, going 5-5 from long distance.

Some Other Reading

Thunder

Welcome to Loud City - The OKC Cowboy Thunderclusters SB Nation site is under new management. So far they're doing a great job.
The Daily Thunder - Part of the TrueHoop network. Royce Young and Joe Newell run this blog, and they are both a pleasure to read.
OKC ThunderCast - This is actually other listening, not reading. The ThunderCast crew produce snappy and insightful podcasts about their young NBA team.

Spurs

48 Minutes of Hell Graydon and Timothy run not just a great Spurs blog, but one of the best basketball blogs, period, out there on the Intertubes.
Project Spurs: Lots of content in this great site. Also, you can drop by and join their live chats during games.

The (sort of) Daily Twitter

George_Hill3 Traffic sucks in SA who else thinks that!!!!! LOL http://twitpic.com/pevwa

YaoMing George Bush (the father) lives in Houston. He gave me his book "China Diary" from his time there. It's good. My first English book to read.

DeJuan45 Wish I went to the Pitt game 2 cheer them on they will b great it's the begining and they have a wonderful team and staff the will b great!!

manuginobili Great win by the Kings, 4 in a row! Udoka is unbeaten! Happy for Ime (and Chapu).

tp9network Hello. You can read my interview on my website http://en.tp9.net/. See you ! Bonjour. Vous pouvez retrouver mon... http://bit.ly/39loVN

Some Other Viewing

This commercial is a classic. Brilliant concept; perfect execution. I keep wanting KD to take off that Seattle jersey to reveal an OKC one, though.

If you liked the snippet of music in that commercial, here's the entire track from the criminally obscure artist Buck 65--"Jaws of Life."

The Ross Sisters perform "Solid Potato Salad," 1944. Wow, they really were the Greatest Generation. (Stick with this one past the 60 second mark.)

Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No: If you view only one video clip today, make it this one.

More about Dock Ellis, one of the great characters in sports history.

Oli Lemieix of Cirque du Soleil demonstrates insane, unearthly trampoline skills to completely unsuitable music.

Where to Tune In

TV

This game will be televised locally in San Antonio on My35, KMYS.

Online

As always, NBA League Pass is recommended for those willing to pony up the cash. Almost every Spurs game will be broadcast there, which is especially helpful for those of us who aren't in the San Antonio area.

Please don't post links to illegal game feeds in the game thread. Links to illegal feeds are not permitted on SBNation, but you can probably find them out there on the internets if you're resourceful and desperate. In fact, nobody can stop you from googling "atdhe". You can also shoot an email to dmenendez@gmail.com for more assistance.

Spurs League Pass audio is still free this year if all else fails, so check it out.

Radio

If you're in the San Antonio area and aren't near a TV, tune in to WOAI (1200 AM).

Finally, a big thanks to the Good Samaritan who jumped in and finished this preview. I was feeling like crap last night and woke up this morning with a migraine, dreading the task ahead, only to find that the Game Preview Fairy had come in the night and worked his or her magic. Any actual basketball-related insight and useful content found here is thanks to _________.

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Comments

3 days rest

never seems to translate very well for young and hungry teams because they seem to lose their momentum.

Thus the wily veteran defense of the Spurs should triumph. This team has a lot less offensive firepower than the Mavs.

Evey- "Are you a crazy person?"
V- "I'm quite sure they'll say so."
V for Vendetta, blowing your mind away since 2005.

by KA1Z3R on Nov 14, 2009 9:19 AM CST reply actions

Am I crazy or are all of the days rest numbers +1? Excellent preview, but I wanted/expected more pictures of Durantula.

by BlaseE on Nov 14, 2009 9:23 AM CST reply actions

I wanted/expected more pictures of Durantula.

This is the thanks I get for exercising restraint.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 9:47 AM CST up reply actions

But fine. Please accept this meager offering:

Kevin and Tony Durant: Smackfest

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 9:53 AM CST up reply actions

cool, thanks.

by BlaseE on Nov 14, 2009 4:12 PM CST up reply actions

I’ve got more where that came from.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 4:22 PM CST up reply actions

Ok. That performance by Oli Lemieux is in all honesty one of the most remarkable feats I have ever seen.
Wow.

...Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is forty five.

by alamobro on Nov 15, 2009 2:53 AM CST up reply actions

Isn’t it? He just seems to be floating, too, la la la, like what he’s doing is no big deal.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 15, 2009 7:09 AM CST up reply actions

I am very excited about todays game. As my name says i live in dallas but i am going to the game tonight. My first game in the ATT center (i skipped the Alamo dome). It will be nice to finally cheer for the Spurs with a stadium of fellow fans. Rather then my normal way of seeing them in Dallas.

BTW this is my first post, but i have been reading PTR starting at the off season, and by following this blog has made me so excited about this season. Thanks for all the great work you guys did!

by SpurInDallas on Nov 14, 2009 9:50 AM CST reply actions

Welcome, and have a great time at the game!

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 9:54 AM CST up reply actions

Welcome, man. And enjoy the game! Feel free to join us here if you can’t watch ’em live :)

The Roleplayer's Realm

by silverandblack_davis on Nov 14, 2009 1:36 PM CST up reply actions

Dock Ellis, the super cool uncle of Dale Ellis.

"Mr. Gilmore deserves to be in the Basketball Hall of Fame damnit. Highest field goal percentage EVER"

http://www.basketball-reference.com/players/g/gilmoar01.html

by Joe deLarios on Nov 14, 2009 10:12 AM CST reply actions

Brava and rec'd

great post as always Lauri…between dancin catties, more cowbell (Wo0t!), those agile ross bitches (shouldn’t they be banned? i mean “congratulations”:) and dock ellis, i am so entertained! hope mySpurs can do as well tonight…

Honestly. You kids today, with your hippity-hop music and your Twiddle. - Lauri

by p2cat on Nov 14, 2009 11:35 AM CST reply actions

I’m very glad you liked it. As for the Ross sisters, were they around today they could make millions off their “Core Workout” DVDs. . . .

(Also, I love that they changed their names from Vickie, Dixie, and Betsy to Aggie, Maggie, and Elmira, because those are so much more “Hollywood” . . . )

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 11:59 AM CST up reply actions

can’t wait for the game tonight….hope we do well

"There are two things in life that should never go together.....those two things are cheese and herpes..." - Santa Claus

by Cello the great on Nov 14, 2009 11:43 AM CST reply actions

If you get to like Durant...

…then I will call dibs on Thabo.
I got to see the Thunderclusters’ OT loss to the Fakers & Thabo really made Kobe work.
He also hit some big time shots in the clutch. If you ask me, I would say advantage OKC at SG.
That’s all the praise I can stomach for those guys. Here’s to a Spurs double-digit victory!!

If less is more, imagine how much more more would be.

by JonnyJam on Nov 14, 2009 12:42 PM CST reply actions

I’m with you JJ. Thabo looked good. The couple of games I’ve watched the Thunder, Thabo has definitely more than held his own.

Jeff Green is going to give whomever guards him a heck of a time. Last year he had good games against the Spurs, then again, Bonner was guarding him…

by xman130 on Nov 14, 2009 3:12 PM CST up reply actions

Awesome and hilarious work on the game thread, Lauri. You and CapHill should really do these things more often. And oh, you’re welcome :)

The Roleplayer's Realm

by silverandblack_davis on Nov 14, 2009 1:31 PM CST reply actions

Aha. The Good Samritan is revealed. Seriously, thank you. I felt awful this morning, and I was thrilled to be able to go back to bed!

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 2:18 PM CST up reply actions

No need, it was a hack job. I saw it was scheduled but then checked and the matchups were still the same, and thought you’d need a hand with the crazy html Tim and Wayne subject us to.

The Roleplayer's Realm

by silverandblack_davis on Nov 14, 2009 7:01 PM CST up reply actions

Wayne’s the html guy. I’m just the guy that tried to reverse engineer it.

The Spurs - now playing defense again! ...sometimes

by Tim C. on Nov 14, 2009 7:03 PM CST up reply actions

Incredible preview Lauri. Very entertaining videos too.

insane, unearthly trampoline skills to completely unsuitable music.

That part was good. And of course, Anything that mentions the Dock Ellis no hitter has got to be rec’d. Read about it online, but that video is loads of awesome.

When the tooth fairy's own tooth falls out, it is taken during the night by Princess Peanut.

by the little o on Nov 14, 2009 1:42 PM CST reply actions

Wonderful preview Lauri. I’m shocked you tied RJ with KD makes me wonder if you really did this preview..

Just call me The Profit

by Manuwar on Nov 14, 2009 3:19 PM CST reply actions

Silverandblack_Davis filled in there, Manuwar, so your amazement is well founded.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 4:05 PM CST up reply actions

Argh, I should’ve thought, WWLD?

The Roleplayer's Realm

by silverandblack_davis on Nov 14, 2009 7:11 PM CST up reply actions

Actually, I would have had a hard time choosing. Durant has been inconsistent, and Jefferson seems to have settled in well.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 7:25 PM CST up reply actions

Durantula is the better offensive player and probably rebounder, but RJ has more post post moves, savvy (good kind), defense, and turns the ball over less. It’s close, but I’d go Durant.

by BlaseE on Nov 14, 2009 4:17 PM CST up reply actions

Great Preview!!!

Harden should have rep’d the OKC bench, but whateva?!? You must be scare of the beard. :)

Oh yeah, what is a thundercluster?

Here’s to a good game!

Also Known as "4D" one step beyond 3D

by daddydai on Nov 14, 2009 4:04 PM CST reply actions

I agree—Harden’s the best of your bench players. I changed the match-up chart to reflect that. Good luck—thanks for coming over from Welcome to Loud City!

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 4:21 PM CST up reply actions

Looking for something to do until gametime, beaches? Take this quiz on NBA point leaders in the past decade.

Try the new PtR--now entirely BAT-FREE!

by Lauri on Nov 14, 2009 4:06 PM CST reply actions

79/150

That was tough!

Also Known as "4D" one step beyond 3D

by daddydai on Nov 14, 2009 4:25 PM CST up reply actions

I got 95/150

AKA: Linix129

by sw12 on Nov 14, 2009 5:06 PM CST up reply actions

I had an 87/150. That really was tough, especially trying to spell some of the names. People really a lot of weird names. I got all of ours and our rivals (Lakers, Suns, Mavericks), though.

by Manu ex Machina on Nov 14, 2009 7:03 PM CST reply actions