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.