Way too early preview of OKC Thunder versus Knicks

The Oklahoma City Thunder start their season against the New York Knicks. We will finally get to see what Paul George and Russell Westbrook will be able to do together and how the team will play together as a whole.

The Oklahoma City Thunder and the New York Knicks will face off on Thursday, October 19th on TNT. It will be the Thunder’s home opener and first game of the season. It will be the Knicks’ first game of the season as well. The Thunder will want to get off to a good start during the season because of the new faces on the team.

Paul George will play in his debut as a Thunder during that game and everybody will want to see how he and Westbrook can co-exist together on the court. This will be big for Westbrook too because he is coming off an MVP award. Westbrook will want the same caliber performances that he had last year.

As the offseason comes to an end it will be interesting to see what happens on the Knicks side. Will they still have Carmelo Anthony? Will they still have Kristaps Porzingis? Both players were talked about in trades. The Thunder could be preparing for a Knicks team that doesn’t look the same in October as they do now.

As the leaves change colors, basketball will be back. NBA basketball that is. The Thunder have high hopes for this season because this may be the only year that this team looks like this. Paul George only has this year left on his contract and is looking to potentially head to LA to play for the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018. Westbrook still hasn’t signed his Designated Player Extension. That may mean that Westbrook is on the trading block during the season.

This Thunder team may not even look the same at the end of this upcoming season, but this first game will be part of the start to keep Westbrook and George in Thunder uniforms. It’s simple: If the team is winning games then that means those players will want to keep on playing in OKC and will want to keep building every year to win a championship.

This game means more to the Thunder than it does to the Knicks because of the fact that on paper the Thunder are the better team. Last year the Thunder made it to the playoffs while the Knicks season was over when the final game of the regular season ended last year. The Thunder want to go out and prove that they are better than last year. The Knicks are a team in shambles and aren’t ready to win yet.

Rookie Terrance Ferguson still hasn’t been cleared to play in the NBA so it is up in the air if he will play. Knicks rookie Frank Ntilikina will be playing for the Knicks and if he is able to get a starting role he will be pitted with the job of facing against reigning MVP Russell Westbrook. What a way to start a career.

Russell Westbrook will show up, we know that. Paul George will play like Paul George, we know that. Who else will step up for the Thunder though? The supporting cast was a problem last year and the signings of Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton will help. Who else will help haul in points? Will Enes Kanter be injected in the starting role? He averaged 17 points coming off the bench for a Thunder squad that only had one real offensive threat in Westbrook. The Thunder may go all offense and start him, but that may not be likely with Patterson being a legit stretch four with his 3-point shooting ability at the power forward spot. He shoots 36 percent from three for his career, and that could help more for a team that was last in 3-point shooting percentage last year.

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The Thunder will come out that day against the Knicks trying to prove that they have more 3-point shooting and more scoring in general than last year. They will come out and try to prove that they are a better team than last year. If the chemistry is there in this first game, watch out for the Thunder.