The Oklahoma City Thunder began their 10th season in OKC with a 105-84 win over the New York Knicks. It was a night filled with many storylines. Carmelo Anthony and Paul George made their Thunder debuts and ‘Melo did it against his former team. Former Thunder player Enes Kanter made his debut for the Knicks and received two loud ovations from the Thunder faithful. There was a playoff vibe inside the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Maybe it was just because there were shirts laying on every seat commemorating the start of the 10th season in OKC. There were tons of media members from all over the globe covering every possible angle of the many storylines on opening night. But the biggest storyline was that we finally got to see the Thunder’s new Big 3 take the floor in a regular season game and they didn’t disappoint. Here are my top five observations from last night’s Thunder victory. 
This Thunder team has offensive power, there is no doubt about it. Paul George scored a team-high 28 points, Carmelo Anthony put in 22 points, and Russell Westbrook added a triple-double with 21 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds. But early in the game, the Thunder were struggling to hit open shots. So the Thunder leaned on their defense in the second and third quarters to pull away from the Knicks. The Thunder forced 26 Knicks turnovers, gathered 14 steals, leading to 37 Thunder points. The Thunder defense is long, athletic and fast. The Thunder gave the Knicks offense fits all night. The Thunder half-court offense is a work in progress, so leaning on their defense created easy offense on the fast break. The Thunder were impressive last night, but the defense was the Thunder’s best asset in the win.
Steven Adams was terrific in this win. Adams scored 12 points on five-of-five shooting. He had five rebounds, five steals and added three blocks. He was very active, setting screens, rolling to the basket, defending in the post and stepped out on several occasions to defend the perimeter. Adams is an x-factor for this team. If he can defend for this team like he did against the Knicks, then the Thunder are in really good shape. Adams had the assignment of covering former Stache Bro, Enes Kanter. But towards the end of the second quarter, the unicorn, Kristaps Porzingis, was going off. So the Thunder switched Adams onto Porzingis and Steven made him retreat to the perimeter and forced him into contested shots. Adams was perfect in his role in game one. If he can be consistent, then he will shine this season.
One of the talking points since the Paul George and Carmelo Anthony trades has been how will they mesh with Russell Westbrook? While we’ve seen progress every game since the first preseason game, but we know that gaining continuity will take several games before it becomes natural. But an overlooked part of all the new acquisitions is the bench unit. Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton also played in their first game in Thunder blue. The second unit might be a bigger work in progress than the starting five. Guys like Felton, Patterson and Abrines have all missed practice time due to some injuries and those three are the core of the second team. It was easy to see how disjointed the offense was. There was a lot of stagnant offensive sets. There were turnovers. There was some ugly play, highlighted by a fast break lead by Felton who threw a lob pass to a trailing Jerami Grant who missed an easy dunk because the two weren’t on the same page for what should have been a Sportscenter Top 10 play of the night. The Thunder will figure it out, but the second unit has a feeling out process they have to go through.
Russell Westbrook was back to his old tricks, recording his first triple-double of the season. As he went on his run to the MVP, I often wondered how many assists Westbrook could accumulate if he had a better supporting cast. Now, with PG and Melo next to Russell, we got a little glimpse of how many assists he can gather in a single game. Russell had 16 assist and there were many more that could have been had if a few more wide open looks went in. And Westbrook had a very efficient night shooting the basketball. He scored 21 points on seven-of-12 shooting. We might see a highly efficient season from Westbrook now that he has the help of two other superstars. What’s scary is that we might be seeing an even better version of Russell’s game a year removed from his historic MVP season.
It is so good to have the NBA back in OKC after the Summer of Sam Presti. What Presti has done in a single offseason is incredible. He has done everything to surround Westbrook with sufficient talent to compete with the big dogs in the NBA. It is all up to players from here on out. I don’t know how the season will turn out, but I can tell you it is going to be one exciting ride.
The Thunder are back at it Saturday night in Salt Lake City as the Thunder will battle the Utah Jazz. Tip time is set for 8 p.m. inside the Vivint Smart Home Arena.
