Thunder at Clippers
The Oklahoma City Thunder are hoping their second game without the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player goes better than the first when they take on the host Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. Thunder forward Kevin Durant remains sidelined with a broken foot and Oklahoma City could have used him in Wednesday’s season-opening loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. The Thunder fell flat in the fourth quarter of that game while getting outscored 31-12 down the stretch of the 17-point loss.
The Clippers are one of only two teams that haven’t played a game yet and they’ll likely be eager to put on a good show for new owner Steve Ballmer. Los Angeles returns mostly intact after reaching the Western Conference semifinals last season, only to get bounced by the Thunder in six games. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul will continue to get the bulk of the shots for the Clippers, and newcomer Spencer Hawes should give them some quality scoring punch at center, something they lack with DeAndre Jordan on the floor.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, TNT
ABOUT THE THUNDER (0-1): There were a few eye rolls when the first Thunder reserve to check in Wednesday night was backup Lance Thomas, who averaged 8.4 minutes for the New Orleans Hornets last season. But the 6-8 small forward from Duke made coach Scott Brooks look wise when he made all five of his field-goal attempts in the first half before finishing with 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting. With the Thunder also missing Anthony Morrow (knee), Mitch McGary (foot), Jeremy Lamb (back) and Reggie Jackson (knee) for this game, they’ll need similar performances from their reserves if they expect to stay with the Clippers.
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (2013-14: 57-25): Paul is 29 years old and Griffin is still just 25, but the Clippers are beginning to look a bit long in the tooth in other areas. Matt Barnes and Jamal Crawford, two key players for Los Angeles the last two years, are each 34 and Hedo Turkoglu is 35. Barnes didn’t appear to be slowing down his last two years with the Clippers, producing two of his three highest scoring averages in his 11-year career, and Crawford is also coming off his best season since turning 30.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Jackson and Lamb are expected to return for Saturday’s home opener against the Denver Nuggets.
2. Sebastian Telfair will be the only healthy guard coming off the bench for Oklahoma City for the second straight game.
3. Fergie, the female vocalist for the Black Eyed Peas, is scheduled to sing the National Anthem.