NBA Regular Season Game 2 | ||
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1-0 (0-0 away) | 1-0 (0-0 home) | |
Palace of Auburn Hills Thunder Blog: Welcome to Loud City | ||
October 30, 2009 8:00 PM ET | ||
TV: Fox Sports Detroit Radio: 97.1 The Fan | ||
Probable starters: | ||
Russel Westbrook | PG | Rodney Stuckey |
Thabo Sefolosha | SG | Ben Gordon |
Kevin Durant | SF | Tayshaun Prince |
Jeff Green | PF | Charlie Villanueva |
Nenand Krstic | C | Ben Wallace |
The undefeated Detroit Pistons will take on the also undefeated Oklahoma City Thunder tonight in their 2009-2010 home opener. But they may have to do it without one of their best scorers, Richard Hamilton (thanks to madpoopz for the link). Hamilton turned his ankle late in the fourth of the season opener coming down after a jump shot. From what it seems, he hasn't applied any pressure on that ankle since it happened.
If that's the case, Ben Gordon will undoubtedly see his first start of the 2009-2010 campaign. Of course, this will be nothing new to the former Sixth Man of the Year recipient who plays starter minutes as it is and has started in the past with the Bulls.
Jonas Jerebko and Austin Daye will see their first NBA regular season action after missing the first game with suspensions. DaJuan Summers, who did not impress during the preseason, will most likely be dressed in "street" clothes again.
This isn't a bad way for the Pistons to start their season -- playing their first two games against teams who combined for 47 wins a season ago. While both are arguably more talented this season, there's no denying it's a nice way for the new-look Pistons to get their feet wet.
The Thunder are coming off an impressive 102-89 victory over Sacramento in which Kevin Durant scored 25 points in 42 minutes.
But Detroit's focus should not be on Durant as much as it should be building off of what they did in the opener. Durant is pretty steady, so he is going to get "his" (although you want to make sure he doesn't get double "his," Durant averages 24.3 ppg against Detroit in his career). What Detroit can't do is let the Thunder's underwhelming supporting cast break out and beat them.
If all goes well, it should turn out to be a scintillating home opener tonight. It starts at 8 PM EST (although last game was slated for 8 PM EST and it didn't actually start until 8:15 PM EST).
Remember NBA League Pass is doing a week long promotion, so if you are out of market, you can follow along for free at NBA.com or on NBATV if you have DirecTV or Comcast, amongst others, I think. Also, follow along in tonight's game thread with fellow fans. The post-game recap should be up sometime late tonight or tomorrow.
Go Pistons!