Thunder Escape Sacramento, Barely

The first night of a back-to-back against a team that is no good should not have looked this difficult. Other than Tyreke Evans, the Kings don't really have that much. DeMarcus Cousins has potential but is way too immature and unpolished to be considered a nightly force. Omri Casspi has some nights where he is a outside threat but this was not one of them.

Unfortunately for Casspi, he also had the near impossible task of slowing down Kevin Durant on the other end. Durant torched him for 35 points shooting better than 50% from the field. However, Durant didn't feel like rebounding which could have potentially lost us the game. What irks me is that when he wants to rebound, he can grab 10+ boards. Russell had an average game by his standards. Every point he provided ended up being essential for OKC to get the win.

That reminds me. Thabo has a long road to go before he gets back to providing anything beneficial to the starting lineup. I know he is coming off of an injury so I'm willing to show patience while he recovers. But having a player on the floor that can be literally no threat to do anything on offense really holds back our team. If he was playing shut-down defense then at least he would bring something of value. This is probably as close James Harden has ever been to becoming a regular starter.

There has also been some talk about possible acquiring Samuel Dalembert for his defensive presence in the paint. I didn't see anything overly magnificent from him against the Thunder but I will need to see a lot more film of him before I make a decision.

Here is the box score courtesy of ESPN.

Next up: @ Golden State Warriors, February 13 at 7 pm CT.