Thunder Begin Home Schedule Friday

<p>Thunder fans get their first live look at the gang&nbsp;as they&nbsp;host&nbsp;Phoenix Friday night.</p>

Friday, October 28th 2016, 2:06 am

By: News 9


Thunder fans get their first live look at the gang as they host Phoenix Friday night. The Suns come in at 0-1 having lost their season opener to Sacramento, 113-94.

Outside of Russell Westbrook, the backcourts will be a bit of a wash, especially if Victor Oladipo shoots the same way. Devin Booker is the only real, score-from-anywhere threat the Suns have. Eric Bledsoe has plenty of ability but if Westbrook can stay keyed in defensively, Bledsoe shouldn't be much of a threat.

The Thunder bigs should have a field day, though. Steven Adams and Enes Kanter have the potential for huge games scoring and rebounding. I wouldn't be surprised to see them both record double-doubles. Tyson Chandler and Alex Len will have to log more than 24 minutes each if they want to keep pace with the Stache Brothers. And that's not even mentioning the rebounding ability of Westbrook and Andre Roberson. Phoenix beat Sacto in the paint, 48-46, which is basically just Boogie Cousins. The Thunder will have to get the ball inside to exploit their advantage down low.

Phoenix does have some shooters, though. They shot 46 percent against the Kings but allowed 51 percent shooting. The home team needs to have a better shooting night than the Suns, which they didn't have at Philly.

Phoenix will try to stretch out the floor offensively to create more space inside and get the Thunder's length away from the basket. At times against the Sixers, Adams gave too much room to Joel Embiid, allowing him to drop 20 points, who hasn't played competitively for two years.

We'll have a better idea about the Thunder's bench after tomorrow. The Thunder need shooting and they actually do have some shooters. Personally, I don't think Anthony Morrow's defensive is bad enough to exile him to the far end of the bench. He didn't play at all against Philly. Maybe he's hurt.

Kyle Singler, Ersan Ilyasova, and Alex Abrines can't pass up any open looks. They literally have only one job on each end of the floor: shoot 20+ footers and not let the opponents third, fourth, and fifth scoring options get loose.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. at the Peake.

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