VS
Where: AirTran Center – Orlando, FL
When: 12:00 PM CST
TV: NBA TV (Directv 216, Dish Network 402, AT&T U-Verse 632, 1632(HD), Cox 256)
Online Stream: Here.
Radio: None.
View from the enemy: None.
Projected Lineups:
| Thunder | Pacers | |
|---|---|---|
| PG | Reggie Jackson | Lance Stephenson |
| SG | Garrett Temple | Orlando Johnson |
| SF | Lazar Hayward | Robert Vaden |
| PF | Perry Jones III | Jeff Pendergraph |
| C | Cole Aldrich | Miles Pendegraph |
Game two of the summer league for the Thunder tips off at noon today. Oklahoma City will play the Indiana Pacers. Pacers beat the Philadelphia 76ers yesterday 69-63 in what seemed to be the closest game of the day.
The Pacers were led by rookie guard Orlando Johnson out of UC-Santa Barbara. He led all scores with 19 points. Indiana trailed going into halftime, but used a nice surge in the third quarter to hold onto the lead, and eventually the victory.
Oklahoma City comes into today’s game (hah, I almost typed tonight. Not used to day games) coming off a loss to the Boston Celtics. Lots of good things came away from that game, such as Perry Jones III really played well. Reggie Jackson played great for three quarters. So, tons of upside there.
However, tons of negative things too. Too many turnovers, 10 in the second half, Cole Aldrich played like a person who hadn’t played in years. Lazar Hayward took too many shots, and missed over 75 percent of them. Not to mention, Oklahoma City fell behind by 15 points in the first quarter, 25-10, and played catch up for a lot of the game.
What to watch for
Cole Aldrich
Hey, I’m not going to judge this guy until the end of the summer league. His still getting used to game speed, and that’s okay. This is about learning, and bettering yourself. I expect him to do so throughout this week. I think he’s going to be a decent player. Do I think he’ll replace Perkins? That remains to be seen. However, Oklahoma City really needs him to pan out. We’ll see how he rebounds from yesterday.
Perry Jones III
PJ3 was dominate yesterday, and it was against a decent defender in Jared Sullinger. So, I want to see how he does against Jeff Pendergraph. Pendergraph is an okay defender, but no where near PJ3′s class. I think if PJ3 really wanted to, he could probably drop 30 points against this team.
Fast Start
It was very obvious that this team was nervous or something. There was just something wrong early. Maybe it was the fact they were playing real minutes? Who knows. They cannot start like that again, and expect to play sound basketball. Oklahoma City needs to at least come out, and grab a lead early. You cannot fall behind by 15 points in the first quarter again.
