Oklahoma City Thunder open season with 13 straight home victories
By Hayden Kane
You think of the Oklahoma City Thunder and you think of that home court advantage. For all the diversity one finds in an NBA crowd, every single fan in that arena throws on a blue or a white t-shirt and gets loud. Where the importance of home court might be diminished with less involved or enthusiastic crowds (ah hem…Miami), OKC feels like a professional version of Cameron Indoor Stadium on certain nights.
It’s not the playoffs yet, but it appears that the Thunder will be awfully tough to beat in their own building (Chesapeake Energy Arena) again this season. By defeating the Chicago Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night, they pushed their home record for the season to a perfect 13-0.
On this night it was the usual suspects getting the job done for OKC. Kevin Durant dropped 32 points and chipped in nine rebounds. Russell Westbrook logged a double-double with 20 points and 10 assists. Shoot, Kendrick Perkins, not often confused for a competent NBA player, was still on the right side of the +/- stat with a +5 in the game (that’s with zero points and four rebounds in 21 minutes on the floor). This team must really be good at home for that to happen.
As they try to keep the streak going, the Thunder will host the Toronto Raptors on Sunday night. It will be a sneaky-tough game, as it comes on the second night of a back-to-back that starts in San Antonio against the Spurs Saturday night. The Thunder are now 21-4 on the season.