Game Thread: New York Knicks @ Oklahoma City Thunder 8:00 10/19/2017 [Game #1]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A new Carmelo Anthony chapter begins Thursday night at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Anthony and the remade Oklahoma City Thunder open their season against the New York Knicks, who traded Anthony away shortly before training camp opened in late September.

Anthony played seven seasons for the Knicks, helping New York to the playoffs just three times and winning just one playoff series.

"This is an important game for me because it's an opportunity for me to kind of go out there and close that chapter," Anthony said Wednesday. "I don't think that chapter has been closed yet. I think tomorrow with me running out on the court in a different uniform kind of closes that New York chapter."

Anthony was the last major piece in a retooled Thunder roster that also includes new star Paul George and complementary players Patrick Patterson and Raymond Felton.

This comes a year after Kevin Durant's departure for the Golden State Warriors left Russell Westbrook as the lone star in Oklahoma City.

Thunder general manager Sam Presti couldn't do much last year after Durant's decision. Westbrook wound up averaging a triple-double and winning MVP honors, but the Thunder did not make it out of the first round of the playoffs.

With George and Anthony on board, bigger things are expected from the Thunder this season, beginning with the opener.

The other major addition for Oklahoma City believes the focus against the Knicks will be lifting Anthony.

"Melo wants this. As he should," George said. "Melo wants this game. And we're gonna get it for him."

While the Thunder are embracing the Carmelo Anthony era, the Knicks are trying to put theirs behind them. Anthony's public back-and-forth with former Knicks president Phil Jackson became a distraction last season and into the offseason before Anthony decided to waive his no-trade clause to come to Oklahoma City in a trade that sent Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott to New York.

Without Anthony, the Knicks are in a rebuilding mode, with Kristaps Porzingis as the face of the franchise.

New York coach Jeff Hornacek said he expects his team to continually build throughout the year.

"What we stressed to these guys is that we're going to continue to work every day, no matter what happens," Hornacek said. "We're going to try to improve. We're going to have ups and downs, but in the long run, if we stay together, continue to work and we try to fix those things ...

"They may not be incremental jumps, but if you have little jumps throughout all 82 games, you're going to be a much better team at the end of the year than you are now. So that's really the goal."

In the opener, Porzingis figures to spend plenty of time guarding Anthony. Porzingis said it would be "interesting."

"I'm sure it's going to be weird, but I'm looking forward to that game," Porzingis said. "I think everybody knows what he's doing, but nobody can still stop him. It's going to be a challenge for me. I'm going to try to do my best."

(cbssports.com via STATS)

game thread looking good for the start of the official season!
any final score predictions? will we be able to top the pacers/nets 140 - 131 defensive masterpiece we witnessed yesterday?
will we get blown out in humiliating fashion like the suns did? or will we be able to squeak past them by a point like the rockettes did to the defending champions?
how many points does melo score? how many shots does KP put up? how many 3's will timmy attempt?
who's on the floor at the end of the game to close it out? how many minutes does nitty spend on russ?
let's find out tonight!

Thanks for another great game thread, Rady.

Please, can we just get off on the right foot to start this season. Play team defense. Good ball movement without careless turnovers on offense.

145-110 Thunder. ?Hoodie?Melo and Russ will combine for 90 of the 145 and PG will pick up the slack. I won?t watch much if any of this game because my Chiefs are playing the hated Raiders tonight. All you Melo-haters will get an eyeful of ?Hoodie Melo? tonight. Have fun with that haters. The Knicks don?t deserve to be on national TV. At least our players aren?t knocking each other out and ending up in the hospital(Bulls) yet. Enjoy your Melo-less Knicks haters. You finally got what you wished for

I'm glad while we're still a .500 team
BTW, league pass is free until the 24th, if you're not a subscriber get the one week free trial!

LMAO I knew this organization blows smoke with the best of them

Awful lineup, WHG and/or Dougie Fresh should be starting. So much for that youth movement!

Oh and how come our rookie isn't starting since we're playing an offensive powerhouse tonight...we just might need the defense at least for this game

There are also reports our mgmt group will follow the team on several road trips and show presence during home games, to keep a close eye on how they function as a team

Broadway said:

LMAO I knew this organization blows smoke with the best of them

Awful lineup, WHG and/or Dougie Fresh should be starting. So much for that youth movement!

Click to expand...

Yeah, that?s not exactly my dream starting 5. Let?s see how the minutes play out before we get too bent out of shape though. If Ntilkina, WHG, and McDermott don?t each get at least 15 to 20 minutes, we might be in trouble.

Pretty much the lineup Horn has been talking about. I don't like the CLee matchup vs PG, so Horn might go with the quick hook on him if PG goes off on him. Can't argue CLee is the better defender vs Dougie, Horn was also considering Lance and I'll take CLee over Lance also.

Melo opens the game with a 3. Kanter opens the game with an airball.

Melo goes right at KP and KP blocks him like he was playing against a child.

bad foul by hardaway from behind

Porzingis with the block on Melo!!


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THJ pulls a KP from last year, gets 2 early 1st quarter fouls, and has to sit

Ugly flowing game with all the whistles. Clearly 2 teams that weren't ready to play today. Probably needed to play a couple more preseason games.

ugly flow of the game is working against russ. that's good for us so far.

All season we?re going to see this. Other team is just going to camp at the 3 point line against us and fire away. Our perimeter defense is non-existent for all of preseason and now in this 1st quarter.

OMG #kporzee looks awful getting double tapped and relatively gassed

Anthony goes to bench, Thunder go on a 13-2 run


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