Thunder Preseason Finale

The Thunder will be officially through with the preseason after tonight's matchup in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz.
After that fans must wait EIGHT days before the Thunder play a game but it will be for real as they take on the San Antonio Spurs on opening night at the Peake.
Since this is the last time the Thunder will play someone other than themselves before the regular season, there are some things to look for in tonight's game.

Things to look for:

• Turnovers: Through the first 5 games of preseason turnovers have been the only real big issue I have seen with this Thunder team averaging 18 a game. A lot of that comes from the players trying to adjust to Billy Donovan's new offensive systems. The core players of the thunder ran the same system since 2008 when Scott Brooks took over as head coach so the adjustment period might see some rough patches. Once the players get more comfortable in the offensive scheme Donovan has them, I believe we will see the turnovers cut drastically and this offense soar to maybe the best in the league. Tonight could be a big stepping stone in getting some confidence in their offensive flow before the season kicks off. 
• Rotation: As the preseason has went along we have seen the coaching staff cut down on the number of players getting in the game and there is more of a game type of rotation. Early on Donovan was getting everyone on the floor and getting them a chance to get some reps. Sunday against the Nuggets we seen a more structured rotation of players with Durant and Westbrook seeing more minutes and players like rookie Cameron Payne not playing any meaningful minutes. So tonight we should get a pretty good sense of who we will see on the court for the Thunder throughout the regular season. 
• Durant & Westbrook Minutes: An interesting thing Coach Donovan did on Sunday was stagger the playing time of Durant and Westbrook. Instead of subbing them both out together and going with an all bench lineup, Durant checked out first and left Westbrook in the game with the 2nd unit. Then Westbrook subbed out of the game as Durant checked back in. This is something we have not seen a lot of the course of their careers together as they have spent most of their minutes on the court together when healthy. It makes sense to keep one of the top 5 best players in the game on the court at all times whether it is Durant or Westbrook and I will be interested to see if that trend continues tonight in Salt Lake City. 

The game will not be televised but you can catch it on radio at 98.1 FM The Sports Animal. Tip-off is scheduled for 8:00pm.