Last night Mason and I attended our first Thunder game of the 2009-2010 season, watching the Oklahoma City Thunder battle the Los Angeles Lakers.

Within the first few minutes the Lakers jumped to a 9-0 lead, and by the time they had pulled ahead 16-5 I had already given up hope. I gave up too soon, however, as the Thunder battled back, and battled back hard. While Mason was sad to learn that Desmond Mason (his favorite player) no longer plays for the Thunder, the line up changes for the most part seem to have worked in the Thunder’s favor. Etan Thomas had some big blocks and rebounds and throws elbows like Rodman used to. Kevin Durant delivered, despite being smothered by recent Laker acquisition Ron Artest. Russell Westbrook did not live up to his reputation. Thank goodness for Jeff Green — last year he was the Thunder’s sixth or seventh man, but last night he stepped up and dropped threes, dunks and blocks, keeping the team’s momentum moving forward.

Unfortunately along with Ron Artest, the Lakers brought Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and Kobe Bryant who, despite having flu-like symptoms before the game, still came to play. Even Kobe’s “C Game” is better than many players’ “A Game”. For every three or dunk the Thunder fought for, the starting Lakers seemed to have no problem walking right up to the bucket and gently placing the ball in the hoop. Had Lakers’ 7’0″ center Pau Gasol played, it would have been a massacre.

The Thunder managed to frustrate the Lakers enough to stop Kobe from dropping an off-balance shot at the end of regulation, sending the game into overtime. It was then that the Lakers finally turned up the pace, pulling ahead by five and holding on to the lead through the end the game. Final score 98-101, Lakers win.

I haven’t been following the Lakers enough to know if the Thunder frustrated them that much or if they just suck this year. The Lakers turned the ball over 25 times and every starter had at least 4 fouls. The Thunder, on the other hand, looked good and played hard. We’ll need a better shot average (especially from Westbrook), but our D looked better than last year and I saw a lot of hustling last night.