2015 NBA scores: Russell Westbrook picks up right where he left off

A successful start to a huge season for the Thunder, plus three other things we learned on an action-packed night of openers in the NBA.

by Satchel Price

Oct 29, 2015, 12:00 PM UTC

Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

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The Oklahoma City Thunder have championship aspirations and wasted no time getting started on that quest with a 112-106 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night. The opening night matchup between Western Conference contenders was everything we could've hoped for as both sides battled closely before OKC pulled away behind the one-two punch of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

It’s a big year for the Thunder for a number of reasons. The team is coming off a disappointing injury-marred campaign, changed coaches during the offseason and needs to keep winning to entice Durant, an impending free agent, to re-sign. The stakes are as high in OKC as they are for any other team. The Thunder look ready to take on that challenge after grinding out the victory over an experienced San Antonio team in the opener.

A healthy Durant and Westbrook totally changes the dynamic for the Thunder. A season ago, the team was scrambling in the second half to make the playoffs without KD and fell short in a stacked West despite Westbrook’s individual heroics. This is a more talented and more confident team nowadays. It showed against the Spurs.

Oklahoma City had to make its big run midway through the fourth quarter. The Spurs took a 97-90 lead after a pair of baskets from Kawhi Leonard, who was magnificent in the game with 32 points. The Thunder responded with a 9-0 run to take a two-point lead with 4:16 remaining, then made some key stops down the stretch to help hang on for the win. Even Dion Waiters got in the mix with a couple of late baskets to stay ahead.

Westbrook’s three with just under a minute remaining was a major dagger:

The OKC point guard finished with 33 points on 12-of-23 shooting and 10 assists in 37 minutes of action. Durant added 22 points on 6-of-19 shooting while often being guarded by Leonard, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year. And Enes Kanter may not be much of a defender, but he can put up some serious numbers (15 points and 16 rebounds in 24 minutes).

For the Spurs, the opening loss is disappointing but doesn't do much to sour optimism over the team. Leonard still looks like one of the top young stars in the game, 38-year-old Manu Ginobili played well and road games in OKC are always challenging anyway. Give that team some time to gel with Gregg Popovich and San Antonio should be a major threat this season.

The same can be said for OKC under new coach Billy Donovan. Who knows what Durant plans to do with his basketball future come the summer, but in the meantime, the Thunder are back. Nobody will want to play them.

3 things we learned

The Clippers will be good, and the Kings won't be easy. Credit Sacramento for rallying in the second half to make its home opener against L.A. interesting. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and company were just too good and held off the comeback to earn a 111-104 win over the Kings on Wednesday night. Griffin was the big star of the game by going off for 33 points on 14-of-20 shooting. He got a lot of help from Paul, who put up a double-double with 18 points and 11 assists, and Paul Pierce was solid in his Clips debut with 12 points and seven rebounds.

The new-look Kings showed they could be dangerous this season, though. DeMarcus Cousins looked dominant at times with 32 points and 13 rebounds, Rudy Gay added 16 points and Darren Collison had a solid night with 13 points and six assists. After falling behind by double digits early in the first quarter and trailing by as many as 15 in the fourth quarter, Sacramento showed a lot of life by going on a 19-3 run to take the lead. Even if they couldn't hang onto it, it was an encouraging showing for the Kings.

Emmanuel Mudiay will have lots of highs -- and lots of lows. The Denver Nuggets' first-year point guard might make a run for the Rookie of the Year trophy, but not without some learning experiences. In the Nuggets' 105-85 season-opening win over the Rockets on Wednesday night, we saw both the good (17 points, nine assists) and the bad (11 turnovers) from Mudiay. It's undeniable that he's one of the most skilled players to enter the league this year, but Mudiay's ability to dial back and play within the offense at times will be key to his development. Once the 19-year-old really gets going, he could become one of the most exciting players in the league. For now, he'll just have to keep playing and studying, even if it means making the occasional embarrassing mistake:

It's going to be a long season in Brooklyn. Everyone knows how important three-pointers are to success in the modern NBA, so when you go 0 of 9 from beyond the arc in your first game, it's reason for concern. The Nets got outscored, 42-0, by the Bulls on three-pointers in their 15-point loss on Wednesday night, potentially setting the tone for what could be a rough year.

Nets were 0-for-9 on threes tonight. The last time they didn't make a 3-pointer was opening night of the season they went 12-70.
— John Schuhmann (@johnschuhmann) October 29, 2015

Brooklyn doesn't own its 2016 first-round pick, either, so all that futility wouldn't even lead to something good down the road. Nets fans will just have to hope that things get better than this, although maybe this is what you get for letting Andrea Bargnani take 13 shots:

Play of the night

There were so many great dunks and other plays on opening night that it would’ve been easy to highlight one of those. Instead, we’re going to go with this defensive masterclass by reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard on all-world forward Kevin Durant. There’s so much to be impressed about with this play, from the incredible display of instincts and athleticism to the fact that it happened on Kevin freaking Durant. Oklahoma City ultimately came away with the win, but a Leonard-led Spurs team is going to be absolutely scary this season.