TV Schedule: Sunday, November 1, 4:00 p.m ET, FS Okla. HD

Location: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, OK

Line: Oklahoma City (-12)

Friday night’s projected easy win over the Orlando Magic took a rather unexpected turn as it went into double-overtime, but it didn’t come without a handful of highlighted plays from both superstars from the Oklahoma City Thunder. Russell Westbrook led the way with an enormous 48 point game; not to mention a confidence-building bank shot from half court which forced the game into the first overtime.

This upcoming game against the Denver Nuggets shouldn’t be as close as Orlando’s scare, but it should give OKC’s entire roster plenty of opportunities to score. As the Thunder return home for a brief encounter with a Western Conference opponent, Oklahoma City’s confidence should at an ultimate high. Will they ride this new found swagger to a long a fruitful win streak, or will the last three quarters of play greatly affect OKC’s ball movement to the point of early season struggles? 

The result could honestly go either way, but the fact that OKC has their best coaching staff of their young history to date, it should be expected that their matchup with Denver will bring forth yet another W in the end. The Nuggets did pull the first major upset of this young NBA season by beating the Houston Rockets on opening night, but a finish like that shouldn’t be duplicated any time soon. 

Denver is entering this new season with injury problems. They are without one of their best shooters in Wilson Chandler as well their versatile big-man, JJ Hickson. Oklahoma City dominated the boards in their win against Orlando, so we should expect nothing less with a banged up front-court for the Nuggets. Rookie Emmanual Mudiay will easily encounter his toughest task this season in trying to contain Russell Westbrook, but unfortunately for Mudiay, it will just end up as a nasty learning experience. Westbrook shouldn’t be the point leader in this game, however, so expect Kevin Durant to capitalize on a great shooting night he had in Orlando.

Denver likes to be small in the backcourt in order to take advantage of quickness, so we should expect a heavy dose of Andre Roberson in order to match up against sophomore Gary Harris and sharpshooter Randy Foye.

Danilo Gallinari mostly plays the small forward position for the Nuggets, but don’t be surprised if they put him as a stretch power forward, much like what the Magic did with Tobias Harris. That recent experiment proved a success for Orlando, so don’t be shocked if future teams deploy that same strategy as well, that is until OKC tightens up defensively. 

Denver got miserably out-played during their contest with the young Minnesota Timberwolves on Friday, so look for them them to play much better here. Gallinari was held to only 10 points while shooting a terrible 4-13 from the field. That will change with no less than a 25 point effort. Mudiay has committed a lot of turnovers so far, so it should be safe to predict that Westbrook and company will take advantage of that at home.

The Thunder struggled defensively for the first three quarters in Orlando and will again. Although, playing at home should give them more energy to consistently go around screens and contest shots. They should still win by double digits.

This victory should bring the Oklahoma City Thunder to a quick 3-0 start; not too shabby.

Samuel Martell is Oklahoma City’s beat writer at www.RantSports.com. To stay connected, ‘follow’ him on Twitter, ‘like’ him on Facebook, or ‘add’ him to your network on Google.