Warriors vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
vs. 
Golden State Warriors (13-32, 4-19 road) vs. Ok. City Thunder (25-21, 13-10 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 6:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 105.7 (21st), Warriors – 106.4 (17th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (5th), Warriors – 110.1 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.2 (18th), Warriors – 100.6 (1st)
View from the enemy: Warriors World
I really like playing the Warriors. First of all, they aren’t that great. Second, they don’t play very good defense so there’s potential for big stat lines for Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green. And third of all, they’re kind of fun to watch.
If you remember, in the last meeting Golden State was playing with the Thunder extremely well through 32 minutes. It was 63-62 with four minutes left in the third when Corey Maggette blew his stack and picked up two straight technicals. OKC then went on a 16-5 run and closed the game outscoring GSW on a 42-26 run. Why is this important? Because Maggette actually can guard Kevin Durant and if he actually makes it through four quarters, it will be a little more difficult.
Golden State coming in: The Warriors have lost four straight and 8 of 10 overall. They last played Friday night at home, losing to Charlotte. On the road this year, the Warriors are just 4-19.
THE MATCHUPS
As mentioned, Corey Maggette is just about the only guy that can guard Kevin Durant. He’s physical, he’s not afraid to work hard and he’s athletic. Andris Biedrins is back so he’ll help the Warriors considerably on the glass. And Anthony Tolliver from the D-League has been starting at power forward and playing pretty well. So this isn’t the same Warriors squad OKC saw in early December.
Stephen Curry has played really well lately, but I absolutely love Thabo guarding him. Curry is smaller and a jumpshooter first and foremost, so I think Thabo will frustrate the young rookie. Russell Westbrook and Monta Ellis should be fun to watch, but I would assume Westbrook and Thabo will interchange on the two. This game really hinges on shutting down Curry’s outside shot and forcing Ellis into bad decision. He’s going to score some points, but often times he takes 28 shots to score 25 points. That should be the goal for OKC defensively.
Jeff Green had a big game in the first meeting, scoring 21 points on 9-16 shooting with 13 rebounds. But that was against the ultra small GSW lineup that featured Vlad Radmonovich at power forward and Mikki Moore starting at the five.
Golden State’s bench is not very good so the Thunder has an advantage there. Against Charlotte, GSW played 11 guys and only got 26 points. James Harden had a hot hand against Denver Friday, so more production from the Thunder bench will be big.
This should be a take care of business game and move on to the next one. Golden State has beaten a few good teams, but at home, there’s no reason to lose. It’s all about focus and early energy. This is a chance to get back to five games over. Which could potentially put OKC back in the playoff picture.
Tip at 6:00 CST. Go OKC.
Our starting five looks SO MUCH BETTER in third quarters than we do to start the game. I wish they could be better prepared to start games..
If we somehow lose this game and waste this Kevin Durant performance I’ll be angry.
@justin
Seconded, however if we win i will be glad we kept it close enough for him to get 40 minutes and therefore more points
I love you KD.. but no reason to take on double teams man..
Wow.. nobody complain about the officials after this one..
45 points on 21 FGA.. spectacular.
Kevin Durant is amazing.
Russ was also good as the 2nd fiddle.
I heard the MVP chants, sorry I could’t be there to join in too!
KD looked embarassed about the MVP stuff.
In my memory,GSW and LAC are best friends of KD,most of his 40+10 is got from these teams
Heh. When you’re point guard gets 28 points on 14 attempts, 8 assists, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals, and he isn’t the story of the game, that’s pretty nice.
Did you have a dream that it was about the happened? Wow… Ok, it didn’t happen but damn close…
Very good game overall, the Thunder clamped the Warriors down when the game was on the line. Westbrook played well, Green chipped in well, Ibaka was great that providing the rebounds and blocks. And, KD… Wow…
If you were at the game and not watching the stats you’d never think KD had 45 tonight. The most effortless 40-plus point game I’ve ever seen
Usually it would be the story of the game. However, not when there is your Super Star/MVP had 45 pts (16-21 fgs), 11-11 at the line, 11 rbs, 2 asts and 2 stls. MVP, MVP, MVP…
Green and Thabo contributed nicely as well. In a way, it’s kinda of comforting to know that a offensive efficiency is being brought down a bit by Harden because if you had to make a bet as to who would be most improved next year (or by the end of the year) I’d say it’s him. Maynor and Ibaka should improve as well.
RT@sportsguy33
45 for Durant tonight. Missed 5 shots total (FG + FT). List of current/retired players who coulda pulled that off = short.
@Sammy
Amar’e Stoudemire 11/5/08 49 points on 17/21 FGA 15/15 FTA
Carmelo Anthony 04/05/08 47 points on 19/24 FGA 6/6 FTA
Gilbert Arenas 02/25/06 46 points on 13/16 FGA 13/14 FTA
Dana Barros 03/14/95 50 points on 21/26 FGA 4/4 FTA
Michael Jordan 11/16/88 52 points on 24/29 FGA 4/4 FTA
Those are the only other since 1986 a player has scored 45 points or more missing only five shots (or less) total.
Many others have come close.. Bill Simmons’ penchant for hyperbole strikes again.
Whoa, Dana Barros???!? If you had asked me to guess the names on that list, pretty sure I wouldn’t have gotten that one. Wow, agent 0… 46 on 16 shots is pretty damn impressive.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=ys-paulsurgery013110&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
I think our playoff chances just got better
@justin
That’s the 11th time this year we’ve won the 3rd quarter by double digits. We’ve won 9 of those games, and lost the other two by one each, using the 3rd quarter to close a serious deficit. Overall we’re 34-13 in the 3rd quarter.
Too bad for NOH. I am a little disappointed we won’t get to see him this week. Here’s hoping this spurs a firesale
@Sammy
NOH has gotten under the tax threshold, so I doubt their ‘selling’ anything, unless someone takes one of their God-awful contracts. They still have to have a team next year, or no one’s going to show up for the games.
@andrew
Any bets that Billups gets the call for the ASG?
@Tapdog72
No bets, just certainty.
and my fantasy playoff chances just got a lot worse
here’s a positive note:
“The Warriors, leading the NBA with 23.6 points per game on the fast break, didn’t score in transition during the second half.”
woops, that was me up there