Suns vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
vs. 
Phoenix Suns (34-23, 14-16 road) vs. Okla. City Thunder (33-21, 16-10 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: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.2 (18th), Suns – 113.7 (1st)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.7 (3rd), Suns – 110.8 (29th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.6 (16th), Suns – 95.7 (4th)
View from the enemy: Valley of the Suns
First, the big news about the game: Taylor Griffin is back! I mean, Steve Nash is out. Nash didn’t even travel with the team so that should help. But if I’ve learned anything about the NBA, it’s that sometimes, teams win without their best players. I’ve seen it happen a lot. So this is absolutely no given. However, I’d rather Steve Nash not play than play, right? My how far we’ve come in a short in OKC. Gone are the days where we went to the Ford Center to see other stars. Now we’re happy we when we don’t get to see them play. I like this better.
This is a classic offense vs. defense game. The Suns stink defensively, but efficiency wise, are tops in the league. Oklahoma City is an elite defensive squad, that struggles at times to put the ball in the basket.
Phoenix coming in: The Suns beat Sacramento Sunday night behind 17 assists from Steve Nash. And Phoenix is hot too, winning eight of their last 10. On the road though, they’re 14-16.
THE MATCHUPS
The problem is, the Thunder don’t match up inside exceptionally well with the Suns. But then again, who really matches up well with Amare Stoudemire? Last time, Serge Ibaka saw a good amount of time inside on Amare and I’d expect more of that. Nick Collison has been playing big fourth quarter minutes lately too, so I’d imagine he’s going to play a big role as well. Robin Lopez has been playing pretty well for Phoenix too, so their front line is really where they’re going to make their money tonight with Nash being out.
Something Phoenix does very well is penetrate and kick to shooters like Channing Frye. And something Oklahoma City does well is rotate and help defend. But what that does is leaves guys open for outside shots. Frye hit five 3s last time and will likely get his looks again.
Grant Hill works hard defensively, but Kevin Durant should have his way. The Suns just don’t have an answer for KD. Jared Dudley will probably get his crack too, but it’s a definite position advantage. Russell Westbrook typically plays some of his best games against the Suns and tonight should be no different with him going against Goran Dragic, though Dragic is faster and a better defender than Nash. Jason Richardson will have to provide most of Phoenix’s secondary scoring, and I like that because Thabo will be guarding him.
The Thunder beat Phoenix, in Phoenix last time and did it by locking down on the defensive end and executing late. It was a game Kevin Durant took over in the fourth quarter and led OKC to victory in. And with the Suns ailing with some injuries, No. 10 is there for the taking. It’s at home and the game is sold out. I would expect an absolutely ballistic crowd here in OKC tonight. Thunder fans are starting to taste what this team is doing and for the rest of the year, I anticipate scary good crowds.
Tip at 7:00 CST. Go Sixth Man.
I’m sure if you asked Kevin Durant if he’d rather win the game or get experience losing games he’d choose ‘win the game’.
These type of games test you as a player, if you bounce back from it you will only get better because of it. I have no doubts the players will bounce back.
@Greg
That was an exagerration by me about wide open shots by green and them. But the reality is that those wide open shots by them weren’t actually available in any of the possessions down the stretch, and I personally feel very comfortable with the sort of shots KD took down the stretch. He was 0-3 on the last 3 shots but all 3 were very makable shots for him and if nothing else he walks away with more experience of taking clutch shots under his belt and an increased comfort level taking shots in those situations. This will pay off for us in the future
Still a shock…
@justin
yes he would say that, and in no way could that be interpreted as being the equivalent of him saying the shots he took down the stretch were bad shots, which is what you’re doing. They just happened to not fall tonight. That happens. Get over it
@justin
I’m not talking about getting experience losing games, it’s more directed toward experiencing these kinds of tight game, high pressure situations. On top of that, experience in letting these games slip away provides a great motivation for our guys. It allows us to step back and correct issues that made us lose the game and gets guys focused on those points instead of having the win act as a barrier against them learning from mistakes. These situations also help develop a player into a clutch shooter. KD has shown a ton of improvement in this in certain games this year, sadly this wasn’t one of them. There is no changing the outcome, but many positives can come from a loss like this. As an organization, our future is much more valuable than our present.
We have a whole team. Why use the team to get offense for the first 8 minutes of the fourth quarter then completely go away from it even if it’s successful?
I agree that if there’s a last shot, a clutch shot. Then give the ball to KD and let him work like the Suns did with J-Rich. But we basically halted our offense with three minutes left and force fed KD, not really looking for offense from anyone else. No real ball movement.. that’s not winning basketball. The Suns were getting killed by our penetration and ball movement, trust me, they were thrilled seeing Kevin Durant taking the shots he was taking.
I actually am glad that they don’t have the chance to let this game register because they have to play tomorrow
We are usually good at bounce back games, particularly on little rest. I’d be more worried if we had a 2 day gap between this game and the next
You’re overlooking the entire team. We need experience as a team finishing games. They won’t get that watching Kevin Durant operate. The Suns operated as a team, didn’t go away from their offense to get back into the game. The Spurs run plays to end games and always look to move the ball if it’s warranted. We don’t do that.
I agree that many positives can come from a loss like this, but many negatives come from it also. We are re-inforcing bad execution in crunch time, and it’s gone on continually the whole season. A lot of times our defense bails us out, once in a while Kevin Durant bails us out, but our offense is most succesful when we’re moving the ball, getting looks on penetration. No reason to go away from that at the end of games. Last shot? Sure give it to KD and see what happens.. otherwise, we’re just building a losing culture instead of a winning one.
@justin
The suns were thrilled seeing KD getting healthy open looks on a night where he already had 36 points on high percentage shooting from the field?
Surely you’re joking
I agree with justin, we should change it up a bit have Russ take it to end the shot clock/game and let him either drive, pull up or dish.
@I am the DON
I’m glad because we, as fans, have less time to sulk before we have another opportunity to get out there and get a win. A win tomorrow night can wash away all the sorrow. Looking ahead to this 5 games in 4 days streak, I really thought it would be a success if we could win 3 of 4. We still have a shot. I didn’t think there was any way we could beat Phoenix and SA on a back to back. I really hope we can steal a win tomorrow.
@I am the DON
Check that 21 footer and tell me again it’s an open look..
And yes, the Suns will take Kevin Durant getting an open look from 20 feet over Kevin Durant or anyone else getting to the basket and either getting fouled or getting a shot attempt. Even James Harden, who shoots horribly at the rim, has a higher shot percentage there than KD does from 20 feet.
Camby went down with ankle injury tonight. -suppresses chuckle-
@justin
Check all those shots vs. the knicks in the clutch and tell me again those are bad shots
Check the contested 3 tonight by kobe and tell me that’s a bad shot
You’re just throwing a hissy fit over the fact that the shots didn’t fall tonight in conjunction with the fact that you just want to get the last word in and like to argue for the sake of arguing
For the 100th time, naturally, shots in clutch 4th quarter situations will be toughly guarded. Apparently that’s news to you
Please hurry up and put up the recap because this will last all night on this thread!
@andrew
*doesn’t suppress chuckle*
*gets sick pleasure from portland failblazers’ misery and makes no apologies for it*
Did anyone just catch what Brian Westbrook said on ESPN? All i caught was something about David Stern’s prostate, and they cut him off and went to Scott Van Pelt who stared at the camera incredulously..
Good night
I’ll just take this debate victory and call it a night now
*hits the showers*
Btw, here’s a nice tweet from Taylor Griffin after the fact:
“Great win for us in OKC 2nite! Great atmosphere too, OKC luvs their bball! Makes me proud 2 claim this city! Back 2 PHX!”
Nice complement to Ford Center.
@I am the DON
Kevin Durant is not Kobe, and a final shot isn’t what I’m even talking about.
I don’t argue for the sake of arguing, I’ve been talking this point consistently since November 3rd, 2009 when we lost to the Lakers. Our offensive execution at the end of games will not win close games in the long run.
You’re citing one game, I’m citing Kevin Durant’s FG% in the clutch, his % from long range compared to our success in the paint, Phoenix’s ability to run their offense successfully going to the basket, etc. Instead of telling me I’m ‘throwing a hissy fit’ how about addressing the points I’ve made or just don’t post a reply at all.
We just lost the game by losing focus down the stretch, just one loss,another game tomorrow.
http://www.twitvid.com/D9D97
This is what i was wondering about. If anyone cares haha.
http://talksportsphilly.com/?p=1642
NBA Power Rankings
@andrew
Haha. I think Van Pelt was cut off saying “Hi, Youtube.”