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Thunder at Warriors: Pregame Primer

vs.

OKC Thunder (15-3, 7-2 road) at Golden State Warriors (6-11, 4-6 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 9:30 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 107.4 (5th), Warriors– 103.2 (14th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 100.9 (13th), Warriors – 106.4 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.5 (12th), Warriors – 92.1 (13th)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

The Warriors are not a very good team. But you do not just walk into Oracle Arena and expect to win. Good teams like the Bulls and Heat have failed already this season and the Thunder don’t have a great history of winning at Golden State. It’s the first time the Thunder have gone west this season and sometimes, West Coast road trips don’t treat teams well.

Golden State coming in: The Warriors last played Wednesday, beating the Trail Blazers.

Three Big Things

1. Curry and Ellis. It’s an unconventional backcourt pairing, but those two can light you up in a hurry. Thabo Sefolosha has always done a good job guarding Monta Ellis, but give either an inch of space and they’ll be dropping a 25-footer on you. The Thunder need to hold them to something like a combined 12-30 for 40 points and not something like 18-35 for 60.

2. Control. You give the Warriors extra possessions and they will kill you. They’re trying to play better defense under Mark Jackson but they still are offensively focused. Give them rebounds or turn the ball over and you will lose. I remember a game at Golden State last year where the Warriors took some 30 more shots than the Thunder. Can’t let that happen, or anything close to it.

3. Preparation. Focus on the road, focus against bad teams, focus period. The Thunder have been ready consistently at home, but getting ready to go on the road is a bit more of a challenge. The Warriors have a great home court and their fans will be excited. The Thunder need to be ready to go from the tip.

Tip at 9:30 CT. Go Thunder Players.

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Lasers 52 pts

God damn i wish i would've seen this one. The box score made me squeal.

Thunderup_13 10 pts

Is it going too far saying that we have three top 30 players on our team at this moment? I really think we'll get three all-stars this season

SammyThunderer 759 pts

Thunderup_13 So far this season James has played like a top 10 player. Maybe top 5.

RodneyRosavelRusanWilson 390 pts

SammyThundererThunderup_13 We easily have 3 top 5 players at their position... perk and serge are probably top 20 at their position

thunderstruck87 75 pts

And we for sure didn't get any help from cook tonight ha

Old Man Game 192 pts

On NBA TV right now James says we're the best team in the league and then follows that up saying, "we're very humble." LOL.

Lost Ones 128 pts

Old Man Game he aint lying best team

Old Man Game 192 pts

Lost Ones Did you see the interview? It was pretty good, he sort of shocked those guys back in the studio when he said that. They asked, "we know you have the best record but are you the best team in the west?" He answers, "I think we're the best team in the league."

jallenmorris 34 pts

Lost OnesOld Man Game Don't get me wrong, I like THE Reggie Jackson, but just think if we had Maynor manning the second unit? Our starters get a lead, then the the second unit makes it grow. I think that will start to happen later in the year, but Jackson is getting his feet wet. Anyone else but me think Jackson plays a lot like RW did his rookie year? Out of control, super athletic and is able to use that athleticism to make up for being out of position sometimes.

Jooseppi 154 pts

jallenmorrisLost OnesOld Man Game Of course if Maynor was playing the second unit would be better. Reggie has a lot of room to grow and a lot of improvements to make, but he's going to get a lot of meaningful opportunities to learn this year,

OkcBaby 171 pts

Our starters have a different swag this year. They seem more confident. They are getting leads, not giving up leads, staying in longer carrying the bench at times. Seems opposite of last year almost

Lost Ones 128 pts

OkcBaby they had no trust in eachother last season

Thunderup_13 10 pts

OkcBaby While I don't think it's quite where it should be, you can definitely tell that KD and RW are trusting Harden more and giving him opportunities to run things. I just wish they were better at this towards end of close games.

RodneyRosavelRusanWilson 390 pts

I am really proud of Ibaka this game. He stepped up his aggressiveness big time. I was wondering who would be the 4th scorer to step up in games like this. Nice for Ibaka to show everyone he can deliver. KEEP IT UP BIG MAN!

jallenmorris 34 pts

This from the ESPN write-up: "Rookie Klay Thompsonscored 10 of his 14 points in the second quarter and Brandon Rush gave Durant fits defensively." Um, if KD scoring 37 is giving him "fits defensively" then what would KD score if Rush wasn't giving him fits?

jallenmorris 34 pts

An okay writer, but this writer is no Royce Young.

Old Man Game 192 pts

jallenmorris I thought Wright did a much better job than Rush. He was a passable Tony Allen wannabe at times tonight. But whatever, as you say neither one was overly effective or KD wouldn't have scored like that.

jallenmorris 34 pts

Old Man Game Makes me think the ESPN writer needed to fill some space. Or, the writer had a 1-sentence paragraph and "good writing" says you can't have single-sentence paragraphs so threw crap in there he thought no one would notice.

Old Man Game 192 pts

Man we're seriously lucky Reggie didn't blow out his knee on that Nate Robinson ankle breaker. If you watch it his left foot slipped and its probably good it did.

ThunderWins 121 pts

To all of you saying Trade Ibaka. Did this change your mind?

PNT 53 pts

ThunderWins Most around here that were saying that were looking at it as a salary cap deal. We may not be able to sign Harden AND Serge so you got to get something for him instead of letting him walk thru RFA.

SammyThunderer 759 pts

ThunderWins Of course not. The better Ibaka does, the more he'll be able to fetch in trade (though it'd make the trade hurt more). Unless we're willing to go heavy into the tax for multiple seasons (highly unlikely with the harshness of the tax penalty under this CBA), it's either trade Ibaka or let him walk for nothing.

OBoymuzik 143 pts

was i the only one to notice all the fans smiling during the thunders 4th quarter outburst, every GSW fan i saw after the ridiculous fast break was smiling lol

Barry Amenema 138 pts

OBoymuzik you can't help but smile at perfection

RodneyRosavelRusanWilson 390 pts

our stats would look so great without the turnovers... russ kd and james all shot 50%... serge shot better than 50% and had a double double... so did KD and Russ.... pretty sweet

RodneyRosavelRusanWilson 390 pts

wow we had 8 total steals and russ had seven of them... hard working man

ILikePancakes 237 pts

RodneyRosavelRusanWilson Yeah... i love his tactic of hiding behind a guy and bursting out for pass interception.

ou_sas 39 pts

Only the Thunder and Denver have positive road records in the west so far (Minnesota is curiously enough, 4-4). Everyone else is sub .500.

ThunderWins 121 pts

ou_sas The Thunder are road warriors!

ILikePancakes 237 pts

So, who do we root for in Mia-Chi game? I say the Heat.

Lost Ones 128 pts

ILikePancakes chi , heat is more of a threat

ThunderWins 121 pts

Lost OnesILikePancakes It would be nice to get a better record then Heat for Finals!

Jooseppi 154 pts

ILikePancakes Do I pull for John Lucas or Terrel Harris? Tough call.

PNT 53 pts

ILikePancakes Isn't there an NBA bylaw that one always has to root against the Heat? :)

jallenmorris 34 pts

PNTILikePancakes It's part of the new CBA.

SammyThunderer 759 pts

ILikePancakes I say Miami because Chicago seems like the bigger threat at this point to finish with a better record than OKC

ThunderWins 121 pts

SammyThundererILikePancakes But more then likely Chicago will lose in the playoffs to the heat.

Lost Ones 128 pts

ThunderWinsSammyThundererILikePancakes exactly and im confident we can beat chicago they are good defensively but outside of rose who westbrook can contain there useless

OkcBaby 171 pts

I wanna see Perk make Griffin cry.

Tronchaser 68 pts

OkcBaby I like Blake Griffin, but I wanna see this as well. :)

Daniel Hawaii 208 pts

OkcBaby Perk doesn't have to make Griffin cry. Crybaby Blake will do it all on his own.

Jooseppi 154 pts

Was hoping they would keep fouling Durant so he could get to 40.

PNT 53 pts

16-3. I like it. Can't wait until they thump the flopper and the whiner on Monday at Staples.

Barry Amenema 138 pts

PNT Wanna see Perk pat CP on the head

ThunderWins 121 pts

Barry AmenemaPNT Save that after we are up by more then 10 with 2mins to go.

PlusMinusGod 145 pts

RW almost had a quadruple double against the Warriors again. 28 pts, 11 assists, 7 steals, and 6 boards. Oh 7 TOs makes it almost a quintuple double! LMAO!Before his career is over, RW will get a quadruple double, and it will come against the Warriors

PNT 53 pts

thunderstruck87 If he gets 20 and 12 with no blocks every night, I'm cool with that. :)

Lost Ones 128 pts

PNTthunderstruck87 exactly blocks are overrated anyway

jallenmorris 34 pts

Lost OnesPNTthunderstruck87 Blocks sometimes lead to easy points on the other and and alter shots when the guy comes back into the paint again. They remember the block and don't want it again, so they usually take a harder shot, which means more chance to miss.

Trackbacks

  1. [...] figured to be a high-scoring game, and Royce Young’s Pregame Primer observed astutely: “The Thunder need to hold [Stephen Curry and Monta Ellis] to something like a combined 12-30 [...]

  2. [...] and Ellis combined for 11-33 shooting and 28 points. Exactly what I was looking for in the pregame primer. The Warriors got an unexpected 14 from Klay Thompson and 23 from Dorell Wright which kept them in [...]