Update: Marc Stein’s power rankings: “Best team in the league that has already been mathematically eliminated from 
playoff consideration? With the Thunder at 16-21 in 2009 and fresh off wins this month over the Mavs and Spurs, I don’t think it’s even close.” That’s good, right?
Alright Thunder management, what’ve you got? The Bulls just launched a campaign for Derrick Rose’s Rookie of the Year candidacy. I think the best campaign would be for Russell Westbrook to completely outplay him for the rest of the season, but that’s just me. That could do a lot more than some website with a couple quotes on it. But what do I know?
George Karl thinks “guys like Durant” get calls because they’re skinny: “It seems like skinny guys get more call than big guys or thick guys,” Karl observed. “Like when (Kevin) Durant goes in there he gets pushed off and you can see him get pushed off. Melo is so strong that he gets hit with the same hit — and I’m saying that all over the league — thick guys don’t get pushed off their spot where you can see a skinny guy get pushed off his spot so the whistle blows. I don’t think that’s fair. I think if there’s contact and there’s dislodging, if it’s only six inches instead of 16 inches it’s still a foul.”
Ball Don’t Lie, Behind the Box Score: “The Thunder had one turnover in the first half, and if that doesn’t speak to the type of players that Sam Presti has brought in, and the uncomplicated-but-efficient type of offensive sets that Scott Brooks has introduced, then we’re just going to have to talk about the Timberwolves. No? OK, Oklahoma City really seems to enjoy playing with its current roster. As soon as Thabo Sefolosha sat for Kyle Weaver in the first quarter, Thabo was immediately off the bench pointing things out to Weaver after a blown defensive assignment. And instead of acting insulted, or too sensitive, Weaver listened to the man who essentially stole his starting job a month ago. Very cool. And instead of worrying about their power being usurped by a guy in his mid-20s usurping their authority, the Thunder coaching staff let Thabo make his point. This team talks, on both ends, and it does selectively run, but most of the damage against the Timberwolves was done in the half court. I don’t think the Thunder are 18 points better than the Timberwolves over a 24-minute span, Minnesota’s lackadaisical play contributed to that early deficit, but taking down a team like Minnesota 57-39 in the first half is worth a nod in OKC’s direction.” Read more…
Other
vs. 
Thunder (19-50, 5-28 road) at Minnesota Timberwolves (20-49, 10-25 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma HD (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 2:30 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.4 (28th), Minnesota: 106.3 (23rd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.2 (20th), Minnesota: 111.3 (26th)
Pace:Thunder: 93.6 (8th), Minnesota: 92.0 (14th)
What a big game – loser takes last place in the division, winner takes second to last place. Woowee, intense. The last time the Thunder visited Minnesota, they took a pretty good drubbing. The kind of drubbing where the game was over basically in the first eight minutes and you were just left watching to see how many threes Randy Foye might hit. It was a rough night for OKC as Minny rolled 129-87. And it wasn’t even that close.
But the Wolves are still without big man Al Jefferson and while Kevin Love has played well in his place, he’s no Al Jefferson. The Wolves aren’t great at home (10-25) but they have won two of three at the Target Center and OKC is tied for the league’s worst road record at 5-25. But hey, we’ve won two of five on the road. So it’s the league’s worst home record against one of the worst road records. Should be fun!
Last time these two teams tangled, the Wolves were having their best month of the season and the Thunder caught them in their hottest stretch. It seemed like it was an endless barrage of threes and the Thunder offense never got even close to getting on track. And while the Thunder defense has slipped a bit since Kevin Durant has returned (not really that much in all reality though), the offense hasn’t clicked that well. KD went a very un-KD-like 10-24 from the field against Utah and the supporting cast didn’t do a very good job to pick up the slack.
Tough to place any kind of expectations on this game because you never know what you’re going to get with the Thunder on the road. Heck, kind of hard to say what you’ll get any given night. I feel like it should be a win, but who knows. And plus, add in the fact that nobody will be watching so that takes the importance of this game to even a lower level. But I’ll still be watching… during commercials.
Tip is in, oh crap, an hour! Go Thunder.
Other
vs. 
Utah Jazz (42-26, 13-20 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (19-49, 14-21 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.4 (28th), Utah: 110.3 (6th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.2 (20th), Utah: 106.5 (9th)
Pace:Thunder: 93.6 (8th), Utah: 92.6 (10th)
Remember what happened the last time the Jazz were here? OKC pounded them by 21 prompting the Salt Lake Tribune’s beat writer to pen this oh so hilarious lead: “Because there’s nothing to do in Oklahoma City, the Jazz had no excuse for not showing up Wednesday night against the Thunder and suffering a 114-93 humiliation at the hands of the NBA’s worst team.” I remember laughing at that. How clever.
Suffice to say, it would be fun to win again. Maybe ol’ Ross Siler could write something like, “The Jazz didn’t play well in Oklahoma City again – and they should have, because OKC is boring. See, because there’s nothing to do in that city. Except ride horses and pitch horseshoes. Which is exactly what Deron Williams and Carlos Boozer were seen doing before the game. Maybe that’s why they lost.” But the thing is, it’s not a stretch for the Thunder to do it. For whatever reason, a team as solid as Utah is top to bottom, they are very much below average on the road. They’re 29-6 at home, but just 13-20 on the road. They average two points less a game, three percent lower from the field, eight percent lower from three and turn it over two more times away from SLC.
And surely after a semi-disappointing loss against Chicago, OKC will come out ready to play for this one. The defense wasn’t good, the rebounding was worse and the Thunder just didn’t play well at all in the second half. But Utah is a very good squad and so it’s not like we should have expectations of a win. And they need every win they can get as they’ve lost three of four and seem to be slipping a bit in the Western playoff standings. So add that to what the Thunder did to them last time they were here and it’s unlikely the Jazz don’t come out ready to play. Read more…
Other
Not much Thunder news out there today with that tournament that some people are interested in going on… 
Ian Thompson looks at five annual critcisms of the NBA compared to college basketball: NBA players don’t care: It’s true that many of them are selfish at the expense of the team. But you’ll find this to be true in the NCAA as well. In another sense, NBA players have never cared more about their careers. Because there is so much money at stake, they train year-round and practice more often than players of previous generations. I can tell you that it drives college coaches crazy when their players leave the program to undertake a 24/7 workout and diet regimen in preparation for the NBA draft. Kevin Love transformed his body after last year’s NCAA tournament to improve his stock for NBA talent evaluators. Don’t you think UCLA coach Ben Howland would have appreciated that commitment on behalf of the college program?
John Hollinger looks at five lottery teams that could make a run to the playoffs next year: “Despite having their doctor nix the Tyson Chandler trade, the Thunder made a less-discussed coup at the trade deadline with shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha. He gives the team the solid wing defender it’s been missing for most of the past two years and allows Jeff Green and Kevin Durant to play forward full time. Throw in Russell Westbrook’s surprisingly fast development and Nenad Krstic’s arrival and the talent base is growing rapidly. Also, the Thunder are poised to add even more talent this summer. In addition to another high draft pick of their own and another from Denver (technically the better of Denver’s or San Antonio’s, which almost certainly will be the Nuggets’), the Thunder have beaucoup cap space to either spend in a buyer’s market or use in a trade. And then there’s this little fact — since starting the year 3-29, the Thunder are a very respectable 16-20. With Durant coming on like gangbusters and Green and Westbrook also showing major progress, getting somewhere near .500 next season won’t require much of a push.”
Serge Ibaka update: The big guy has continued to play more minutes lately than he did early in the season. His last six he’s averaging 9.5 ppg on 60 percent shooting with 7.0 rpg and 1.84 blocks per game. That’s all highlighted by a game against DKV Joventut (Ricky Rubio’s team) where Ibaka went for 16 points, 15 rebounds and a block in 26 minutes. Read more…
Other
Ah, the best day of the year. So much buildup, so much anticipation and today here we go. What will we see? Will a 16 
finally beat a 1? Will there be a memorable buzzer beater? Such a wonderful time. (And it’s also a really good time to get a good, hard look at some of the top college prospects too…)
Eric Musselman ranks the players in the tournament based on pro potential.
Chad Ford looks at pro prospects by region in the tournament: “Blake Griffin: Griffin is the consensus No. 1 pick in the draft, and, short of a horrific injury in the tournament, nothing will be able to knock him off that perch. He’s as close to a sure thing as there is in the draft, and his performance in the tournament shouldn’t have a big impact on his stock one way or the other.” (One thing I’d love to point out is that you shouldn’t completely fall in love with a player just because he has a nice tourney. That’s an incredibly small sample size and while it can show you what a guy can do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s what he will do.)
Ric Rucher talks with Jim Traber about the Thunder’s future and Bill Simmons (audio inside). Listen to this. It’s EXCELLENT stuff.
Empty the Bench named its second round Rookie of the Year and Kyle Weaver was honorable mention: “In and out of the lineup until February (mostly out), the swingman from Washington State has, if anything, proven he’s a nice compliment off the bench behind the Thunder’s nucleus of young, rising stars. He’s recently been replaced in the starting five by trade-deadline acquisition and ETB favorite Thabo Sefolosha; he does a lot of the same things as Thabo, just without as much panache and with a much lower ceiling.”
And Weaver got a little love from David Thorpe in this week’s rookie rankings too: “Weaver filled in admirably for the Thunder when Kevin Durant went down with an ankle injury. Weaver scored 10-plus points in four straight games and looked like he had some potential as a 3-point shooter. Considering that he was drafted for his defense, those are positive signs. He has a chance to be a nice bench option for the Thunder next season.” Read more…
Other
BOX SCORE
The Thunder’s had two major calling cards during this recent good stretch of basketball – defense and rebounding.
And OKC did neither well tonight. At all.
Chicago outscored the Thunder in both the third and fourth quarters, outrebounded OKC by 11 and seemed to score at will in stretches as the Bulls broke a seven-game road losing streak 103-96 in front of a sold out Ford Center.
This was just one of those frustrating losses that really reminded me of the competitive but tough December OKC had. Kevin Durant was solid scoring 28 and grabbing six boards (but was 2-9 from the floor in the second half). Jeff Green was alright with 18, but only had three rebounds. Russell Westbrook had 15 points and six assists, but wasn’t that great in the second half. Nick Collison was excellent off the bench with 12 and 13, but he was really the only guy that hit the glass. A couple guys played good, nobody played great and a couple guys played bad. You add those three things together and a seven-point loss sounds about right.
After the first half, I was feeling really good about the Westbrook/Derrick Rose matchup. Westbrook had 12 points on 5-8 shooting with three assists and just one turnover. Rose had five points on 2-4 shooting with three assists and five turns. The second half, they swapped. Rose absolutely took the game over. He went a perfect 10-10 from the field in the second half (almost all sweet jumpers) and turned it over just once. Westbrook went 1-8 with three points, had three dimes and turned it over three times. Westbrook wasn’t bad by any means, but Rose was excellent. Read more…
Other
vs. 
Chicago Bulls (31-37, 10-26 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (19-48, 14-20 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma HD (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.4 (28th), Chicago: 107.2 (18th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.2 (18th), Chicago: 108.4 (17th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.6 (8th), Chicago: 93.2 (9th)
Tired legs anyone?
The Bulls are coming off an exhausting 127-121 win over Boston last night in Chicago. It was a physically and mentally draining game for the Bulls who desperately needed it to hang on the eighth spot in the East. So common sports sense says, Chicago should come out flat against a “lesser” opponent. The Thunder’s already got one win over the Bulls (OKC is looking for a season saaweeep) and Chicago is mangled in the ever fascinating Eastern eighth spot playoff race. Where 10 games below .500 and still in the playoffs happens!
One matchup will have most everybody’s interest though. Brad Miller vs. Nenad Krstic Russell Westbrook vs. Derrick Rose. These two are separating themselves in the Rookie of the Year race as the two top candidates and a head-to-head win could be a nice swing vote in favor of either guy. Read more…
Other
So everyone had their bracket filled out three days and I know I’m late with this, but I wrote this column a couple years ago and I always make it a point to revise and re-share it with friends every year. And you guys are my friends, right? Since we’re all literally counting the seconds until the Madness tips tomorrow, how about another column to kill some time until the tournament?
It’s March, and that means madness is only minutes away. It also means that last Sunday night, everyone from Digger Phelps to my grandmother filled out an NCAA Tournament bracket. (And grandma has beat Digger three years running probably because she doesn’t think every single team is “salad” and also understands how the bracket actually works.)
Somehow, the filling out of brackets has become bigger than the tournament itself. Heck, the President took a step away from hope and change and saving the world to fill one out. The brackets have become so big, someone needs to define some Madness bracket etiquette, and I’m going to do just that.
1. Limit yourself to one bracket. There is a reason this rule is first. It’s the most important rule, and if you just follow one, please let it be this one. Even if you’re in 14 pools, fill out one bracket, and send it in 14 times. No one wants to hear some guy say, “Yeah, in one of my brackets I totally picked Bucknell over Kansas! I’m so smart!” That means you picked it wrong 13 other times, you dolt. You haven’t called anything, you aren’t smart and I hate you. By filling out 14 different brackets, you’ve just increased your odds of getting at least one lunatic upset right.
(The addendum here is that if you enter in ESPN’s bracket pool thing, you can do more than one because money is at stake and you increase your odds. Hey, we are in a recession you know. You’re just not allowed to talk about any of your extra brackets.) Read more…
Commentary
March Madness
Russell Westbrook back on top of SI’s rookie rankings: “Count Nuggets coach George Karl among those who believe 
Westbrook has caught up to Rose and warrants serious Rookie of the Year consideration. “I like his stride, his power, his courage to learn a new position,” Karl told the Denver Post. “I think by March and April, I’m going with Westbrook.” Westbrook, who is adjusting to playing full time as a point guard, committed a season-high eight turnovers in Saturday’s loss to Phoenix. Therein lies the obvious rub with the raw playmaker: His eye-popping 226 giveaways in 67 games (3.4 average) rank second only to Dwyane Wade.”
Is Jeff Green the NBA version of Evengi Malkin? (that’s a hockey player): “It really seems like he’s doing somethinguseful in every single play, and his mark on a game is singular and unmistakable for this Thunder team. There’s a definite Swiss-army-like quality of utter utility to the guy, but somehow- even given the flashes we’ve seen of his true potential thusfar- he remains an undefined specimen. It’s like he’s a secondary (or even tertiary) figure in a mythology he’s helping to build. Green’s game is like a Funk Brothers Motown track, or an unwritten gospel… I’ve been struggling to find a proper illustrative analog from within the Association, but it turns out that the athlete who most frequently comes to mind when I consider Green isn’t actually a basketball player at all. Jeff Green really reminds me most of Evengi Malkin, the NHL center for the Pittsburgh Penguins.”
Take 15 minutes (or 20, depending on how fast you read) and digest this fanpost from Sactown Royalty. It’s got a few ties to OKC and really kind of illuminates the lunacy and hypocrisy of so many people openly talking about moving franchises while still casting stones at Oklahoma City: “Longevity can’t be the only criteria, though. As we’ve all seen, a bedrock franchise with storied history, All-Star players, and established ties to the community can still be ripped from a city like Seattle, basically at the whim of ownership. When discussing the egregiousness of any potential move, fan support has to be considered as well. (Incidentally, you’ve been pretty vocal in opposition to the Sonics move to OKC–no friends at the Oklahoman, I guess?)”
I feel horrible about taking some kind of strange satisfaction in this: “New Orleans is 9-3 since his return. However, he has not played of late with the spark that led to his having three double-doubles in his first seven games back — when he averaged 9.9 points and 10.1 rebounds — and during the Hornets’ current two-game losing streak, Chandler has averaged four points and eight rebounds. “My ankle is banged up, but I’m going to continue to try and play through it, ” Chandler said. “But it’s definitely affecting me, because a lot of the stuff I get comes from energy and hustle, and I don’t feel like I’m able to do that.” Chandler and Hornets Coach Byron Scott said Chandler’s sprained left ankle, which forced him to miss 14 consecutive games in January and February, has not fully healed. And with the Hornets’ bench continuing to play ineffectively, Scott does not appear to have many options. However, he said if Chandler’s ankle continues to affect his mobility and performance, he would consider playing him fewer minutes, opting to use reserve Sean Marks.” Read more…
Bolts
Darnell Mayberry reports:
Forward D.J. White has been cleared by team doctors to participate in full-contact practices and play in games. With 15 games remaining on the season, however, it’s unclear if White will make his debut this year or if Thunder officials will hold him out of games until 2009-10.
White, the 29th overall pick in last year’s draft, has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery to repair a benign growth in his jaw. White underwent the first of two surgeries this season on Oct. 13 to remove the growth in his jaw. Doctors performed a second surgery on Jan. 4 to take a bone graft from the right side of his hip and mend the bone in his jaw. He had a routine check up Monday and received news that he has recovered enough to resume all basketball activities.
White still has visible swelling on the left side of his jaw but has been an active member of light practices and shoot-around sessions, doing everything but full-contact drills. Whenever White takes the court, he is expected to add depth to the Thunder’s frontcourt with interior toughness, a knack for rebounding and a polished offensive game that includes a consistent jump hook from the left block and shooting range out to 17 feet.
“He’s very athletic and he’s very active, especially on the boards,” said rookie Russell Westbrook, who teamed with White during the Orlando Summer League last July. “He can score and bring people out to the elbow. He’s going to be a good asset for us, especially rebounding and blocking shots.”
Great news not just for the Thunder, but even more for D.J. It’s got to be rough to be shelved for virtually your whole rookie season while you watch teammates grind it out and you’re sitting on the bench in a suit every night. Especially with something as random as a growth on your jaw. And this hopefully means he’s over this little issue.
He can do a lot for OKC off the bench. He makes the Thunder a lot deeper and can add a very good physical presence in the post, rebound and block shots. People kind of forgot about him, but he was the Big 10 player of the year last year and a second team All-American. Dude can play.
UPDATE: White has been assigned to the Tulsa 66ers and is expected to rejoin the team and make his debut with OKC before the end of the year.
News
Chris Tomasson of Pro Basketball News reflects on the big trade that wasn’t: “The Thunder will get a chance to use its 
ample salary-cap room this summer to try to bring in a player similar to Chander. But for now, each time Chandler yanks down another rebound for the Hornets, they’re just trying to forget in Oklahoma City. Thunder coach Scott Brooks sounds as if he would like a procedure done similar to the one in the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, in which unhappy relationships are wiped from one’s mind.”
Henry Abbott commenting on the same story: “Is it better to be high or low-risk? It’s one of the great debates of the ages, and there are no easy answers. I have tremendous respect for both positions, and realize you have to have both in your arsenal, ready to deply with a nuanced sense of what’s called for, whether we’re talking about investing or anything else. Which brings us to Carlan Yates, M.D. He’s reportedly the doctor who cried foul on Tyson Chandler’s toe, and advised the honchos of the Thunder who then canceled the trade that would have moved the young big man from New Orleans to Oklahoma City. Yates also knows that toe well, having operated on it years before. The Thunder made a very conservative call: Paying big dollars to an injured player is one of the surest ways to ruin your NBA franchise. Assuring yourself of avoiding that scenario is admirable. This brand of conservatism allows that you’ll miss some opportunities, but in the long run you’ll look smart by avoiding catastrophe. But on the other hand — sooner or later, Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, and Russell Westbrook will be in need of a top shelf big man, and there are precious few ways to get them. At some point, the team’s investment in that young squad will be so great that it would be insane not to unlock the teams’ full potential with a quality big man. And quality big men are so precious that they almost always come with caveats, worries, and excessive contracts. In other words, it’s a risky business, but it’s a risk champions take.
“Behind the Box Score, where the Thunder are quite fun: “This game was very entertaining. The Spurs kept turning it over, the Thunder kept taking advantage. The crowd rose to the occasion, the Spurs could string together a long enough run to keep the Thunder at bay, and the upset didn’t really seem like an upset by the fourth quarter. Tony Parker (28 points, seven assists, five turnovers) seemed unstoppable at times, Oklahoma City’s backcourt wasn’t exactly the most efficient, but Russell Westbrook and Thabo Sefolosha might be the most exciting pair of starting guards in the NBA, and Nenad (the Rebounding Machine) Krstic has been quite the pickup for da Thundah. Also, Tim Duncan is clearly not healthy, Ime Udoka has never been the defensive stopper mainstream media pegged him as (he’s good, but nowhere near Bruce Bowen; and Bruce Bowen hasn’t been Bruce Bowen-like all season), while Kevin Durant was a few spin-outs away from 40 points. He had to settle for 25 in the win. Oklahoma City is so fun to watch. Even when just putting up 78 points.” Read more…
Bolts
vs. 
San Antonio Spurs (44-21, 21-12 road) vs. OKC Thunder (18-48, 13-20 home)
TV: FS Oklahoma HD (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.7 (28th), San Antonio: 108.4 (15th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.5 (20th), San Antonio: 104.0 (5th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.7 (8th), San Antonio: 88.7 (26th)
It’s the pupil versus the master. The understudy against the… study. The mentor and the protege. OKC has been said to be following the Spurs model to build a franchise and is off to a decent start building around a solid young nucleus. Now if we could only get Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili…
Hopefully the Thunder roster pays close attention to everything the Spurs do tonight – pre-game warmups, how they do their two-line layup drill, how they high-five – because if we’re going to copy the model, let’s do it right. Obviously something works for those guys because they’ve been the elite team in the league the last 10 years and just always seem to take care of business when they’re supposed to. They interchange parts but keep the core the same and just win. If we are going to plagiarize someone, we picked a good writer to copy.
The Spurs come in having won five of six and in their last 17 games, only four opponents have scored more than 100 points. That’s not a great sign seeing as OKC hasn’t topped the century mark in eight games. BUT, Oklahoma City has won three straight at home and is a pretty salty 10-6 at the Ford Center in 2009. Read more…
Preview
Update: Marc Stein’s power rankings: “No one would dare claim for a second that the Thunder are better without 
Durant or that the competition during their 5-2 surge without him was as good as February’s. OKC’s defense was stingier without him, though.”
The New York Daily News looks at draft slam dunks and potential misses: “Hasheem Thabeet, UConn, junior: The defensive force averages 13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 4.5 blocks. “He’s a lot like the Sene kid, but he’s already better,” said one scout, comparing him to the ex-Oklahoma City backup center, Mouhamed Sene. Like Sene, Thabeet is also limited at the offensive end. Listed at 7-3.”
Kevin Durant is using Twitter. Or at least it looks like someone pretending to be Kevin Durant is using Twitter: Highlights – “Any girls lookin for a 6’10 skinny dude???? holla at me.” “I need a Girlfriend.” “icing my ankle. hopefully i can bump tomorrow….shout out to everybody. much love.” “my brother from another russ westbrook had a triple dizzle….if he aint rookie of the year den its a travesty.” Maybe it’s him, maybe it’s not. Either way, it’s no Shaq Twitter.
HoopsWorld says Scott Brooks deserves to have the interim tag dropped: “When asked if he had talked to any other interim coaches about the challenges associated with the position, Brooks replied: “I just went with my gut. I believe you have to stick with who you are and what you’re about and coach with your heart. If you’re trying to do what other people do or coach how they coach, players can see that immediately and you don’t want to be looked at as a phony or a fraud. But if you’re true and authentic, players respect that. “Talking to some of the Thunder’s players both on and off the record, it sure seems like Brooks is winning the respect of the locker room. Don’t be surprised at all if Brooks has the interim tag removed and is the head coach of the Thunder moving forward. Thus far his performance very much warrants it.” Read more…
Bolts
vs. 
Oklahoma City Thunder (18-47, 5-27 road) at Phoenix Suns (34-31, 19-13 home)
TV: KSBI (Cox 15)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 9:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.7 (28th), Phoenix: 112.2 (4th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.5 (20th), Phoenix: 110.9 (24th)
Pace: Thunder: 93.7 (8th), Phoenix: 95.5 (4th)
A return to the desert to take on the Suns. You know, the team that scored 140 on OKC the last time they played. You know, scored 79 points on the Thunder in the first half. Yeah, that team.
But, luckily for OKC, the Suns aren’t in their “score 140 points on everybody” mode anymore. They’ve lost six in a row and allowed 118 points a game in that stretch. One thing to note about their losing streak – it was against the likes of Orlando, Miami, Houston, San Antonio, Dallas and Cleveland. Not exactly pushovers. In fact, since Alvin Gentry took over, the Suns haven’t really lost to anyone they shouldn’t have. They haven’t beat anybody they shouldn’t have, but still. Against sub-par opponents, they seem to really take care of business. But this doesn’t feel like the Nuggets game where a good team is desperate to get back on track. It feels more like a team is teetering on totally falling apart. So this is a big game for the Suns.
Kevin Durant is supposed to return, but I’m not sure how many minutes he’ll play. He’s said that more than anything, he’s concerned about his conditioning more than his ankle. And with the frenetic pace Phoenix plays at, KD may only see 25-30 minutes – which would probably be smart. Read more…
Preview
OK, I’m absolutely obsessed with NBA.com’s hotspots. Like a 14-year-old that just discovered Google images, I get started with it and I’ll spend an entire afternoon comparing and contrasting with them.
I wrote after the Sacramento game the recent phenomenon (maybe that’s not the right word), with Nenad Krstic and his home and away jumper. It seems lately, at home he’s been automatic with it, but on the road he’s struggling a bit. Overall, he’s 28-43 (65 percent) from the floor in the last three home games and 9-34 (26 percent) on the road. Pretty solid difference there. Maybe he’s was fatigued with the four games in five days. Maybe they were simply just off nights, which happen to shooters all the time.
But while for the season his overall field goal percentage numbers aren’t that different home vs. away (50 percent at home, 44 percent on the road), there is a pretty large difference on Krispy’s signature shot, the distance jumper.
HOME
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Commentary
