vs. 
Philadelphia 76ers (5-13, 2-8 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (9-8, 4-4 home)
TV: NBATV; KSBI-HD (Cox 15, HD 715)
Stream: Click Here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CST
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 104.4 (23rd), 76ers – 105.3 (20th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 101.7 (4th), 76ers – 110.7 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.1 (18th), 76ers – 91.3 (23rd)
View from the enemy: Philadunkia
The Sixers are 5-13 on the season. By all accounts, a mediocre to poor team. And that terrifies the crap out of me. What have we learned about the Thunder after a month? Say it with me class. Games like this are not a given.
A win and you feel good because you’re 10-8, you took care of business and you’re on to the next one. A loss and you feel like you’ve taken a step backward. For whatever reason, OKC hasn’t been as good at home as we hoped, but games like this are ones you absolutely shouldn’t drop at home.
Some good news though: Nenad Krstic, Nick Collison and Shaun Livingston are all available to play tonight. That’s a huge boost for the Thunder’s depth. I wouldn’t bet on Livingston seeing extended minutes, but even 5-10 will be a big help. And Collison and Krstic will really help a depleted front line and also Krstic will also help Russell Westbrook as well.
THE MATCHUPS
The Sixers have lost seven straight coming in and are coming off a backbreaking 104-102 loss in Dallas Monday night. Obviously the big matchup is Andre Igoudala against Thabo. Igoudala is the Sixers main scoring option and of course, Thabo is OKC’s lockdown guy. You’ve got to love it when it works out like this. Howeva, Thaddeus Young is a true three but has been playing power forward as Elton Brand has come off the bench. Philly does a lot of mixing and matching with its lineups, so it’s kind of difficult to figure out who is going against who. Igoudala could be guarding Kevin Durant and Thabo could be on Willie Green. Hard to really know honestly.
It’ll be an all-UCLA point guard matchup with Jrue Holiday taking on Russell Westbrook. They never were on the same team at UCLA, but I’m sure they’ve worked out a bunch together. I really like this head-to-head for OKC mainly because Holiday is a rookie and Westbrook has torched rookies so far. Sam Dalembert will look to control the paint and might alter some of Westbrook’s driving, but having Krstic back is huge because it can suck Dalembert from the paint because of Nads’ jumper.
Other than Brand coming off the bench, Philly gets basically no production from there. Rodney Carney, Jason Kapono and Royal Ivey haven’t done a ton this year and with some of the depth returning to OKC, I’ve got to think the Thunder has an advantage there.
Oh yeah, Allen Iverson. I have no clue what the plan is for him tonight. From what I’ve heard, Iverson hasn’t joined the team yet, and will probably wait to make his debut at home Monday night. But I really don’t know for sure. So yes, we could be treated to the return of AI. Which would be neato. But like I said, it’s unlikely. (UPDATE: No Iverson until Monday.)
Philly is one of the worst defensive teams in the league and Oklahoma City is of course one of the best. And you know what they say about defense. Actually, what do they say about defense? This is a key game because this would put OKC back to two games over with the Celtics coming to town Friday. You don’t want to have to beat Boston to keep your head above .500.
Tip at 7:00 CST. Go O-K-Ceeeeeeeeeeee.
@J-Mo
Thanks for correcting me I had to leave the game with about 2min left on the clock, I got to work tomorrow early.
@GAP - Westbrook has 15 dimes.
Typo....Durant not Duran
I just read the ESPN recap of the game. The very last paragraph says that Duran is 7 points shy of scoring 4000 for his career. He'll be the second youngest player to do so behind.....LeBron. (Reminder: LeBron got a year's head start on Durant because LeBron came in before the 19 years old rule went into effect.)
@justin
My sentiments exactly on KD's threes, he look comfortable out there shooting and Russel had atleast 14 dimes. Great game.
Collison played great.
Knocked down the threes this one, nice to see KD get them to drop. 76ers might be the worst defensive team in the league, so many wide open shots.
Well, we knew that coach kind of likes Ibaka and Etan, but now we know he likes Collison even better.
I see that Harden is in with the starters to close out??
According to ESPN.com's box score, we have 13 TOs and 76ers have 13 steals. Not sure how I feel about that.
@Joe
But by that token, we're very bad at shooting the three point shot. Not tonight.
@Joe
No, that would be too easy. Blowouts aren't exciting.
How about some defense of any kind eh?
"I'm not sure if that was the dagger, but I think I saw some steel fly".
Really?
I thought we were supposedly very good at defending the three point shot...ha. Not tonight.
Our announcer, Grant Long just said after a layup by Brand:
"Thats what I call a bull in a china shop"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? WTF?????
Ruh Roh Krstic.
the announcers are seriously talking about "how high" collison got. that just makes me laugh.
its nice to see you again, kevin durant's three point shot
nick :
ok, why would the announcer say “no fear” when holliday shot a three at the buzzer? what else would he do when he just picked up the ball and the buzzer was about to go off? stupid
We have by far and away the worst announcers i have ever heard
Also, can we PLEASE get a Jeff Green sighting this game? It's so frustrating, he's having yet another game where he is basically invisible
WTF???? Elton Brand just INTENTIONALLY punched Kristic in his eye and tried to play it off like he was going for the ball.
I hope he shatters both his knees and never plays again
we just CANNOT put these measly maggots away
Is the game on NBA TV down there in OKC or on local?
ok, why would the announcer say "no fear" when holliday shot a three at the buzzer? what else would he do when he just picked up the ball and the buzzer was about to go off? stupid
what the hell holliday. i watched him last year at ucla, i don't think he hit two straight threes all year. stop that.
attaboy russ. 7 assists, 1 turnover. i like
"finishers like collison at the rim" these announcers are terrible.. never knew collison was feared for his finishing ability
love this small ball line up of RW, Harden, Thabo, Green, and Collison
Loving Collison right now.
seriously, collison has been great
man it's good to have collison back
Ugly so far. Too many turnovers, poor defense. I feel good just being down four.
second quarter has gotten quite sloppy.
wheres our d 33 1st quarter points jeez louis pepper cheese
@andrew
haha, no problem.
@nick
oops just needed to look up haha.. thanks for the link!
the password is just "a"
@nick
it asks for a password?
i've got a stream, its actually quite good.
http://p2p4u.net/watch-live-sports.php?id=9299&link=1
there is an epic lack of defense in this game so far.
@Danny
no, still looking.. it seems that the interweb doesnt find this game to be too interesting... usually i can find like 20 streams that dont work but right now i cant find any streams period..
Dang. The stream is down?
Has anybody found a working stream??
Dayum Thabo!
Don't think you can keep the top two picks out of the game if they're healthy to play, even if they've played like crap (Thabeet) or only a handful of minutes (Griffin). Forgot about Gibson, he's in too. Hansbrough hasn't been that bad, he's gotten plenty of burn, and he's a lottery pick, so he's in.
If I had to guess the rookie roster:
G - Brandon Jennings
G - Ty Lawson
G - James Harden
G - Tyreke Evans
G - Stephen Curry
G - Johnny Flynn
G - Darren Collison
F - Blake Griffin
F - DeJuan Blair
F - Taj Gibson
F - Tyler Hansbrough
F/C - Hasheem Thabeet
I can't remember if the rosters are 12 or 15. If 15, add in Austin Daye, Eric Maynor, and one of Toney Douglas, Rodrigue Beaubois, or Chase Budinger
Dejuan Blair, Taj Gibson will get in the game. Tyler Hansbrough hasn't been good but he'll get in on reputation. I think Griffin gets in even if he plays 15 games or so before the break.
Don't think Serge has much of a shot unless he keeps playing 20mpg+.
@f5alcon
Off the top of my head, Blake Griffin, Dejuan Blair, Tyler Hansbrough, Hasheem Thabeet, Jon Brockman, Austin Daye would all get consideration at the 4/5 over Ibaka, and I would think that there would be additional consideration to stack the team with guards since there are so many impressive ones in this year's crop.
is it by position or by rookie rating, if ibaka was listed as a center he might have a chance, as i cant think of any other healthy rookies at center/PF, griffen and thabeet are injured...maybe taj gibson, austin daye
This should be our bounce back game, and I look for the team to really put on an offensive show. The only worry I have is that with Philly not playing much D, the guys will jump into a gunning mode and let up a lot of points they shouldn't (see Washington game). The 76ers may be down, but they still have a team that made the playoffs last year and a handful of very talented players. KD should get his and more (and I will be disappointed if he doesn't), but Green vs Young in the battle of 3rd year forwards will be big. Further, Westbrook should absolutely have his way tonight. There isn't a guard on the 76ers who can check him, and I am demanding he take advantage.
@Danny
yes Ibaka would qualify to play. But probally will not get the invite. Remember Oden vs Durant hype last year... then oden got an injured (suprise)
@Joe
Man, I'm pretty excited for the Rook/Soph game this year. Maybe Harden will have a chance to get a little individual exposure (since, IMO, his true talent is not very well represented by a quick glance at his numbers).
Would Ibaka even be eligible for to play (as a Rookie) considering his draft class? I realize it's unlikely, but I'm curious.