vs. 
Golden State Warriors (6-13, 2-8 road) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (10-9, 5-5 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 – 105.6 (21st), Warriors – 107.5 (15th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.5 (8th), Warriors – 111.8 (29th)
Pace: Thunder – 91.7 (19th), Warriors – 102.2 (1st)
View from the enemy: Warriors World
Another one of these. The “Slightly scary, but only because the Thunder is perfectly capable of dropping a stinker at any time, but at the same time, OKC should cruise to a victory” type of game. They terrify me. You win and it’s taking care of business. You lose and it feels like a disaster. I feel like I say this every time. But it’s true.
When you’re a team like Oklahoma City, you can’t afford to drop games like this at home. I had visions of a 4-1 homestand, but I’ll take 3-2 with losses against Houston and Boston. That means these guys beat everyone they should, played a good Rockets team tough and well, got obliterated by the Celtics. But a 2-3 home stay is bad. Bad news bears.
The Warriors are kind of your classic mediocre team. They’ve got some good players (Monta Ellis, Corey Maggette, Anthony Morrow), some young, talented but inconsistent guys (Steph Curry, Anthony Randolph) and then the fillers (Radmonovich, Mikki Moore, C.J. Watson). They’re good offensively, but hardly try on the other end. They’ve lost three straight coming in and are 2-8 on the road. They are 2-9 against plus .500 teams and have mostly beat up on the bottom feeders, although they do have nice wins against Dallas and Portland.
THE MATCHUPS
Other than Monta Ellis, you’ve got to like this matchup all the way up and down for OKC. Golden State has no one to defend Kevin Durant (undersized Maggette? Old Devean George? Anthony Morrow?), Radmonovich doesn’t really match well with Jeff Green and the Thunder bench is much deeper. I like Nenad Krstic against Mikki Moore (Andris Biedrins has been out with a lower back strain and is questionable tonight) and I don’t know who Thabo will guard, but I like him locking down whoever that is.
The real X-Factor is Ellis. Westbrook is clearly quick enough to guard him, but Shaun Livingston is supposed to get extended minutes behind Russ tonight and I just don’t see Livingston slowing down Ellis. Ellis gets to the rim at ease and with no real Thunder shot blocker patrolling the paint, it could be an issue. This could be a night to shine for Serge Ibaka and his crashing help defense.
It’s about getting stops and making open shots tonight. The Warriors are going to score some. It just happens. But they also are going to give back a fair share. If you get a couple stops, it’s easy to go on a 14-2, 17-5 run against these guys in a hurry. But they can return the favor if you rush shots, miss good looks or get lazy defensively.
It’s your classic offense versus defense game. However, the Warriors stink on the road, don’t rebound well, are relatively undisciplined and sometimes just don’t show up. All signs point to a Thunder win. But that doesn’t mean it’ll happen. It’s just one game, but these are the games you win if you’re a team serious about contending for a spot in the West.
Tip at 7:00 CST. Go Bad News Thunder.
W
@Anonymous
They have the worst defense in the history of NBA since the 3 point line was in effect.
@Osano-Whoa
That is so true in a more than wonderful way.
@Warren
Well at some point the system will break down because we'll have passed our wins from last season.
@Tapdog72
So what your saying is that we are just slightly ahead of last years pace?
Win 11 last season: Jan 28th
I didn't say the win means nothing, GS is the worst defense in the league, so take some of the nice offense with a grain of salt.
Nice win, despite who we were playing and how many guys they played. This is the NBA and it's play hard or go home. Shaun played a decent game as did Harden.
@Vega
Preach on, preach on. This team can play, didn't they beat someone with just 6 people playing?
And to everyone saying that this win doesn't count because GS has a depleted roster, this very same depleted GS team beat Dallas without Corey Maggette playing a single minute.
Wow we are 11-9!
I'm supposed to be studying for a final but was following our gamecast and just stopped by to say "Holy Harden Batman!"
great to see him getting more comfy and confident and another strong victory for the guys.
@justin
Maybe Brooks was trying to be fair by only playing 8 guys.....
or we can just enjoy the win and worry about that later.
This is not Harden's break out game, please remember who our opponent is..
It's good to get the win, GS lost the game when Maggette was ejected. I'm really annoyed with the fact that KD, Green, Harden et al were left in the game with a 14-15 point lead. The bench should have been emptied with three minutes left. Was it really necessary for Durant to play 44 minutes?
The defense came to play in the second half but, really, this was a depleted GS team to begin with and without Maggette they had like six players.
@Lefty
I agree 1000% I was hoping to see this.
I'm glad to see Harden outplay Curry like this. I love Curry - he's awesome - but it just kind of feels like validation or something, I guess.
is this Harden's breakout game or WHAT?
God i love harden's game, how can a 19 year ld be this smooth, polished and poised? start him already for god's sake Brooks
Can we see this type of hardens game sixty more times.
James is just padding his stats now. lol
And I agree, bring in Ibaka, push Green to the 3. Sit KD down.
andrew :who here would trade uncle jeff straight up for anthony randolph? i would give it some serious consideration..
BTW,
Randolph -24
Uncle Jeff +14
@James.William
Its a rookie showdown. Kind of a game within a game. I like it.
@justin
agreed. durant has played WAY too much this game..
it seems like every time harden scores curry answers with one of his own.
WOOOOOOOOO Harden! So severely spectacular
What's with the shortened rotation this game? Where's Ibaka been? Is it really the point of the year to use an 8 man rotation?
I like the way collison has been playing.
@The DON is SO hot right now
lmao!!
Warren :@The
DON is SO hot right now
You were attacked more for how you said it, not what you said. I think you called Westbrook the spawn of the devil and that he should be shot at point blank range by a tank, or something like that. lol
not "something like that", PRECISELY that
@Thundercat
KD will be at that level soon.
@Thundercat
Coach unless their name is Kobe D-Wade or LBJ.
Can someone explain to me if its a player's choice, or a coach to play big minuets on a team. b/c it seems like durant stays in the game too
long.
@justin
He does. Its called asst. lol
@Warren
Zing!!
@The DON is SO hot right now
See I tried to make a lil sense to you, but you gotta keep saying you're turned on by men...I can't agree with that crap.
Livingston has been alright.. I wish he had some kind of offensive game but he's better than Mike Wilks at least.
@The DON is SO hot right now
I think you forgot the r.
If you're not turned on by harden right now it must mean you're impotent
@GAP
If your his biggest supporter then I am his 2nd. I have always liked his game.
Great no look from Livinston!!
I'm one of Shaun's biggest supporters ever since he put on a Thunder uni. It just takes time for players to get into a groove during the season, plus he hasn't played much this season. He played well last year and that's because he found a groove with the team.
As much as people "dont think Shaun can play pg" I think his vision is far advance anyone on the team. He sees everything and gets the ball where he wants it.
@justin
Amen, I think it was said that he makes his decisions early before the play is even initiated. On the other hand I love the way Shaun is playing tho.
The only reason it really bothers me is that he has the tools to be so much better than he is, so many of his mistakes are mental. You can't be a franchise PG in this league if you make so many mental errors.
@Warren
Hahahahaha! ROFL!
@The DON is SO hot right now
You were attacked more for how you said it, not what you said. I think you called Westbrook the spawn of the devil and that he should be shot at point blank range by a tank, or something like that. lol
Westbrook is wasting a lot of possesions!!!!!!!
@The DON is SO hot right now
Everyone who post here has a player that they're gonna go to bat for (if not more), but it's still your opinion so say what you feel as long as it's not about chubs.