vs. 
Oklahoma City Thunder (18-15, 9-8 road) vs. Chicago Bulls (14-17, 11-6 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 – 106.1 (19th), Bulls – 99.3 (29th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 104.1 (8th), Bulls – 104.8 (10th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.1 (19th), Bulls – 91.2 (21st)
View from the enemy: By The Horns
This is one of those games where the scale can tip a bit. Coming off a tough overtime loss in Milwaukee just two night ago, the Thunder will likely be a little tired. They’ll likely be a little lethargic in the early going. Especially after all that shopping Jeff Green said they did on Michigan Avenue yesterday. Thunder be shoppin’.
While OKC comes in off a loss, Chicago has won four straight and while that’s nice, consider the streak has New Orleans, Indiana and Detroit in it. The most impressive win in the streak was Saturday against the Magic. So the Bulls are playing better and Oklahoma City comes in off a loss. A win stops the streak of a hot team and rights the ship. That would be an impressive thing to do for this young Thunder squad.
This game should play right into the Thunder’s hands, as Chicago struggles offensively. Both teams rely on defense, but OKC has more offensive firepower. It’s all about defense tonight and we might see another ugly slugfest much like what we saw in Milwaukee Saturday. The Bulls are 28th in the league averaging just 92 points per game, but do average a full point more at home.
THE MATCHUPS
Time for a third round of Westbrook v. Rose. I’d say it’s tied 1-1 so far in both wins for each player and quality of game played. Derrick Rose has really played well lately, finding his jumper and also getting to the rim much better. He’s creating and dishing really well. But you know what, you could just as easily insert Russell Westbrook’s name at the beginning of that sentence too. It’s going to be a great matchup. The winner of it likely wins the game.
I would bet Thabo would get time on Rose too, mainly because of Rose’s penchant for taking jumpers. As we all know, Thabo defends that style game pretty well. Joakim Noah is a little scary because he’s such a force attacking the offensive glass. He could potentially grab seven or eight offensive boards by himself tonight. It’ll be huge for Nenad Krstic, Jeff Green and Serge Ibaka to keep him off. Taj Gibson is the other guy on the front line and while a rookie, he does a pretty good job.
Luol Deng is lengthy and might be able to pester KD a bit, but for the most part, I think Durant is due for another big night. Or in Durant’s relative terms, an average night.The Chicago bench is pretty stout with Brad Miller, Tyrus Thomas and John Salmons coming off it. James Harden might play a huge role tonight in balancing the benches.
It’s big for the Thunder to stop the losing at one and end another hot team’s streak. These are the games the Thunder typically takes care of, especially before the loss to the Bucks. But all signs point to being in the favor of Chicago, which is kind of the way I like it. I think OKC plays its best when they’re the dog in the fight.
You better watch too. This game now features both the Western and Eastern Conference Players of the Week in Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose.
Tip at 7:00 CST. Go Western Conference Player of the Week.
The best option for now I guess is play krstic and collison as starter, ibaka and green come off the bench. This provide balenced off/def, and enough ball movement. Because from what I see, krstic and ikaba both are not good at passing the ball.
@Free Mullens
Thats where we are different, because i don't mind that contract. Post players are expensive, but it expires next year which in my head makes it a good trade chip both for summer and the next deadline.
Also money aside would you rather have thomas and Harping or Dalembert?
@The DON
And Dionte Christmas got arrested while driving Speights' vehicle, which happened to have a gun in it. I'm all for the right to bear arms, but I would be a bit hesitant to trade for a guy who feels that he needs to keep one in his car.
@jdstorm
Dalembert is horrific. Speights is borderline retarded with the IQ of a housecat. No way Presti goes for them
Jeff Green doesnot have even single outstanding NBA skill, this guy cannot creat own shoot, and he cannot rebound, IMO if we keep him for good chemistry, he is not worth more than 3m per year, give him the same contract Tabo signed last summer is good enough, otherwise I would say he is overpaid.
@jdstorm
I'm sure they could. I just wouldn't want to take Sammy D's contract to get Speights. Speights isn't good enough to merit taking on $12 million next year.
@FreeMullens
Why do you think Speights and Ibaka couldn't play togeather?
@jdstorm
I don't want Speights. I like Chewie more.
@Keith
Kaman is playing at an All-Star level. There is no way that he gets traded. Even the Clippers aren't that stupid.
@ free Mullens
If Philly would consider giving up Iggy for T-mac to free up some cap space, and we are offering them space for the player they most want to get rid of. We might need to throw in a 2nd Rd pic. but we wouldn't need to give up Chewie.
@jdstorm
Philly is more likely to give up Iguodola than Speights. Brand and Dalembert have been atrocious. Speights is the only reason Philly has hope for a frontcourt.
@Free Mullens
You sure you want to put Kaman on that list? That guy has been on the market for years. I'm not sure he's the guy Presti targets, but still.
@Raynor
It would depend on what they want in exchange. I know he's been playing poorly, but I'm still hesitant to trade Jello Green. He's KD's best friend, and we don't know how he would play as the sixth man. I'd see how he is coming off the bench before trading him. I'd offer GS a package of DJ White, both first-round picks, Etan, Weaver, and the rights to DeVon Hardin and Yotam Halperin for Biedrins.
@jdstorm
Hmm. An intriguing idea, however, I don't think that Philly is that interested in giving up Speights, and, to be quite honest, I prefer Ibaka to Speights any day.
Biedrins is not bad option, and warriors had reported shipping whole team. But I really like D West, and his decreasing contract.
I think Presti will do something Unexpected and out of the box like
Ethan Thomas and Matt Harping's contract to Philly for Samuel Dalembert and Marreese Speights
@The DON
All of the big name centers that we talk about (Biedrins, Bogut, Jefferson, Kaman, Noah, and Marc Gasol.) are key components to their teams. Even with the genius of Presti, I guarantee that we will be unable to get any of those guys. If we get one of them, I will change my name to "The DON is a Brilliant Genius" and keep it that way until opening day next season. You have my word.
@Free Mullens
I never underestimate Presti
@The DON
Noah is one of Chicago's keys to the future. There is no way they would even consider trading him.
Jeff played 14 minutes tonight. Far, far less than everyone else. The entire bench played more than he did.
It was obvious that Brooks had a guard heavy offense in store for tonight. Russell, James and Maynor combined for 38 shots. The rest of the roster combined for 29.
Okafor would be an upgrade no doubt, but he has stone hands, is stiff as hell, and can;t finish around the basket. Also his contract is too big.
I think Presti could do better than him.
I'd love Noah on our team.
@Free Mullens
We wouldn't even need to include the donuts.
Okafor is especially interesting because we could probably get him for Etan and a bag of donuts.
I dont think people understand how amazing we could be RIGHT NOW, not in the future, but right this very second if we had two semi-respectable frontcourt players starting at C and PF. We don't even need all-stars. just hard working stereotypical post players, like a carl landry and luis scola
The DON :From this day forth, Nenad Kristic shall be referred to as: NoNads
From this day forth, Jeff Green shall be referred to as: Jeff Yellow
Or Jello ;-)
@justin
Games like these make me really think hard on Okafor. I still don't think he is the missing piece, but I can't even argue that he would do a heck of a lot for our rebounding. I still would prefer a Bosh or Jefferson, but we don't know if either will ever be available to us.
justin :Russ has taken too many shots but he’s certainly making his presence known.
KD only 14 shot attempts, usually not a winning formula for us.
P>
That's actually really scary watching it. Westbrook is usually not very high on the FG% and he got block alot. But, seems like Bulls bigs are good at going after the rebounds but not that good at defense or blocking shots. Which worked out to Thunder's favorite. However, he did carried the team tonight. And Brook was using 3 guards together on the floor a lot so that's why Westbrook was playing 44 mins. Well, he's still young so it wouldn't hurt.
The first half... It was a joke, and I even almost stop my DVR recording. The 3rd was great, but the 4th was weird (too many passing and ended up missing the chances when the time ran out).
KD looked like he wasn't ready in the most of the first half. 4 TOs in the first half, but he did manage to get himself together in most of the 2nd half. For whatever reason, he's been like that, many turnovers in the first half and then getting a bit better in the 2nd (even thought still not that good to see).
I think Collison and Maynor were the reason why Thunder was able to win this game. Scary moment when Maynor went down. (Since Thunder keeps losing point guards to injury).
@f5alcon
Money wouldn't work. Given the size of contracts, we can't take back more than it would cost to put us at the cap. Any more and it would exceed the 125% limit on returning salaries (over the cap).
From this day forth, Nenad Kristic shall be referred to as: NoNads
From this day forth, Jeff Green shall be referred to as: Jeff Yellow
@GAP
God blesseth you beautiful sir
People are against Okafor but he would completely solve one of our problems, he gobbles up defensive rebounds. He'd also help our eFG% problem I think because Jeff Green would benefit from playing without the crowded perimeter, and Okafor himself scores at a high percentage (though isn't much of a scorer).
Our only huge hole after that are the turnovers. Our eFG% will improve a lot as Harden / Maynor hit their shots.
The DON :We got off to an absolutely TRAGIC start. We were being brutalized and humiliated. It was as if our manhood was being stripped from us.
THEN….
Brooks pulls NoNads FilthStick and Jeff Yellow out, parks their worthless asses on the bench, and boom, we go on a tear and never look back
The green/kristic combo is an anchor for this team. Them being the starters is unacceptable. Collison and Ibaka together were terrific.
BTW, i want to clarify my poition on green and kristic. With kristic, i want him gone period. As far as green goes, i am obviously open to trading him for the right deal, but i wouldn’t mind keeping him as long as he is coming off the bench. He cannot be a starter on this team. He is a starter quality player at SF, but on this team that starting position is locked up and not an option for him
I couldn't ask for a better recap! :-0
maybe we should trade green+krstic for west and okafor.
okafor i think will have a huge rebounding game against us, 20+ but we still win
We got off to an absolutely TRAGIC start. We were being brutalized and humiliated. It was as if our manhood was being stripped from us.
THEN....
Brooks pulls NoNads FilthStick and Jeff Yellow out, parks their worthless asses on the bench, and boom, we go on a tear and never look back
The green/kristic combo is an anchor for this team. Them being the starters is unacceptable. Collison and Ibaka together were terrific.
BTW, i want to clarify my poition on green and kristic. With kristic, i want him gone period. As far as green goes, i am obviously open to trading him for the right deal, but i wouldn't mind keeping him as long as he is coming off the bench. He cannot be a starter on this team. He is a starter quality player at SF, but on this team that starting position is locked up and not an option for him
Man, I had to go somewhere at halftime and didn't get back until the fourth qtr. What happened in the 3rd that I missed?
Ibaka needs to learn to pace himself... he was absolutely gassed when he left the game early in the fourth quarter. You know it's a bad sign when your center is clutching his side because he's cramping up. And then of course they dump the ball to him and he gets a blatant offensive foul. Brooks... call the time out to help your boy out!
Chicago had 99 FG attempts in regulation just like Milwaukee did.. really the only difference between the two games is that Chicago shot a bit worse and we hit some three pointers.
Fun fact: This is the first game of the year that the Thunder have won without being led in scoring by Kevin Durant.
Bulls had 25 offensive rebounds, well, I guess if Coach had not pull Jeff Green out, we might gave up 40
@Keith
Agreed. If Brooks goes to that small lineup and we shoot our normal 3pt% (i.e. not 50%+), this game is much closer and we probably even lose.
We got lucky with that 3pt shooting. Our problems are still there.
We really need that front court upgrade..
Those 9 blocks helped to make up for our poor defensive rebounding and blocking out.
After the win over the Suns I commented about the next ten games being easier than the previous 10, and a couple of people figured we could go 7-3 over those 10. We're 5-1 so far with 4 home games left, so I like our chances of getting to 7-3 or 8-2 over that streach.
This game is a little bittersweet. Sweet that we won, that we pulled away when it mattered. Bitter that we were absolutely dominated on the boards and tried to turnover our way to a loss for too much of the game.
Coach Brook finally found the winning secret- NO Jeff Green
Russ has taken too many shots but he's certainly making his presence known.
KD only 14 shot attempts, usually not a winning formula for us.
It's easy to win hitting threes. Hopefully Maynor and Harden continue to do so.
Russell has slaughtered the very essence of the bulls franchise tonight
i was at school with rw at ucla...he definitely remembers the game against memphis when rose had the last laugh. ever notice how rw elevates his game against good point guards? (jennings the first time, maybe not the second time) . i think he's definitely playing with a chip on his shoulder
Anyone else think Brooks is trying to feed Durant those last 5 points to get 30?
Why must the team scare me like that. They start letting Chicago back in the game, and can't get a rebound to save their lives, but then run off 4 quick points to keep the lead out of reach.
At least this sort of shows how poor Jeff Green's been playing...
RW playing delicious right now
@Joe
Please don't joke like that.....the mere mention of those 2 names sends shivers up my spine right now