vs. 
OKC Thunder (11-5, 6-1 road) at Houston Rockets (4-11, 2-4)
TV: FSOK (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: 6:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.9 (7th), Rockets – 107.4 (14th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 108.9 (21st), Rockets – 109.9 (25th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.3 (13th), Rockets – 96.9 (3rd)
View from the enemy: Red 94
At some point, this terrific road success has to come to an end, right? The Thunder have won five straight and are 6-1 overall away from Oklahoma City, with the one loss being to the lowly Clippers. But the Thunder goes south to Houston tonight to play a Rockets team desperate to turn things around after a baffling slow start. In other words, DANGER DANGER DANGER.
Houston coming in: The Rockets have dropped five of six and most recently played at Charlotte Friday, losing. The Rockets are just 2-4 at home, with wins over Golden State and Minnesota.
THE MATCHUPS
The matchups are clearly leaning OKC’s way again, just like the first meeting. Kyle Lowry is going to have trouble containing Russell Westbrook, Shane Battier is a good defender but he doesn’t match well with Kevin Durant and while Luis Scola does damage against the Thunder typically, Houston isn’t a strong interior team.
(An aside: I’m ready for a signature Durant game. Like a 37-point night on 13-19 shooting, including 3-4 from 3. I’m ready for that, okay guys?)
The key will likely be in the Thabo-Kevin Martin matchup. The Rockets are having the most difficulty finding scoring options with Aaron Brooks out with an injury. Martin is a terrific scorer, but Thabo is the kind of defender that matches well with the slashing style of Martin.
Scola played well in the first meeting, but that was against Serge Ibaka who was starting for Jeff Green. Scola has fared even better historically against Green, typically taking him inside to score on the block. Ibaka was largely ineffective against the Pacers, but will likely play a big role in this one. Another important piece will be Nick Collison’s interior defense against Brad Miller and Scola.
In the first meeting, OKC turned a decently close game into a blowout with a good finish to the third quarter. The Rockets are going to give the Thunder chances to take control and make this not as hard as it should be. But it’s about putting it together for two halves and playing quality basketball to do it. OKC may have a clear advantage, but this Rockets team is starved for a win and while they may be struggling, they aren’t as bad as their record suggests.
Tip at 6:00 CT. Go Oh-Kay-See.
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@justin
Positionality!!
..when Brian Davis (or was it Grant long?) was talking about how versatile the Thunder was by being able to switch on defense, I wanted to reach into the TV and slap him. Versatility is nice and all, but it's possible to take it too far, and that's exactly what Brooks has been doing.
I'm getting tired of our team using its players so stupidly and counter-intuitively. I swear, it almost seems like Scott Brooks is going out of his way to put the players in the worst possible situations.
Playing Serge Ibaka at center, playing Kevin Durant or Jeff Green at power forward, allowing Kevin Durant to play so much isolation basketball, allowing Jeff Green to take so many shots, playing Jeff Green 40 minutes a game when he's hurt, putting a small lineup in the game when we are getting destroyed on the boards, letting us go to isolations down the stretch when it's clearly not our best player's strong suit, the Jeff Green post ups late in that game, not going offense / defense down the stretch.
I don't understand it. It does not take a genius to see this stuff or notice what the players are good at and what they are not good at. So much attention is paid to 'lack of positionality' that we're getting so stupid and being out coached and out played by teams that just stick to the fundamentals of the game. There's so much talent here, it's just grossly mis-used.
Durant is not as good as advertised
We need a center- and we need to trade away Green and Kristic to get him, so that our brilliant coach has no real alternative to starting said center, and playing Ibaka at power forward. Kinda like idiot-proofing our line up.
@OmahaOkcFan
It's pretty hard to draw a foul in those situations, you pretty much have to be clothslined.
"Ha. This team is going to struggle to be more than 45 wins if it doesn’t start playing defense"
And your team won't get 40.
Ben :@David
I don’t know…I mean, I don’t think it was the worst play ever; at least it wasn’t a fadeaway 3 or something terrible like that. It was actually a shot that on a normal basis, would have had a decent chance of going in.
It was basically a no look 3 with a defender in his face he was about 2 feet inside the 3 point line at best, we have to drive to the basket there, and at least try to draw a foul
Ben :@David
I don’t know…I mean, I don’t think it was the worst play ever; at least it wasn’t a fadeaway 3 or something terrible like that. It was actually a shot that on a normal basis, would have had a decent chance of going in.
Its the exact same play Brooks draws up for every end of game/must score situation. Somebody should put together a video montage of the "KD jacking shots from the top of the key with a defender in his face with time expiring" collection.
@Joe
Defense wasn't our biggest issue that game.
@David
I don't know...I mean, I don't think it was the worst play ever; at least it wasn't a fadeaway 3 or something terrible like that. It was actually a shot that on a normal basis, would have had a decent chance of going in.
Ha. This team is going to struggle to be more than 45 wins if it doesn't start playing defense.
I wish Brooks would just give mullens 10 minutes a night with nenad out. whats the worst that could happen?
at least the Blazers lost to the Nets with Roy fading down the stretch, Miller and Matthews took all the shots towards the end.
I agree that a KD long J in the final seconds is not a good option, but that isn't his fault, it's the coaching staff's fault for drawing up that play.
"Another disappointing effort bench KD and Green so we can start winning on heart and hustle again, Russ 100% should of took last shot, he probably woulda drove and drew a foul..kd takes 20 foot contested 3 ..not a good decision by Vinny Del Brooks"
Agree. KD on the fade away should never be our last second play. KD and/or RW drive to the basket should get the green light every time. Shoot even Thabo driving to the basket has more of a chance of going in than KD on the fade away
@David
The thing is, good teams overcome that variance by being so much better than bad teams that the bad teams need a TON of luck in order to win. We played good D in the third, despite Houston's 3p hot streak. If we played like that in the first half, we would have sustained the Rocket's hot streak and still came out the winners.
JelloPuddinPup :
Crap, not only did the Thunder lose; but Leslie Neilsen just died. Today sucks.
Damn love Leslie
Another disappointing effort bench KD and Green so we can start winning on heart and hustle again, Russ 100% should of took last shot, he probably woulda drove and drew a foul..kd takes 20 foot contested 3 ..not a good decision by Vinny Del Brooks
Other Thomas :@Bruno
Its a combo, but its still bad luck. You see those K-mart step back 3′s?
yeah, I agree with you, it has a percentage of bad luck.
if KD was shooting his usual percentages, we would have won today, for example.
but our defense has been terrible and those problems have to be taken into consideration by the coaching staff, but that isn't happening, every Brooks interview he speaks about "a few plays that didn't went our way" and chalks it up to bad luck.
You can't tell me luck plays no factor in a basketball game. At times the lucky shot has gone the Thunder's way. Tonight, they couldn't buy a basket, even on good possessions and the Rockets could look behind their back, shoot it between their legs, and make it, especially every time we threatened
Crap, not only did the Thunder lose; but Leslie Neilsen just died. Today sucks.
I do think the Rockets were pretty lucky from the perimeter tonight, but if we played defense like we did that third quarter all game, it wouldn't have mattered.
This is why we're playing like a .500 team right now. We should have lost a couple of those other close wins the way we were playing but we had 'good luck'...
Good luck can't last forever.
I hope Aldrich come back if nenad is not healthy.I dont want to watch Ibaka at C.It is so foolish.
free throws. bummer.
@Bruno
Its a combo, but its still bad luck. You see those K-mart step back 3's?
@justin
Yeah, I only meant to apply the luck comment to the 3 point shoot, but I didn't write it that way. It's obvious why we rebound poorly.
Osano-Whoa :
We got killed on rebounds and we got killed at the 3 point line, though I’m not sure whether or not that was just luck or whether it was bad defense. Also the free throws obviously.
it can't be just bad luck, it's been happening pretty much every night, every team shoots the lights out from 3 against us.
@David
That would be nice, but I doubt it. Hornets are really really good right now.
@Osano-Whoa
It wasn't luck on the boards, we played our PF's at center and our SF's at PF all night.
lol Roy just lost the ball alone with the Blazers down 3.
Blazers guy should worry more about his team :p
We got killed on rebounds and we got killed at the 3 point line, though I'm not sure whether or not that was just luck or whether it was bad defense. Also the free throws obviously.
You know how this works right, we're going to whip the Hornets tomorrow since we lost to the lowly Rockets.
Night, another game the 2nd team brought us back within striking distance and couldnt pull it off...Live and Die on RW and KD
yeah, talent couldn't bail us out after another incredibly bad coached game... Durant didn't play well, rotations were terrible, defense (except for a nice stretch there on the 3rd) was abhorrent again...
when does Krstic comes back? I can't believe it but I can't wait for him to be healthy again.
Yeah, can't believe we missed 8 free throws.
Dang...too little too late. Lost this one on FT's and interior defense/def. rebounding. Goodnight guys. See you tomorrow.
Now that's a high percentage shot.
Gah.
Boo.
Be REALLY nice if we got something going toward the basket...
Michael :
What do you guys think of the Harden for Igoudala trade that Simmons has been touting?
It might work, But Simmons doesn't understand Presti's Process, and the sustainable model he is trying to implement.
It also doesn't make sense to commit that much salary with a new CBA due, and Russ needing a big extension. Presti isn't afraid to pull the trigger on a big trade. Anybody remember the almost tyson chandler deal. He is just through. This teams biggest problem, is that we got younger from last year when we had Etan Thomas and a few other solid vets, Mo pete just isn't as good in that role
justin :
If we do KD iso from behind the 3PT I’ll be angry.
me 2
Exciting. Hopefully we can take this.
I hope everyone knows that this doesn't have to be a KD 3p...
@holdmymartian
God tell me about it. When I saw Westbrook on Scola I almost facepalmed IRL.
Sammy :
Wow. A good set play in crunch time out of a timeout. Awesome.
Green is clutch, but I think too much credit is being given to his performance boost being due to "clutchness" and not due to actual plays being run in those situations.
If we ran an offensive system, I think Green could thrive. He has a sky high BBIQ according to anyone who's ever coached him.
If we do KD iso from behind the 3PT I'll be angry.
So you're sayin' there's a chance???
Scola.... Where the hell has he been all fourth quarter?