Thunder at Suns: Pregame Primer

vs.

OKC Thunder (31-17, 13-10 road) at Phoenix Suns (23-24, 14-10 home)

TV: FSOK (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 754)
Stream: N/A
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 8:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 110.1 (6th), Suns – 109.9 (7th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 108.3 (17th), Suns – 111.2 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.0 (12th), Suns – 94.4 (6th)

View from the enemy: Valley of the Suns

The Suns gave the Thunder one of their worst losses of the season in December after Phoenix had just made the trade for Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter and Mickael Pietrus. The Suns only had seven active players and were playing without much firepower at all. Except OKC came out flat and dropped a bad one.

Phoenix coming in: The Suns have won three straight and last played Wednesday.

THE MATCHUPS
Russell Westbrook has always played pretty well against Steve Nash, but while Nash isn’t a good defender and will have trouble checking Russ, he’s still one of the very best at creating open shots for teammates. And he can shoot as well as anyone.

Grant Hill had his best game of the season in the last meeting, but he shouldn’t be able to check KD. Channing Frye is a threat from deep on the drive and kick and pick and pop, so Jeff Green will have to always keep an eye there.

Frye isn’t a very good power forward, so the Thunder should do well inside. Robin Lopez and Marcin Gortat are obviously good, but OKC counters pretty well with Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka.

The Suns have been playing much better lately and are a threat to beat anyone. They’re a great offensive team and with the way OKC plays defense, it feels like the Thunder will have to top the 110s in order to win it. I hate saying that, but it’s probably the truth.

Tip at 8:00 CT. Go Oh Kay See.