vs. 
Suns (17-33, 5-21 road) vs. Thunder (37-12, 22-3 home)
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: 7:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 112.5 (1st), Suns– 102.6 (25th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.2 (8th), Suns – 107.3 (24th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.4 (8th), Suns – 92.3 (9th)
View from the enemy: Valley of the Suns
Tonight’s the first part of a little home and home with the Suns, a team playing moderately better after making a coaching change recently. The Thunder are also playing more than moderately better, at least in their last two home games, blowouts over the Mavs and Warriors.
The Thunder have a week until All-Star Weekend starts, with four games in between. Three very winnable, the final one against the Heat, but at home. The Thunder clearly ramped things up a bit the last two home games, playing with an extra edge and intensity. Keeping that going to the break would be great, and mean a solid six-game win streak waiting for them to build on after the weekend’s festivities conclude.
Phoenix coming in: The Suns lost to the Hornets on Wednesday.
Three Big Things
1. Keep the edge. More of what we’ve seen the last two. Hyperintense defense, crisp, unselfish offense. It’s not just effective, but super fun to watch.
2. Gortat. The Thunder have done terrific work on him in the first two meetings, but he’s a great roll man and OKC’s screen-and-roll defense is going to have to be on point tonight.
3. B-Easy. The one player the Suns have that can be scary is Michael Beasley. He’s inconsistent and erratic, but sometimes he can take over a game offensively. He’s getting more minutes lately and with him playing his old buddy KD, he’ll likely be focused for this one.
Tip at 7:00 CT. Go Friday.
Perk > Gortat
http://dailythunder.com/2013/02/thunder-smoke-the-suns-127-96/
@qrex sullingered
To correct a previous post from earlier (that TC respectfully pointed out)....Thunder won the last 3 games by an average of 24.3 pts (not 20.3). Also averaged 119.3 pts per game.
@BallSoHard That's insane.
http://cdn.niketalk.com/7/7c/900x900px-LL-7cc15e0d_brononfire.jpeg
LeBron's last 5 games. Literally only one place (the right elbow) where I guess you can say he can't score from at amazing efficiency
@If that's what you say, bruh I think we really need to beat the Heat on Thursday with LBJ playing like this if KD is going to win MVP
I am quite Perky about some Swiss, and so are the Thunder
OH MY PERK
@OBoy Jones III There are no words...
@senseandsenescence I yelled "NO ONE ELSE SHOOT" once or twice at the game
@OBoy Jones III I was rooting for a 20/10 game.
@OBoy Jones III Sullingered ;)
No one seems to talk about sefolosha tonight(but am sure royce will)..18 points on 7-11 FG including 4-6 from three. Defense was good too.
@Cold-Blooded He had been struggling with his shot.
@[censored] and when he makes those shots, especially early in the game, it makes our offense and defense better, cuz he's feeling good about himself. Makes us unbeatable.
@Cold-Blooded he played great , but to night was all perkalation~
@Legendary_Dork MOJO...
i still wonder how bonner got into the 3-point shootout over kmart. if kmart declined, i get it. but bonner shot only 76 3-point attempts, kmart shot 248, with also a higher 3PT% same with kyle korver.
@OohWeeItsVelvetHoop Kyle Korver declined to spend time with his family. I felt like Klay Thompson needs to be there though
@OohWeeItsVelvetHoop Three tall white guy quota.
@OohWeeItsVelvetHoop It's a lifetime achievement thing. His brother went on NBATV and twitter and basically begged for Matt to be let in and The basketball jones and many other twitterfolk were all over #letbonnershoot
just givin the people what they want
@AIaska @OohWeeItsVelvetHoop Curry and Korver are the only consistently better 3pt shooters than Bonner over the last five seasons IMO.
@AIaska @If that's what you say, bruh @[censored] because they are free since he's an endorsee, but they must not have sent him any black ones because he wears the white ones with black unis a lot of times. He is notoriously cheap, so he's not about to go to the store and pay like 60 bucks for some/
http://cdn.niketalk.com/7/7c/900x900px-LL-7cc15e0d_brononfire.jpeg
@AIaska @[censored] Yeah, shooting in a game and shooting for that contest isn't the same thing.
@If that's what you say, bruh @[censored] he wears new balance basketball shoes too
@AIaska @[censored] Matt Bonner is hilarious. Dude drives the same car as me (05 Grand Prix)
@[censored] My money is on curry
@[censored] Oh he's a deadeye but have you watched his release?
@AIaska @OohWeeItsVelvetHoop Yeah he's going to get smoked. His release isn't quick enough I don't think.
@Old Man Game I agree. He basically guaranteed a win I believe... but I doubt he finishes the racks.
Also in his last 10 games KD has made 29 of his 56 threes, or 52%. KD and Kmart combined to make 57 of their last 111 threes.
Tom Thibodeau may be the greatest living active basketball coach. How else do you explain the way Nate Robinson looks with Chicago?
@Old Man Game His #'s aren't that much different from last year in GSW. Shooting the three ball better.
@[censored] He just looks better. More of a team player.
Another Royce tweet:
A reporter listed off the Thunder's stats to KD -- 127 points, 57.5% shooting, 29 assists -- and his response was: "We can be a lot better."
http://blogimages.thescore.com/tbj/files/2012/05/marc-gasol-blake-griffin-crazy-faces.jpg
@AIaska was Joey Crawford dancing again?
Perk > Gortat
@BallSoHard Someone said this exact thing below but I'll like it again anyway.
@Old Man Game oh...i just got on.
Hey guys remember when Kmart was in that mid season slump. In his last 10 games he's averaging 16.5 ppg on 52% shooting and 51% from 3. He's made 28 of his last 55 threes.
IS IT TOO LATE TO GET PERK ON THE ALLSTAR TEAM!??!?!??!??!??!
@senseandsenescence don't look at me, I voted for him
@Barry Amenema @senseandsenescence I always wrote in Hasheem
Sad...I get on Twitter and it's full of Lakers win, Lebron's miraculous last few games, and Harden's efficient night. Im much more impressed with the Thunder's current win streak and how every player on our bench scored tonight in our 3rd blowout victory in a row.
@BallSoHard LeBron and James Harden are both over 75%TS in their last 5 games. It's worth mentioning. Before I turned from the game, Bron was 36 of his 45 shots.
http://i48.tinypic.com/sctg5i.jpg
@If that's what you say, bruh @BallSoHard I'm with you man. This place is hopping when Harden is struggling, but is a Harden-crypt when he's balling.
Go back to the offseason threads and check on how many people claimed Harden couldn't be a first option, or face defenses like Durant or Westbrook, etc. It's funny.
@If that's what you say, bruh yea, it is pretty incredible. For some reason, I choose to read and just ignore. Much rather have our best player get 21 minutes and sit the entire 4th because our TEAM is totally dominating.
@BallSoHard and of course 35/11/7 is nothing to sneeze at, especially from a guy who many didn't believe would be able to be an alpha and maintain his efficiency.