vs. 
OKC Thunder (35-11, 15-8 road) at Cleveland Cavaliers (13-34, 6-13 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: 6:30 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 112.4 (1st), Cavs– 103.2 (21st)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.3 (8th), Cavs – 109.1 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.0 (8th), Cavs – 92.2 (11th)
View from the enemy: Cavs: The Blog
“Well, we’re back, in the car again.” — Tim in Jurassic Park. That’s how I feel about this game. A quick stop at home and then back on the road for the Thunder. It’s only a one-game trip before they return home and it’s not against a marquee team, but with fewer and fewer games to play, every game is really starting to count atop the Western Conference.
The Cavs mostly stink, especially after losing Anderson Varejao for the season, but Kyrie Irving is real and spectacular, Tristan Thompson is an improving young talent and Dion Waiters can at times, fill it up. They’re a young, raw, sometimes exciting but often frustrating team. A lot like the Thunder a few years ago.
What makes this game a little more intriguing than it otherwise would be is the Russell Westbrook situation created entirely by Russell Westbrook. With a bunch of chatter the past day about his demeanor and attitude, how does he respond tonight? Most likely, he’ll play his usual caution-to-the-wind kind of game, but still, the way he interacts and handles any kind of adversity will be something to keep an eye on.
No excuse to lose. Lots of reason to win.
Cleveland coming in: The Cavs played last night, getting worked by the Pistons.
Three Big Things
1. Westbrook. Same thing I said above. His play tonight is going to be something intriguing to watch, especially if it’s not good. How does he act? Respond? Interact with his teammates?
2. Focus. There have been some serious distractions over the past 24 hours or so, so blocking all that out and just playing ball is important. The Cavs don’t have the manpower or talent to match up with OKC and really the only thing standing in the Thunder’s way would be a completely braindead game.
3. Kyrie. Or Kyrie Irving. He could stand in OKC’s way. He’s always a threat to completely go off and take over. Guard him.
Tip at 6:30 CT. Go Mindset.
@PistonsUpdate
Joe Dumars: Detroit Pistons interested in keeping Jose Calderon after extended ... http://sns.mx/o7ony4
http://bit.ly/11vKazM
@FF_pickups
I'll get you, my pretty!
@ThunderChick2010 @FF_pickups LOL'd! First thing came to my head! AND YOUR LIL DOG TOTO TOO!
Weekend update! #SNL
@Dicharden rerun.
http://dailythunder.com/2013/02/kyrie-irving-cavs-overcome-thunder-115-110/#more-24071
not royce, but its a write up
@Legendary_Dork I dont even want to read it
@Lost Ones @Legendary_Dork
This guy is very good too . . . used to be Royce's boss if I'm not mistaken.
@ThunderChick2010 @Legendary_Dork lol wow
@Lost Ones i cant with you lol
http://espn.go.com/nba/tradeMachine?tradeId=chfzhhb Raps would do this bc DD is repetitive to Gay and they get off the luxury tax line. We get a young scorer who can create his own shot off the bench and our best rebounder.
@tygablood NO they won't. They like that lineup of DD and Gay and Ross and Amir is better than our center. No way they do any of it
@1 Knee 4 Points 5 Rebounds 35 Million Dollars Ross has nothing to do with this trade.
@tygablood @1 they wouldn't do the trade for either of those guys alone, much less 2 of them
You guys are brilliant, I don't keep stat #'s@ my behest.... What were Dequan and Sef's #'s combined last year? points, rebs/ steals assists?
We lost because of Liggins
@OkcBaby we lost because of Orton
@<--A Benz can make me dance @OkcBaby
we probably lost because i wasn't home to watch the game :/
@<--A Benz can make me dance @OkcBaby
lol well with all the blame going on i figured i might as well include myself. Well yes i did watch during the finals. Although i did sell my tickets for game 2
@SexyWatt @<--A Benz can make me dance @OkcBaby OMG you didnt watch.
Did you not watch during the finals too? Its all making sense now lol
you guys are too much.
Defense wins championships lets start discussing defense
@Lost Ones offense sells tickets!
@Lost Ones Who was defending Mareesse Speights?
@[censored] @Lost Ones our backup point guard Shaun Livingst.......ohhh...
@Lost Ones we should do better at it.
@OBoy Jones III we should
@Lost Ones Who was defending Kyrie Irving?
@[censored] @Lost Ones thabo would of guarded kyrie and would of been blown by him and waiting for him in the lane would of been nobody just like there was with westbrook because our bigs suck on defense.
@bmuelle22 We only needed a little bit. They scored on 9 of their last 10 possessions. Thabo in the game changes that IMO, especially if one of our bigs goes out. Durant is more mobile than Ibaka or Perkins in those situations as a big.
@[censored] Thabo maybe would of done better but it wouldn't have been much. Either way the bigs still should of been there with help defense when kyrie got past westbrook and they virtually were non-exsistant. There are some plays where there was nothing westbrook could of done, Kyrie was just that in the zone (like the 3 from the top of the key) late in the game.
@bmuelle22 @Lost Ones Thabo's much better at man defense than Westbrook especially against shifty players. Kyrie gets Westbrook leaning and it's over. I disagree with you on this. Kyrie still would have scored some but I think it's likely he would have scored less if Thabo was in defending him. Westbrook is also a good help defender in those situations and could have made things more difficult that way. Westbrook just loses at the point of attack and gets rubbed out of plays too easily.
@bmuelle22 @[censored] he danced around perk and ibaka easily.
@[censored] Check kyries stats for the first 3 quarters, has any player shut down dd?
@[censored] kd
@[censored] @Lost Ones And why wasn't it Eric Maynor?
@Lost Ones Who gave up all those offensive rebounds?
@[censored] @Lost Ones they actually tied w/offensive rebs 14.
Royce must be hard at work
@OkcBaby Him and the Mrs. are like .... who are these people!
@OkcBaby hard at work laying the ban hammer down on some people I hope ;)
For real doe, this next fight is about to be awesome.
No one does this but Jose Aldo
http://i480.photobucket.com/albums/rr170/PuroresuAndIndysFan/15r00hw.gif
Double flying knee to the dome
@AIaska aldo's a beast, i cant figure out how u get so much power into those knees, i can get one, but that second one doesnt make sense
@O O O O O O Seriously he's ridiculous. Edgar is pretty amazing too. Crazy fast
Of 64 shooting guards, Kevin Martin is 48th in rebounding, 61st in assists and is a horrible defender. Other than that, he's pretty good.
@FF_pickups ESPN shows him at 31st in assists and 26th in rebounding for this year. You looking at Per 36?
@FF_pickups He should be ranked lower...Shooting guards are not supposed to be the ones rebounding. Thats not even a bad stat
@<--A Benz can make me dance @FF_pickups they not?
@Lost Ones @<--A Benz can make me dance @FF_pickups No...thats the 3's job. Especially on offense if the 2 takes the shot
@FF_pickups 3rd in TS% (1st > 20 USG) and 2nd in ORTG among shooting guards. Glug, glug, glug.
@[censored] @FF_pickups Only if this was a offensive minded only league
@Lost Ones @FF_pickups LOL.
@[censored] @FF_pickups he was great 1-3 against a top 5 caliber guard with no help
@Lost Ones @FF_pickups Not every player in the NBA is a two way player. How about Westbrook's defense tonight? It was his man that went off. Martin's man did nothing.
@FF_pickups In the distant past (last season) Martin was creating more offense for himself and others. The role he has offensively limits his effectiveness, but he's still effective!
@FF_pickups We have him for scoring. Not like we didn't know what we were getting
@FF_pickups And 64th in muscle mass
@FF_pickups Rip is ahead of him