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Thunder at Nets: Pregame Primer

Thunder at Nets: Pregame Primer

vs.

OKC Thunder (12-6, 6-2 road) at New Jersey Nets (6-12, 4-4 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: 6:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 108.6 (10th), Nets – 104.9 (22nd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 109.2 (20th), Nets – 109.1 (21st)
Pace: Thunder – 93.1 (14th), Nets – 88.4 (30th)

View from the enemy: Nets Are Scorching

UPDATE: Kevin Durant is sitting out tonight’s game with a sore knee.

It’s a new month for the Thunder, so how about starting it off just right. The Thunder starts a stretch of games finally against some lesser opponents. But that doesn’t mean we can expect a big winning streak here. It begins with a game in New Jersey, a team that has played well at home and a group that has talent sprinkled throughout the roster.

New Jersey coming in: The Nets have lost three of four, but did beat the Blazers a few nights ago. They’ve been beaten soundly by most good teams and have hung tough or beaten average to mediocre groups.

THE MATCHUPS


It’s a new month for Kevin Durant too. He had a less than stellar November, but now hopefully that’s behind him and he can get going. Travis Outlaw is New Jersey’s small forward, a player that’s not known as a big defender. Stephen Graham sees time too though, and he’s a guy that has played pretty well on KD in the past.

Devin Harris is out for this one, so Russell Westbrook will be going against Jordan Farmar. It seems like we get a UCLA point guard matchup like all the time now, doesn’t it? But Russ has a big advantage in basically every area on Farmar except outside shooting.

Brook Lopez obviously gives the Nets an advantage inside but he’s been pretty inconsistent this season. So with the Nenad Krstic-Nick Collison- Serge Ibaka combo, OKC might be just fine. Especially since Kris Humphries is the other starter. Humphries is a nice glue guy player that plays very hard, but he’s not a huge offensive talent.

No reason to not be optimistic about this one. OKC’s played well on the road and coming off the big win over the Hornets, it would be a shame to have a letdown against the Nets.

Tip at 6:00 CT. Go Thunder Up.