Thunder vs Bulls: Pregame Primer
vs.
Bulls (40-27, 20-13 road) vs. Thunder (36-29, 22-9 home)
TV: ABC
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 1300 AM The Buzz Tulsa)
Time: 12:00 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.6 (12th), Bulls – 107.1. (9th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.9 (11th), Bulls – 104.9 (13th)
Durant or no Durant, Rose or no Rose, this has revenge game written all over it. Despite another big night from Westbrook (43-8-7) the Bulls were able to top the Thunder in Chicago last Thursday night.
The Thunder has won five straight games at home against the Bulls and has an opportunity to take back the 8th seed with a win and a Pels loss.
Since their last meeting – the Bulls have gone 1-4 with three road losses and will be playing once again without Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson. The problem for the Thunder just 10 days ago was… stopping everyone else.
Serge Ibaka will miss his second consecutive game due to knee soreness and will be replaced in the starting lineup by Steven Adams. Adams will start alongside Enes Kanter for the first time since Kanter was acquired.
3 Big Things
1. Bigs. Steven Adams didn’t play in the loss to the Bulls on Mar. 5 and it showed on the interior. Pau Gasol had 21 points and 12 rebounds and rookie Nikola Mirotic scored 26. Despite being the league’s top rebounding team the Thunder were out rebounded 48-41. Today Adams will start on Gasol while Kanter is tasked with Joakim Noah. I thought this is how the Thunder would elect to guard in the previous matchup with Serge on Pau — look for Adams quickness to make things tougher for Gasol early on.
2. Perimeter Defense. The story of Chicago’s 108-105 victory over the Thunder was little-used guard E’Twaun Moore who had a career-high 19 points and hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 2.1 seconds left. In his five games since then he’s combined for 14 points… ain’t that fun?
Russell will start the game matched up with Aaron Brooks, a quick guard who moves well without the ball. Waiters and Roberson will see time on Mike Dunleavy and Tony Snell. Dunleavy hit the Thunder for 21 points on 3-6 from beyond the arc and sparked a late-game comeback that eventually did the Thunder in.
As we’ve seen in the past, when Russ plays defense with the aggression that he does everything else it’s a wrap. It’s such a contagious energy for the rest of the group to follow. The Thunder, with Ibaka out, need a great defensive effort from Westbrook and the rest of the guards.
3. Westbrook. Over the last eight games Russ is averaging 34.3 points, 11.4 rebounds and 10.6 assists and became the first player since Jason Kidd in 2007-08 to record at least eight triple-doubles in a season. He’s doing it all and it’s every single night. However Westbrook has been turning the ball over a lot.
Here’s Russ on the turnovers:
“It’s frustrating trying to make passes and turning it over. I’ll go back to the drawing board and take care of it.”
Look for an aggressive Russ as always, but also one looking to make the most of every possession. He has made huge strides in just the last couple of months when it comes to controlling games at multiple speeds. Just another terrifying trait being added to the myth of the masked man.
Friday’s COTN: “FIRST TEAM TO 100 TRON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” – @ThunderChick2010
TC always lets em know. This is consistency being rewarded.
Tip at 12:00. Go Ivory Towers.
