Thunder vs Kings: Pregame Primer
vs.
Thunder (11-13, 4-8 road) vs. Kings (11-13, 6-7 home)
TV: ESPN/FS Oklahoma
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 1300 AM The Buzz Tulsa)
Time: 9:30 CT
Offensive Rating: Thunder – 102.9 (24th), Kings – 106.9 (12th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 101.4 (4th), Kings – 107.3 (21st)
Six straight wins has OKC just a half-game behind New Orleans for 8th in the West confirming reports that Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook are valuable to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In a late Sunday night shocker, the Sacramento Kings fired head coach Mike Malone. The Kings came to the 405 just over a month ago at 5-1 and a rejuvenated Demarcus Cousins that looked like a legit MVP candidate. Tonight, Cousins will miss his 10th game of the season due to viral meningitis, and the 11-13 Kings will be coached by Ty Corbin — former head coach of the Utah Jazz.
The Thunder looked freaking good on Sunday night. The first unit came out dominant with great flow and rhythm to start the game. Ibaka got involved early on both ends and continues to rebound both boards well. Russ had the game in his hands and completely took Eric Bledsoe out of the game from the jump.
A low-key luxury for OKC is that not too many teams could usher back to the floor a recovering Kevin Durant and not force him to have to carry the load right away. Letting KD ride shotgun has been the perfect transition to getting him back to 100 percent. Meanwhile Russ is averaging 26/7/6 with the second-highest scoring average in the league.
That silence you hear? That’s from the “Straight up for Rondo” crowd.
The Matchup
Darren Collison’s aggressive, yet efficient play has kept the Kings competitive with Cousins out. As his former college teammate, Westbrook seems to always get up to play against DC.
We’ve talked about this team rebounding a lot this year — it made “Three Big Things” an unofficial, and obnoxious 2,038,203 times. The Thunder outrebounded the Suns 63-40, which set a new franchise record for most rebounds in a game. They were active from start to finish, and another effort like that tonight and this team will be going for eight-straight against the Warriors on Thursday.
Also, the Thunder now ranks 1st in opponents points per game at 94.0. With the full squad back the Thunder have locked in defensively. Russ and Robes were special on Sunday night, taking a potent backcourt out of the game. More of that defense could have the Thunder comfortably in the playoff picture by the end of this road trip.
But let’s get real. The primetime matchup tonight is Kendrick Perkins vs. Rudy Gay. Pop the popcorn and put the kids to bed, because it’s going to get wild tonight.
Recently Rudy Gay made comments to the media calling Perk a clown.
“He might as well play with his face painted — he’s a clown to me,” Gay told Kings blog Sactown Royalty. “You can quote that. He’s a clown to me. He might as well play with his face painted.”
Perk, in mid-season form, came back with this.
“I’d rather be a clown than be a virus,” Perkins said. “At least if I paint my face, I can wash the paint off. A virus gets in your bloodstream. You can’t get rid of that.”
You’ve got to admit, that’s some top-shelf trash talk from Perk — it’s educated, self-deprecating, and extremely funny. Any chance these two don’t have to be separated before night’s end? Yea, didn’t think so.
Sunday’s COTN: “I love that Brooks is staggering KD and Russ minutes so that we always have one of them on the court. That was a problem last year in the playoffs.” -@d21
Thinking about getting a ‘#StaggeredMinutes’ tattoo for Christmas.
Tip at 9:30. Go seven straight.
