OKC rematch with Sacto Kings pre game.

Ok, so those guys in Norcal got the monkey off their backs last week when we had a defensive meltdown. I don’t expect it to happen again. Last week Sacto took us to overtime and managed to give us a black eye, but this time they have to come to OKC and prove it wasn’t a fluke, you see, we aren’t the worst team in basketball anymore….they are, and even a blind squirrel finds an occasional acorn…..

Vs

OKC offensive rating season: 103                           Sacto offensive rating season: 104.4

OKC off. rating last 5 games: 111.7                        Sacto off. rating last 5 games: 102.9

OKC defensive rating season: 109.2                     Sacto defesnive rating season: 114.7 (last in the NBA)

OKC def. rating last five games: 112.6                  Sacto def. rating last 5 games: 121 (OMG!!)

A quick simple method of sort of “ball parking” a team’s credibility is to note the difference between the offensive and defensive efficiencies. For the Thunder you get -.9 points per 100 possessions using the last five games. Not great, but something close to .500 ball. For the Kings you get a -18.1!! Think ab0ut that for a second. For every 100 possessions that Sacramento partakes of (100 is just a tad bit more than you would find in a standard 48 minute basketball game), they give up 18 points more than they score…….WOW! Can you say “lots of extra ping pong balls”?

For OKC it is notable that the Thunder give up 6.2 points/100 less at the Ford Center than they do on the road. Home court advantage means something in OKC.

They punched us in the nose last week. Lets hope for a nice counterpunch today in OKC.