Pistons vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer

vs.

Detroit Pistons (4-13, 1-7 road) vs. OKC Thunder (13-3, 6-1 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (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: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 107.1 (7th), Pistons– 97.7 (25th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 101.9 (15th), Pistons – 108.4 (27th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.6 (9th), Pistons – 87.3 (30th)

View from the enemy: Piston Powered

Pistons, bad. Thunder, good. Should be as simple as that, right? Unfortunately, it’s not always that way. Learned lessons and all. But there’s really no good reason the Thunder should leave this one in doubt in the second half. The expectation is a business-like disposal of the Pistons and on to the next one.

Detroit coming in: The Pistons last played Saturday, beating the Blazers out of nowhere.

Three Big Things

1. Greg Monroe. There are a lot of things wrong with the Pistons, but Greg Monroe is not one of them. Great passer, good rebounded, versatile scorer — I’m a Monroe fan. He plays both the 4 and the 5 so Serge Ibaka and Perk will get their time on him and will definitely have their work cut out for them.

2. Killing the belief early. The worst thing you can do with teams worse than you is let them hang around early in the game and grow the belief they’ve got a good chance. That’s what the Thunder never did with Washington. They never put them away. You’ve got to put in that kill shot early on so that when the Pistons do make their run, it’s too little too late.

3. Get KD cooking. I don’t know about you, but I’m up for an awesome KD night.

Tip at 7:00 CT. Go Loud Noise.