Thunder at Raptors: Pre-game primer

vs.

Thunder (20-51, 6-28 road) at Toronto Raptors (26-45, 15-20 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)
Time: 6:00 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder: 103.3 (28th), Raptors: 106.3 (23rd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder: 109.1 (20th), Raptors: 109.9 (21st)
Pace: Thunder: 93.6 (8th), Raptors: 91.5 (16th)

Get your DVR’s ready! Sweet 16, Thunder-Raptors? Sweet 16, Thunder-Raptors? Decisions, decisions. Plus you’ve got Supernanny at 8:00. I think I know where my DVR is going.

OKC’s got a chance at another season sweep in Toronto tonight, with the Thunder taking game one 91-83 against a, let’s just say less than inspired Raptor ballclub. Toronto shot 36 percent that night and looked like they took roofies at halftime. That game had maybe my favorite Thunder play of the year with Nick Collison getting on the floor and wrestling away a loose ball from Chris Bosh late in the fourth quarter which led to a Jeff Green icer.

The Raps have won two in a row and while they are one of the league’s most disappointing teams, they still have talent. For whatever reason things haven’t worked this year, but this isn’t going to be anything easy for the Thunder. Heck, when is anything ever easy for a 20-51 team?

This is a different Raptor squad than we saw back in December (when we were 2 and 24!) as they’ve added Shawn Marion and traded Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon. Which actually makes me like OKC’s matchups better. Andrea Bargnani moved into the starting center role and his game is mostly on the perimeter. Which is good because Nenad Krstic doesn’t typically have as much problem with jumpshooters. And add Marion who isn’t as good a defender as Moon, so Kevin Durant might be able to get loose tonight.

KD has struggled a bit since he’s been back but seemed to regain his offense a little in the second half against the Lakers. Russell Westbrook had an excellent night last time these two teams hooked up as he went for 19 points on 7-12 shooting and dished out eight assists. Westbrook seems to match up really well against opposing point guards that don’t play defense. Crazy, I know.

I’m a little curious about who Scott Brooks will use on Marion. Anthony Parker is the starting two for Toronto but he’s not much of a scorer. I wonder if it would make sense to swap Thabo and Durant and have Thabo guard Marion.

Now we all know about six people will be watching this game with the Sweet 16 going on tonight, but this could be OKC’s second straight road win. Two in a row… ON THE ROAD!

Tip is at 6:00. Go DVR.