Thunder at Warriors: Pregame Primer

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Ok. City Thunder (28-21, 13-11 road) vs. Golden State Warriors (13-35, 9-13 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722, Tulsa Cox 27, DirectTV 679, UVerse 753)
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 97.1 FM Tulsa)
Time: 9:30 CST

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 106.4 (18th), Warriors – 106.2 (19th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.3 (6th), Warriors – 110.6 (28th)
Pace: Thunder – 92.1 (18th), Warriors – 100.4 (1st)

View from the enemy: Warriors World

I always hate when these games happen. Mainly because, what’s a guy to write about when his team just played the new opponent six days ago? Thw Warriors are fresh on our minds and we know what they do. Nothing has really changed. Monta Ellis is still fast, Steph Curry can still shoot and the front office hasn’t added 16 new D-Leaguers to the roster. Alas.

Golden State coming in: The Warriors have dropped seven straight, and are 0-2 since the Thunder last played them (lost at Houston and at Dallas). But at home this season, Golden State is dangerous. The Warriors are 9-13 at Oracle, with wins over Boston, Portland and Phoenix. So by all means, this game is dangerous.

The Warriors roster should still be fresh on everybody’s mind. Monta Ellis scored 46 against Dallas for GSW, but just like last time, OKC needs to make Ellis take shots to get his points. 28 points on 27 shots doesn’t scare me. 28 points on 20 does. Russell Westbrook did an OK job on him in the last game, with Thabo getting about half the matchup. That’s the beauty of the Thunder backcourt. It’s completely interchangeable.

Corey Maggette got his offense going a week ago, mainly by going hard at the bucket. He’ll be guarding Kevin Durant and we all know what happened last time. 45 points on 16-21 shooting. So yeah, that’s a reason to be excited about tonight.

Andris Biedrins hasn’t been seeing a lot of minutes for the Warriors but he’s still a force on the glass. So it’ll be key for Nenad Krstic, Serge Ibaka and Jeff Green to work hard there. I didn’t mention Nick Collison because we all know he’ll work hard. The Warrior bench isn’t very productive sans C.J. Watson. So OKC should be able to really separate itself when Golden State’s first five sit down.

So there it is. Nothing new about this matchup. OKC’s played three times since they last met and Golden State twice. The Thunder goes for a five-game winning streak tonight too, which would tie the longest of the season. But it’s not going to be an easy win. It’ll likely come down to some key possessions in the fourth and whoever gets the stop, grabs the rebound or executes the offense will get it done. Or maybe Uncle Jeff will just take care of things at the buzzer again.

Tip at 9:30 CST. Go Em-Vee-Pee! Em-Vee-Pee!