Thunder vs Lakers: Pregame Primer

vs.

Lakers (18-50, 7-26 road) vs. Thunder (40-30, 26-9 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 1300 AM The Buzz Tulsa)
Time: 7:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 107.2 (11th), Lakers – 103.5 (23rd)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 104.1 (12th), Lakers – 109.6 (28th)

Sunday’s win over the Miami Heat was the first sign of capable defense since Serge went down with injury. The perimeter defenders were sharp with rotations and communication, they fed off another deafening crowd and the bigs cleaned up around the rim all afternoon. It was a really encouraging win for this team going forward.

Tonight the lowly Lakers come to the Peake having lost 9 of their last 11 games, and have been mathematically eliminated from playoff contention on the earliest date in franchise history. The Thunder still has a lot to play for, and can tighten its grip on its own playoff berth with another strong performance tonight.

3 Big Things

1. Starting Lineup

Andre Roberson left with a sprained ankle early in Sunday’s win and will likely miss between 2 and 3 weeks. Interesting that the Thunder played its must complete game including a dynamite performance on defense with Roberson out. But if you were stoked to see Anthony Morrow start at the small forward position, sorry bruh — Kyle Singler now has that locked up for the foreseeable.

Singler will make his 11th start as a member of the Thunder while Morrow remains off the bench with 0 starts.

Enes Kanter played his best game as a Thunder with 27 points and 12 rebounds on 60 percent shooting on Sunday. His rebounding on both ends gives this team another dimension that it hasn’t had in the past. Not only can he pull them down, he can score the ball in various ways around the basket. Such a huge addition.

2. Bench Mob.

DJ – Morrow – PJIII – Novak – McGary. This group, while it’s not at full strength, it still where OKC can put teams away. Augustin continues to play well with Russ and as the main ball handler. Morrow is literally torching the entire area code and McGary continues to show why the Thunder drafter him where they did.

The Lakers are dealing with injuries as well, with no Nick Young or Ronnie Price, Jeremy Lin has to do the heavy lifting off the bench. The Thunder should have a clear advantage here.

3. Russ.

Westbrook had his 9th triple-double taken away on Sunday after a rebound was credited to Hassan Whiteside. Let me go out on a pretty firm limb here and say Russ gets it back tonight. Only way he doesn’t is if he doesn’t have to play the fourth quarter.

He continues to climb up the MVP ladder and into many experts’ top spot. Of course, this won’t change the way Russ plays… you can’t play any harder than he does night in and night out. He and Adams are getting that mojo back and it’s become a major part of Russ’s first quarter success. He’s looking for both Adams and Kanter and it’s paying off big time. Look for Russ to continue to get the bigs involved early tonight for easy finishes in the lane.

Sunday’s COTN: “Morrow needs to sit down, 3 times i was yelling at DJ to pass it to Morrow, he’s wide open, only to realise he’s on the bench lol” – @FunakiEjectsAnother

COTN Suggestions are taken at ryankwoods5@gmail.com.

Tip at 7:00 CT. Go 6 out of 7.