Thunder vs Suns: Pregame Primer

Ryan Woods -

vs.

Suns (3-3, 1-1 road) vs. Thunder (3-3, 2-1 home)

TV: FS Oklahoma
Stream: Click here
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM, 1300 AM The Buzz Tulsa)
Time: 6:00 CT

Offensive Rating: Thunder – 109.7 (2nd), Suns – 101.4 (19th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 106.9 (22nd), Suns – 101.4 (15th)

Oklahoma City dropped its third straight against Chicago. And for the third straight time, saw a game they had owned a big portion of slip away in crunch time.

Tonight the visiting Phoenix Suns try and get a win in a building they haven’t won in for almost five seasons. The Suns come in at 3-3 with losses to the Mavericks, Clippers and Pistons — wins over the Trailblazers (x2) and Sacramento.

3 Big Things

1. Rotation

Still some curious lineups being experimented with right now, and six games in that’s no surprise. But some of these look like lineups Scott Brooks would’ve thrown together because not everyone was available.

Here’s a question I’ve asked myself at some point in each of the last three games: If the defense hasn’t been good when Anthony Morrow sits, why continue to harpoon his minutes for the sake of stops that you aren’t getting? Kyle Singer obviously gives a great effort, but has been pretty bad on offense through the first couple weeks of the season. No time like the present to play a top-5 shooter on Earth.

2. Late-Game Offense

The Thunder have struggled with this in the past so stop me if you’ve heard this before — Serge needs to touch the ball more in the 4th quarter. He gets a lot of easy looks in the first half, and isn’t looked for near enough late in games. Those paint touches will give Russ and KD more space and a great safety valve against the amount of double teams thrown at them.

3. Defense

Oklahoma City is allowing 108.7 points per game overall and gave up 60 percent shooting to the Bulls in the final period on Thursday night. They’ve been outscored by six or less in the final quarter of the last three games — that may seem arbitrary — point is: they’re just a couple stops per game from being undefeated still. This team is still very good and as capable as they were going into the year, it’s just a matter of locking in on defense for all 48.

“We have to figure it out. We’ve got to get stops,” Kevin Durant said. “We have to buckle down and do it.”

4. (Bonus Thing) Remember This?

Thursday’s COTN: “MODS GET TO BABYSIT US 12 YEAR OLDS NOW.” @Pancakes and Blouses

#SoManyNewMods

Tip at 6:00 CT. Go stop losing.