Warriors vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
vs.
Golden State Warriors (11-15, 3-6 road) vs. OKC Thunder (22-7, 10-1 home)
TV: FS OK (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 – 107.9 (3rd), Warriors– 106.0 (7th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 102.3 (15th), Warriors – 107.2 (26th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.5 (4th), Warriors – 92.7 (8th)
View from the enemy: Warriors World
The Thunder kick off a stretch of five games in seven nights tonight, but with all of them coming at home. First up is a matchup with the always pesky Warriors, a team that’s playing a lot better basketball than you might think.
Obviously you want to see a team a little more prepared to play after the stinker in Houston, which you should expect with the Thunder playing at home. Playing five straight at home heading to the break, the Thunder should really be focused on taking a five-game streak into next weekend. But it starts with handling Golden State tonight.
Golden State coming in: The Warriors have won three of four against pretty solid competition. They last lost by two on Wednesday.
Three Big Things
1. No Perk. Nazr Mohammed will start in place of Perk tonight as he’s out with a knee contusion he suffered against the Rockets. Probably not a bad game for Perk to miss as he’s only averaged 21 minutes a game and wasn’t much of a factor in either game. But you know what this means? Some time for Cole Aldrich. I’m excited.
2. Monta. He completely went off on Oklahoma City in the last game. And there honestly wasn’t much to be done. He just had it going. He was knocking down jumpers, taking it to the rim, finishing in traffic — he was unstoppable. Obviously the Thunder are going to key on him a bit, but you can’t overlook Steph Curry who is completely capable of doing the same thing.
3. KD. Durant missed some of today’s shootaround because of stomach pain, but is expected to play tonight. Still, with this being Michael Jordan’s birthday, if KD goes off for 40, I’m calling this his flu game and will hype it for the rest of my life.
Tip at 7:00 CT. Go Good Health.
