Warriors vs. Thunder: Pregame Primer
Warriors (30-18, 14-12 road) vs. Thunder (36-12, 21-3 home)
TV: FSOK (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 – 112.4 (1st), Warriors– 106.9 (10th)
Defensive Rating: Thunder – 103.4 (8th), Warriors – 105.8 (16th)
Pace: Thunder – 93.2 (8th), Mavs – 93.9 (7th)
View from the enemy: Warriors World
A chance to win consecutive games for the Thunder. That normally is a major “so what?” statement, but it’s actually been a while. Part of the problem is that the Thunder haven’t played consecutive games at home for a couple weeks. They get a good Warriors team tonight, but for OKC, that shouldn’t matter on its home floor.
The Warriors are playing on the second night of a back-to-back, but really might not be all that tired because they got absolutely WORKED in Houston last night. The Rockets dropped 140 on them and hit 23 3-pointers. So I’m sure they’re still feeling the sting of that a bit and would very much like to wash that taste away with a strong defensive effort.
Problem is, the Warriors have matchup problems with the Thunder. No one to guard KD and no good answer for Russell Westbrook. OKC has similar problems the other way with David Lee and Curry, but that’s what makes for great games — when teams can’t really guard each other.
Golden State coming in: The Warriors got trounced by Houston last night.
Shootaround Sound
SCOTT BROOKS
Three Big Things
1. Westbrook. Will he keep it going? His play has been pretty consistent the past week, completely dismissing the talk of his tantrum because of how he’s performed. He was playing really well going into the last game against Golden State too, and then he dropped a horrific 3-16, six-turnover game while Curry worked him over on the other end.
2. No Bogut. Bogut hasn’t been cleared to play back-to-back games yet, so that changes the look of the Warriors quite a bit. It thins them out on the front line and means that Mark Jackson might get more creative with his rotations and lineups.
3. Double-down. The Warriors can’t handle KD. He torched them for a triple-double in the first meeting, then nearly had one in the first half last night. But in the fourth quarter Golden State doubled him the whole time, a tactic that worked relatively well. Will Jackson do it again, and if so, when?
Tip at 7:00 CT. Go Consecutive.
