Oklahoma City Thunder

vs

Indiana Pacers

Preview

The story so far

The Thunder are again coming off a disappointing loss, this time to the Hornets. The Thunder dominated most categories in the loss to the Hornets, they out rebounded them on the offensive and defensive sides, they took more free throws, and they took more shots. Yet the Hornets won the game. There is no shame in losing to the Hornets, but a win would have been a nice way to say this in no longer your home away from home. The Pacers are looking to get back on track after losing Danny Granger for the majority of the season so far. Granger returned last night against the Timberwolves, he played 31 minutes in the loss. The Pacers are 11-24 which means... they are right in the hunt for a playoff spot in the East. Coming to the end of this home stand the Thunder need a win to build up some momentum heading into the Knicks and San Antonio games. Win tonight and Monday against the Knicks and the Thunder finish this easy portion of the schedule 8-2 which I think most of us would agree is a win.

The Matchups

Earl Watson v Russell Westbrook

Earl is back to starting for the Pacers. For those of you who did not know the Swirl had lost his job to TJ Ford who has now been dropped to the end of the bench. In that short time Swirl has posted averages of 7.4 points, 5.4 assists, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 turnovers. Meanwhile the student has become the teacher as Westbrook has really blossomed under the tutelage of Mo Cheeks and Kevin Ollie and now is a vastly superior option to Watson. Westbrook is now averaging 15.2 points, 9.6 assists, 6.2 rebounds, and 2.4 turnovers. Westbrook should be able to drive past Watson at will and get to the rim, finishing around Hibbert could get dicey but it is a skill Westbrook must learn eventually. On defense Westbrook should be able to stick with Watson and prevent him from contributing much on the offensive side.

Edge

Luther Head v Thabo Sefolosha

Head is solid if not spectacular at the two. He shoots over .400 from the field and around .300 from three. Head is not much of a rebounder and really doesn't contribute much in the way of assists but his job appears to be to score. Sefolosha is coming off a terrible game where he went 1-5 and just really did not contribute on offense. His defense of CP3 was great but it would have been nice to have Westbrook step up on CP3 and try Sefolosha on West. Tonight Sefolosha will probably spend most of his time on Head, taking away Head as a scoring option should push more of the scoring burden onto Watson and Granger.

Edge T

Danny Granger v Kevin Durant

Granger has only played in 18 games this season; the Pacers are 5-13 in games he plays. Granger shot about his average in his return at Minnesota. He had 19 points on 7-19 from the field and 3-10 from three, he also threw in 6 rebounds. Durant missed practice on Friday due to an ankle injury he suffered at the Bulls game. Someone please press the panic button now. How much this played in the lack of shots Durant took in both the Bulls and Hornets games is anyone's guess. Even when Durant is only taking 15 shots a game he is still making them count his pps is an otherworldly 1.79.

Edge T

Troy Murphy v Jeff Green

Murphy also made his return last night against the Timberwolves. He went 8-12 for 21 points and added 5 rebounds. Green played well against the Hornets he rediscovered how good he is when driving to the basket. Hopefully he remembers that tonight and uses it to drive past Murphy. Green will have a big advantage out on the perimeter against the bigger Murphy, he should be able to get to the rim and finish easily.

Edge P

Roy Hibbert v Nenad Krstic

Hibbert has a huge size advantage down low against anyone the Thunder can put down there. Collison and Ibaka will probably get their minutes down low against Hibbert, but Krstic is the best physical matchup for Hibbert. Tonight Krstic's defense could determine how this one goes for the Thunder. Krstic has yet to return to the offensive machine he was in New Jersey but continues to be a good option in the pick and roll and pick and pop game. I continue to be surprised when I watch Krstic as he continues to expand his offensive game. Last game he showed a nice running hook that went down and looked pretty much undefendable when it's going down.

Edge  

Bench v Bench

If you think Collison is over paid let me introduce you to Mike Dunleavy, Dunleavy is going to make 10 million this season despite the fact he doesn't start and doesn't do anything other than volume score. Dahntay Jones was with the Nuggets last season and probably is best known for his attempted trip of Kobe.  AJ Price was the Pacers second round pick this year and is playing on a non guaranteed contract so he is playing for his contract every game. Brandon Rush is another former Jayhawk that has been known to fill the basket up.

Collison didn't have one of his charges in the Hornets game; he also went 0-2 but added 7 rebounds. Maynor went 3-7 and only had 2 assists but provided some solid defense of CP3. Harden went 3-8 for 9 points and didn't do much else. Ibaka was 3-4 and grabbed 7 rebounds a block and a steal.   

Edge T 

Efficiency

The Prediction

The Pacers will have the advantage down low but will that fit in with Dunleavy's run and gun offense. The Thunder are at home coming off a terrible loss but one thing the Thunder have done a great job of doing this season is rebounding from losses to play a great game the next night. After the loss to the Lakers the Thunder went into Phoenix and got the big win, after the loss to the Bucks the Thunder showed up and beat the Bulls in a thriller. The Thunder only have three losing streaks and of those three one is only two games and the other two are only three game streaks. The Thunder should win this game tonight and they have done a good job of winning the games they should. The Pacers are on the second half of a back to back and just lost a heart breaker to Minnesota.

Thunder win 101-85

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