Oklahoma City Thunder vs Charlotte Bobcats 12/21/10

[fallacy]

After a horribly played loss against the Suns where coach Brooks decided to screw us over by playing small ball the entire fourth quarter the Thunder look to bounce back against the Charlotte Bobcats. The Bobcats are going to be coming off a game the day before against the Wizards so that should be a small advantage.

OKC 19-9 overall, 7-3 last ten games, 1st place in the Northwest division, 4th place in the West
CHA 9-19 overall, 3-7 last ten games, 4th place in the Southeast division, 11th place in the East


Russell Wesbrook - 23.2p/8.5a/5.1r
Thabo Sefolosha - 6.4p/1.6a/5.5r
Kevin Durant - 27.4p/3.0a/6.7r
Jeff Green - 17.3p/1.9a/6.5r
Serge Ibaka - 10.5p/6.6r/2.4b

vs



D.J. Augustin - 12.9p/6.3a/3.4r
Stephen Jackson - 17.3p/4.3a/4.3r
Dominic McGuire - 4.1p/.9a/5.4r
Boris Diaw - 12.2p/3.3a/5.2r
Nazr Mohammed - 8.4p/5.2r/1.16b

The Bobcats aren't very good at anything outside of Jackson and Wallace. They have very balanced scoring throughout their starting lineup but they are 28th in points per game. They do have a respectable defense being 12th in the league but that has dropped off big time from where they were last year.

Should be an easy game for the Thunder but we thought that about the Suns too. The Thunder can't come out playing like they don't care like they did against the Suns. We need a quick start and get a big lead since we place the Knicks in a back to back after this game.

Matchup to watch: Durant vs Wallace. Wallace is a very good defender and a very good rebounding SF. He is only 6'7 so the 6'11 Durant should be able to shoot over him. Wallace is very aggressive attacking the rim so Durant needs to stay out of foul trouble.

[fallacy]

Looks like Wallace won't be able to play in their game tonight or the game against us Wednesday. Jackson also is hurt and is DTD. Krstic I also expect to be out for this game but I don't have any current news about that.

I will update the previous post with the updated lineups on gameday.

[slick_watts]

Thanks for the thread!

[fallacy]

Thanks for the thread!

No problem. Trying to give you a break for a bit

Edited the top post for the bobcat's lineup. It looks like Dominic McGuire (who?) is going to start for Wallace. He is a massive black whole on offense so Durant should be able to focus on the offensive end. Stephen Jackson will be their only real option on offense so we need a big game from Sefolosha

If we lose this game now it will be by far our worst loss of the season.

[Sinant]

Charlotte got blown out by 30 against the Wall-less, Arenas-no-more Wizards.

Thunder are officially not allowed to lose to this team.

[boobie miles]

No excuses Tuesday night, however thats what we thought about the Suns game. Bobcats weren't that good to begin with, are depleted and look to be in disarray. Need to take care of business early and decisively, and hopefully save some energy for the well-rested Knicks.

[obye]

The Wiz had a good game overall and the FG% was good for all players ! All the starters had double digits!

It will be a tough game , but we are the favorites ! We can win everygame if our shot selection its good !(Thing that was not quite that good with the Suns).

Anybody knows how Cole is developing in the D-League ?

[fallacy]

The Wiz had a good game overall and the FG% was good for all players ! All the starters had double digits!

It will be a tough game , but we are the favorites ! We can win everygame if our shot selection its good !(Thing that was not quite that good with the Suns).

Anybody knows how Cole is developing in the D-League ?

He's not in the D-league anymore, he's on the active roster

[MoeRoadKill]

I fear small ball tonight

[slick_watts]

Awful start.

[fallacy]

Offense is god awful again so far tonight. We are shooting 4/16 from the field and are down 3 points already

[fallacy]

Mullens is in the game with 3 minutes left in the first? What the hell

[fallacy]

For some reason we continue to not be able to hit any free throws. When did this team become so bad?

[Sinant]

KD threw up a stinker in the 1st quarter.

[slick_watts]

This team is playing some heartless basketball right now.

[BIG EDDIE]

What the (bleep) is Mullens doing in there? Sorry, but he is worse than Bill Wennington. Just doesnt belong in a close 2nd quarter game....

[slick_watts]

Byron Mullens is horrible, either Cole Aldrich is nowhere near an NBA player or... I can't think of anything else.

[slick_watts]

Russell Westbrook has been awful in this game.

[fallacy]

For all the people complaining about brooks playing small ball, he's gone in the complete opposite this game. For most of the second quarter he played westbrook/durant/green/ibaka/collison.

Not surprisingly we've played much better defense and rebounded better too.

Durant has 17 at the half
Westbrook has 4 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, 2 steals, and 5 TO

45-40 Thunder.

Incredibly boring game

[slick_watts]

KD had a nice first half, and Nick has been great.

Scott Brooks played a stupid lineup with a point guard (Russ) and four forwards (Ibaka, Green, Durant, Collison).

I have a huge problem with how Jeff Green is given huge minutes every game no matter how bad he plays. He's been terrible in this game yet here he is with 22 minutes. James Harden, who was effective, only plays 8 minutes. Harden should have been in that lineup instead of Green so that Charlotte would respect our outside shooting and not collapse on defense.

Brooks just has a stupid aversion to playing normal lineups.