Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets 11/29/09

[slick_watts]

Russell Westbrook / Thabo Sefolosha / Kevin Durant / Jeff Green / Etan Thomas

Vs.




Aaron Brooks / Trevor Ariza / Shane Battier / Luis Scola / Chuck Hayes

Matchup

Nenad Krstic is out with a sore achilles, so Etan Thomas will get the start and this probably also means extended minutes for Serge Ibaka and/or D.J. White. It' a good opportunity for Thomas to possibly earn back some of the minutes he's been losing to the young guys. I think OKC will really miss the threat of Krstic's jumper in the starting lineup, it leaves us with only three capable scorers in the starting 5.

Jeff Green will have to play better defense this game than the previous one. He was getting manhandled by Houston's undersized front court. Luis Scola and Carl Landry were both effective.

The Rockets have two excellent perimeter defenders in Shane Battier and Trevor Ariza, who will both probably get turns at Kevin Durant.

RW will have his hands full with Aaron Brooks who has had a great year.

This feels like a ripe time for a let down game, Houston is a tough team that I don't think we match up that great against.

Some Numbers

OKC is now fourth in the league in defensive rating. Offensive rating is still bottom third in the league.

Etan Thomas is still looking for his first assist in 242 minutes of action.

A Question

Will OKC play Houston tougher after being manhandled by them a few weeks ago?

[Clangus]

I think we can win this.

Slick just a quick shout out to you for your game day threads. I mean the posts during the game. Some days I cannot be near my PC to see or even listen to the games, so being able to come back and read your posts after the game is over is great. It gives me a better feel for how the game played out.

So Kudos and Thanks!

[Joel Embust]

Why would you try and swat that, god I HATE Etan Thomas.

[Joel Embust]

and then he gives up a (Please Use More Appropriate Word) and one to Chuck Hayes.

[Joel Embust]

I admit, two good defensive plays by Etan.

[deranged]

what happened to scola? he was only on for 22seconds?

[slick_watts]

Etan's been alright so far.

[Clangus]

Scola Injured?

[Clangus]

our boys beter be ready to play 48mins high intensity tonight.Because Houston will.

[slick_watts]

Scola's hurt, they don't know what it is yet.

[deranged]

did he fall? bump knees? what happened? i missed it

[Joel Embust]

Etan Thomas went up for a dunk and hit Scola in the face with his off arm. Something like that.

[dream_catcher_9]

Etan scratched him under his eye going for a dunk.

[slick_watts]

Rockets with some strange defense, they keep going under the screen and rolls which is pretty dumb against us..

I don't like all the switching on defense but it seems to be working, Houston's missing shots and looks kind of confused on offense.

I thought Etan played pretty well, he's certainly more of a factor defensively than Krstic. The two baskets he made I'm not sure Nenad is in position for either, probably would have been floating on the perimeter.

Nice start on both ends..

[Clangus]

Durant has started on fire. I hope he keeps this going all game. He hasn't reached that level where he manages to keep hot for a entire game yet. (like Melo, Kobe, Wade Lbj can do etc)

[deranged]

okay. as long as he didn't get hit on his actual eye ball. he prob got cut under his eye right?

[Clangus]

here comes IBAKA! WOOOT

[Joel Embust]

KEVIN DURANT WITH A NASTY DRIVE 'N DUNK

[deranged]

GO IABKA. 6 blks tonight. rockets has a small front court.

[slick_watts]

Ibaka getting the superstar calls!