Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Cleveland Cavaliers 12/13/09

[slick_watts]

Russell Westbrook / Thabo Sefolosha / Kevin Durant / Jeff Green / Nenad Krstic

VS




Mo Williams / Anthony Parker / LeBron James / J.J. Hickson / Shaquille O'neal

Matchup

You know, when I look at that starting lineup I wonder what's going on with Cleveland management. Is that the best supporting cast you can get for LeBron James? Really?

Anyway, there are some interesting matchups here. The Big Witness is questionable for the game with an eye injury, which is good since The Big Z would probably be the preferable matchup for Nenad Krstic. I have a feeling we'll see Thabo Sefolosha guarding LeBron James and Kevin Durant guarding Anthony Parker. Parker is mostly a spot up shooter these days.

Cleveland is a very good 3pt shooting team. Second best in the league. Mo Williams and Anthony Parker both shoot it very well, and LeBron is up near 35% these days. And of course Gibson off the bench. Perimeter defense has to be up to snuff in this one if we want to have any kind of chance. I think we match up well here since perimeter defense is one of our strengths and Cleveland doesn't have a guy like Dwight Howard or Bynum / Gasol to draw double teams on post ups.

I think this is a game Jeff Green can do well in this game against Hickson and Varejao, two guys he can use his quickness against.

Key matchup IMO is Russell Westbrook and Mo Williams. Mo isn't known for being a lockdown defender, but when his shot's on and he's hitting those threes it's tough to guard this team. This isn't a team we can turn the ball over to; they are great in transition both ways.

Some Numbers

We have leap frogged Portland in the standings and are even with Utah in the loss column. Pretty crazy!

Defense rating remains fourth in the league but offense rating has been creeping up lately, it's now sitting at 20th. This is the highest it's been since the win over Washington.

We are still a terrible three point shooting team. Cleveland makes 10% more of their threes. Our offense would be ranked in the mid teens if we even had average 3pt shooting.

Stangely, Kevin Durant is attempting one more three than he did last year, even though he's making 15% fewer. Jeff Green is also suffering from this same curiosity.

A Question

Can someone tell the OKC TV people to stop calling KD the 'Junk Yard Dog'? Please?

[MHZ]

This could turn into a pretty exciting matchup between Durant and LeBron. As a Nuggets fan, we'll see you guys tomorrow night. Best of luck.

[slick_watts]

I personally find the Melo / Durant matchup more intriguing. Especially after that one game last season..

[dream_catcher_9]

I intrigued to see how we defend LeBron...

[Julio]

I think yes, KD takes Parker but kind of play off him, to be able to help with his lengt.
That is the type of game Green should be good, you know?
Going against a slowest than ever Shaq and Varejao/Hickson in the paint, I mean, it's not a bad combo, but they aren't great by any stretch.
I would like to to see RW attacking Williams. Make him spend energy on D, so his offense won't be as present.
And yeah, they are very good when the other team have TOs, so we got to be careful on that.

Also like more the Melo/Durant matchup.

[Clangus]

Competing very well so far!

[wiff]

Nice first quarter. I loved the fact Thabo started the game off with a block.

[Julio]

Gonna catch the game on the broadband tomorrow, I hope we win that one, GO THUNDER!

[slick_watts]

The pace of the game definitely favors Cleveland in the long run..

Shaun Livingston doesn't really run the offense. He just dumps the ball off to someone for a one on one. James Harden actually can run the offense.

[slick_watts]

Nice bench play, didn't let Cleveland take the lead, the bench did turn the ball over five times and was real sloppy in general.

Really liked that last play KD to James Harden on the cut. Those are the plays Durant wasn't making even last season. Shows how much he's progressing.

[Clangus]

we have the lead at the half. If we can put in a solid third quarter like the boys are capable of... we could take control

[slick_watts]

Well the good news is we won both quarters and played great half court defense. The offense has looked good (besides some turnover problems with the bench).

Bad news is that the transition defense has been horrible, Cleveland has 21 first half transition points which is ridiculous. This probably should be a double digit game, they had Shaq on the bench for a good portion of it and the half court defense has been fantastic.

I like all the posting up we're doing..

[Clangus]

if KD ever learns to turn the ball over less, we'll be F'ing Amazing!

[Clangus]

F*** F*** F**** Lebron hit 3 3's in a row. That was bad. We had control of the quarter until that.

[dream_catcher_9]

wow we totally collapsed at the end of the 3rd, pathetic

[Clangus]

if we dont stop these offensive rebounds we are going down...Hard

[Clangus]

Stat of the night: The Cavs have taken 22 more FG attempts than we have.

[Clangus]

Uncle Jeff had a couple of nice plays.

Who is goig to step up for us down the Stretch.

Westbrook, KD or Green?

[Clangus]

COME ONE GUYS _ THIS ONE IS GETTING AWAY FROM US!

[Clangus]

GONE F*CKING STONE COLD