Game 58: Los Angeles (34-23) vs Oklahoma City (42-15)

[mkwest]

Los Angeles Clippers VS Oklahoma City Thunder
Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, OK
When: Wednesday, April 11th, 2012 @ 5PM (PST)
TV:
Radio:

Season Series: 1-1
Game 1: 1/30 in LA; Clippers over Thunder 112-100
Game 2: 3/21 in OKC; Thunder over Clippers 114-91



PG: #3 - Chris Paul SG: #4 - Randy Foye

SF: #5 - Caron Butler PF: #32 - Blake Griffin

C: #6 - DeAndre Jordan

Reserves

Bledsoe | Young | Simmons | Evans | Martin


Injury Report:

Mo Williams (Sprained Left Big Toe) is questionable.
Chauncey Billups (Left Achilles) is out.




PG: #0 - Russell Westbrook SG: #2 - Thabo Sefolosha

SF: #35 - Kevin Durant PF: #9 - Serge Ibaka

C: #5 - Kendrick Perkins


Reserves

Fisher | Cook | Harden | Collison | Mohammed


Injury Report:

Eric Maynor (Torn Right ACL) is out.


Team Leaders and Statistics



Blake Griffin - 20.7 Points and 10.9 Rebounds (6th)

Chris Paul - 9.0 Assists (3rd) and 2.5 Steals (1st)

DeAndre Jordan - 2.1 Blocks (3rd)

Team Performance
97.2 Points Per Game - 12th Overall
41.8 Rebounds Per Game - 18th Overall
21.1 Assists Per Game - 14th Overall
94.9 Points Allowed - 14th Overall
13.4 Turnovers Per Game - 2nd Overall
14.5 Turnovers (Opp.) Per Game - 17th Overall
Offensive Rating: 108.1 Points Scored Per 100 Possessions - 4th Overall
Defensive Rating: 105.5 Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions - 18th Overall
Pace: 89.2 possession per 48 Minutes - 27th Overall



Kevin Durant - 27.6 Points (2nd) and 7.9 Rebounds

Russell Westbrook - 5.4 Assists and 1.7 Steals

Serge Ibaka - 3.6 Blocks (1st)

Team Performance
102.8 Points Per Game - 2nd Overall
43.3 Rebounds Per Game - 7th Overall
18.5 Assists Per Game - 28th Overall
96.3 Points Allowed - 17th Overall
16.4 Turnovers Per Game - 30th Overall
14.4 Turnovers (Opp.) Per Game - 18th Overall
Offensive Rating: 109.8 Points Scored Per 100 Possessions - 1st Overall
Defensive Rating: 102.9 Points Allowed Per 100 Possessions - 9th Overall
Pace: 92.9 possession per 48 Minutes - 6th Overall

After suffering through a 3 game losing streak, the Thunder have bounced back by winning 2 straight by a combined 36 points. As we are in a battle with a few teams for one of the 3rd, 4th or 5th place spots, the Thunder are in a close battle with the San Antonio Spurs for the top seed in the west and possibly for home court advantage over the Bulls who currently have a 1.5 game advantage.

5 of the 8 remaining Clipper opponents (not including this game) are above .500 and are either playoff teams or fighting for one of the final spots. Teams won't be laying down for us and won't likely be resting their star players. Whether or not we can climb to the 3rd spot or not, the most important thing is to claim home court advantage through the 1st round of the playoffs. This team has to show some fight and give a more consistent effort on playing defense, getting stops and limiting the opponents' 2nd chance opportunities. If we do those things and knock down our shots, then I like our chances against any team.


Credit goes to Citizen Bui Himself for this.

mkwest's game thread record: 9 - 5

[azncorruptedo17]

of course we're going to win! no brainer =X

[areg789]

Billups is going to fill in Magic Johnson's place on Espn's NBA Countdown during tonight's game during the pre-game and halftime show.

[scratch21]

we can beat this team! #ClipperNation

[thanumba2clippersfan]

I'd like us to get a win tonight. It sucks that we couldn't win against Memphis. This one will be tough but we can do it. We need some kind of win on this road trip.

[LOJ]

Won't be able to watch this one with you guys, but I'll leave you one of my 90s good luck charms.

Shannon Elizabeth:

[mkwest]

The refs are allowing a lot of contact. I don't have a problem with that as long as it's consistent and reffed the same both ways.

[Sofia]

wow, interesting call on Griffin...

[Sofia]

Reggie in early

[mkwest]

24-21 Thunder after 1. Blake has 2 fouls already. I expect him to play less minutes than usual in the 2nd. We need to keep the game close and be easy on the turnovers. We have 5 to their 2 so far. The Thunder turn the ball over more than any other team in the league.

[mkwest]

Martin just loves firing up 3's

[mkwest]

That's some BS.

[Sofia]

wtf are we doing in that zone

[thanumba2clippersfan]

wtf are we doing in that zone

We just need to stop using it. I've seen the Thunder pass inside and get easy baskets.

[thanumba2clippersfan]

Thank you Chris, we needed that 3

[Angel strike1]

i am lost. i guess if we start making few 3s and thunder stop making few and we keep this ups we can win. lol

[thanumba2clippersfan]

CP3 misses the jumper before the half and we can't come up with the rebound. Clippers trail the Thunder 55-48 at the half.

[Neddy]

just got home from work. we down by 7? not too bad, we can still do this

[Sofia]

They were 7/13 from 3 at one point, which is result of us sitting back in a zone. If we get out of the zone, we stop giving up open J's and start getting a hand up on shooters.

[Neddy]

They were 7/13 from 3 at one point, which is result of us sitting back in a zone. If we get out of the zone, we stop giving up open J's and start getting a hand up on shooters.

but we are a poor defensive team regardless, no?