The Thunder will try to lengthen a homestand that has been successful thus far...after two games...in which they're 1-1. Hey, that's success in our books. The Nuggets definitely will be the best of the three teams; they boast a 21-12 record which places them in a surprising first place in the so-called "Northwest" division and in the fourth seed in the west. That's about 11 seeds better than us. Still, as Kevin Garnett would say, "ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!" Actually, he said that before the Thunder existed, I'm sure he would withdraw that statement now.

Backstory: This game will be all about new and old faces. Each team has a new guy who they hope can lift them to new heights. We've got Nenad Krstic, and though there's pretty much zero shot of him seeing the court tonight, in the future it will be interesting to see if he develops into the answer we've been looking for at center. On paper, it look very promising, but don't forget the last Serbian that came to OKC, Peja Stojakovic. Hehardly saw any time on the court the last year of the NOK Hornets, due to injury. The Nuggets have their hometown boy Chauncey Billups, who had led them to first place in the division, partially due to a Jazz team that has been through injury turmoil. Also, returning to the Ford Center tonight are J.R. Smith and Chris "The Birdman" Anderson. Both did not make good memories here. Nobody shot J.R., but they might as well have, he got zero minutes under Byron Scott, being in the "doghouse." The Birdman of course was completely alienated from the league for awhile, thanks to a drug violation. Anderson and Smith will both try to erase those memories tonight, with solid performances.

Match-Ups:

Russell Westbrook vs. Chauncey Billups

Edge:Billups

The Nuggets needed a new look, obviously trying to simply outscore opponents with an Iverson/Anthony combo wasn't working.

Desmond Mason vs. J.R. Smith

Edge:Smith

Not sure there's a better streak shooter in the league. When he's cold, he's cold, but when he's hot, who's going to stop him?

Kevin Durant vs. Carmelo Anthony

Edge:Melo

Carmelo's dynamic scoring has slowed just a little this season. They're similar players, but Melo is one of the league's brightest stars, KD's got a way to go.

Jeff Green vs. Kenyon Martin

Edge: Green

This one's close, but Green has been playing well lately, and Kenyon isn't the Emeka Okafor styled power forward. Kenyon is good defensively, but I always try to avoid a Thunder match-up shut-out.

Robert Swift vs. Nene

Edge:Nene

Come on now, it's Robert Swift. Nene had 4 times the scoring and almost twice the rebounds as Big Bob.

Battle of the Benches

Edge: Thunder

Renaldo Balkman, Chucky Atkins, and Dahntay Jones highlight the Nugget bench. Yeah, not much, edge Thunder fa sho.

Coaching and Intangibles

Edge: Nuggets

I definitely don't expect the Thunder to gain any momentum off their win, it's happened before, and we get little benefit from it.

Player to Watch:The Thunder big men, mainly Robert Swift and Johan Petro. They'll try to make their last home plea for some playing time after Krstic takes over, and They'll need to play well against the likes of Nene, Kenyon Martin, and Chris Anderson, who strangely is 4th in the league in blocks per game.

God of Thunder's Pick: Nuggets 104 Thunder 99

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