The players will be stampeding down the floor tonight!

I can't begin to tell you how big this game is for both teams. Both have been at the bottom of the West all year, for very different reasons. The Thunder were a young team that was trying to find its footing, and the Warriors were a team that had undergone massive roster turnover and was plagued with injuries. But, both have stuck to their New Years resolutions and (relatively) turned things around for the new year. The Thunder have had a Big 3 of Westbrook, Green, and Durant who do all of the work, and then occasionally a role player will step up when one of tthe big 3 isn't ready to perform. In addition, Earl Watson learned to stop taking dumb shots, Robert Swift, Johan Petro, and Damien Wilkins were finally off of the floor, and Nick Collison rediscovered himself. The Warriors have really not changed much, but they've started to learn to feed the hot hand and keep it away from "Stone Cold Steve Jackson". Recently, they've been on a hot streak, beating Indiana, Atlanta, and Washington while losing to Sacramento in triple overtime after having to play third stringers. Thus, even though both only have a remote shot at the playoffs, this game is still going to look very high-class.

Disclaimer- The Warriors Lineup is constantly changing, so it's hard to tell who's going to start. I'm going to base my lineups off of who started the last game, but it is very subject to change.

Matchups:

C- Andris Biedrins vs. Nick Collison

Andris Biedrins is arugably in the top 10 of the Centers in the NBA, and is an extremely efficent basketball player. He's a great defender, sucks up all of the teams rebounds, and can even score. His achilles heels are free throw shooting and foul trouble, but if he can stay out of those situations he's golden. To be honest, he's the best player on the Warriors right now, because when he's out, they usually go on huge slumps. Nick Collison is going to have some trouble scoring and defending against him, because he's a bit undersized for a center. If the Thunder are going to win, they've got to attack Biedrins and get him into foul trouble as soon as possible.

PF- Anthony Randolph vs. Kevin Durant

This is no contest. The only reason Randolph is starting is because the Warriors are having lots of rebounding troubles. Otherwise, Randolph won't be able to compete with Durant, even size-wise. If he starts, he'll probably get benched within a few minutes in favour of Maggette.

SF- Kelenna Azubuike vs. Jeff Green

Special K has been hot offensively as of late, and that's a good thing considering that he mainly focuses on defense. Still, he is facing the force known as Jeff Green, who has consistently performed every game. Look for Azubuike to score better than Green, but for Green to have a more well-rounded stat sheet.

SG- "Stone Cold" Steve Jackson vs. Desmond Mason

Steven Jackson is mainly out there for two things: Defense, and Moral Support. He is the unquestioned leader of the team, so he needs to play minutes in order to get the guys motivated, and he is probably the Warriors best defender. Still, he's been injured and offensively he's had a huge slump. At one point, Don Nelson went so far as to call him, "The Worst Player on the Team". I would encourage the Thunder to isolate him and try to make the Warriors put the ball in his hands. Defensively, give it to the guy that's not guarded by him. I don't think that he'll be guarding Mason. But, if he is, if Mason can take Jackson to the rack, he should have the advantage.

PG- Jamal Crawford vs. Russell Westbrook

Jamal Crawford is not a very apt distributor, and should be treated as more of a scorer. He'll shoot the lights out of you if you let him, so it's important that Westbrook keeps a tight lock on him defensively. He isn't a liability defensively, but he's a lot easier to exploit than Azubuike and Jackson, so expect Westbrook to have a big game by driving to the hole against Biedrins.

Bench Play-

On the Thunder side of things, when Biedrins gets taken out, so should Collison. Put in either Krstic or Wilcox, and get ready for an offensive explosion. The Warriors can be easily exploited inside without Biedrins, so expect both (especially Wilcox) to have a field day offensively. On the Warriors side of things, the Bench should still be pretty thin. Expect only C.J. Watson, Anthony Morrow, Corey Maggette, and Ronny Turiaf to come in. Pretty much every one of them are streaky outside shooters, with only the exception of Watson, who can distribute to an extent, and Turiaf, who serves the same purpose to the Warriors as Anderson Varejao does to the Cavaliers. Comes off the bench, lays it all out on the floor, and then goes back on the bench. He's not a good rebounder (because he wastes all of his energy blocking) so he can be exploited easily.

Coaching and Intangibles-

The Oracle is one of the loudest Arenas in the NBA (I can attest, I was there), but it remains to be seen if the Warrior fans will actually follow through on another losing season. From my best judgement, they'll still be at least 90% full though, and it's gonna be loud. ON the coaching side of things, Don Nelson can be very stubborn with who he keeps in the game and who he puts in the doghouse to a fault, so that might be the Warriors downfall tonight.

Final Score Prediction- Warriors 105, Thunder 100

Also, a huge Congratulations to Joe and Royce (formerly of The Thunderworld and Thunderguru, respectively) for getting a new blog on Henry Abbotts True Hoop Network! The best of luck to them, and I'm looking forward to the ultimate blog combination!

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