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Oklahoma City Thunder
vs
Houston Rockets
Preview
The History
The Thunder were coming off an emotional overtime loss on the third to the Lakers while the Rockets were coming off an emotional overtime loss on the fourth to surprise surprise the Lakers. No matter how this game turns out the Thunder will finish November with a winning record, but it would be nice to get to 10 wins. The Rockets are sitting at 8-8 after a couple of tough losses at home to San Antonio and Dallas. The Thunder are coming off back to back wins over the Jazz in Utah and Milwaukee on ESPN.
The Matchups
Aaron Brooks v Russell Westbrook
Aaron Brooks abused Westbrook on defense in the first matchup. Brooks was able to use his quickness to get into the lane and get easy shots for his teammates. Westbrook is coming off one of his best defensive performances on the year against another lighting quick point guard, Brandon Jennings. Westbrook had a great offensive game against Houston he went 14-25 for 33 points to go with 7 assists and 5 rebounds. Westbrook needs to bring the kind of defensive intensity that he displayed against the Bucks to keep Brooks under control, do that and it will go a long way to winning this game.
Edge
Trevor Ariza v Thabo Sefolosha
Sefolosha keeps getting better and better on defense. Against the Rockets he struggled to make an impact due to the lack of a primary scorer on the Rockets, but with each game his help defense improves and he does a little more to help his teammates defend as a team. Ariza had 21 points on 8-18 shooting, not a great night but coupled with his 6 assists and 5 rebounds it was a complete effort. If Westbrook can't contain Brooks he may get the Sefolosha treatment but I don't know if Sefolosha has the quickness to keep up with the ultra fast Brooks.
Edge Push
Shane Battier v Kevin Durant
If Battier was supposed to shut down KD it didn't work, KD went for 27 on 11-22 shooting with 9 rebounds. Battier was 4-5 for 9 points in the first meeting. Considering he was supposed to be the Rockets defensive stopper he really didn't have a very good game.
Edge
Luis Scola v Jeff Green
Against the Rockets Green struggled a lot on offense, he went 3-15 on a night that the Thunder really needed someone else to step up and help KD and Westbrook carry the load. Luis Scola and Carl Landry had great games against Green. Scola went 8-13 for 19 points and 10 rebounds. Landry went 8-12 for 21 points and 9 rebounds. Green will really need to pick up the defense and prevent a repeat from Scola and Landry if the Thunder are going to win.
Edge
Chuck Hayes v Nenad Krstic
I thought Krstic would be able to shoot over the smaller Hayes but he just was not able to hit in the first matchup. Krstic went 1-8 and lost most of his minutes to Nick Collison. How much of that was Hayes defense and how much was just Krstic not having a good shooting night is hard to tell but the Thunder really needed Krstic to contribute in the first game and will probably need him this time if they are going to win.
Edge Push
Bench v Bench
Landry and Budinger both had great games in the first game against the Thunder. Landry went 8-12 and had 9 rebounds in 30 minutes. Budinger was all over the place both driving to the lane and shooting from outside. Kyle Lowry also contributed as the backup to Brooks getting into the lane and getting his teammates open shots.
Thomas has played sparingly over the past couple of games in part due to the emergence of Serge Ibaka. Ibaka has come in and played with great energy and provided a nice bit of rebounding off the bench. Harden also is playing well coming off the bench to provide some scoring and now that Ollie, Weaver, and Livingston are out some point guard minutes.
Edge
The Prediction
The first game the Thunder did not play good defense, they played sloppy and lost. Westbrook needs to build on the great defensive game he played against Milwaukee, by keeping Brooks and Lowry under wraps. Krstic and Green need to play better than they did the first matchup both on offense and defense. If Green, Krstic, and Ibaka can do a better job of making Landry and Scola miss they should be able to pull out the win at home to go to 10-7 as I originally predicted. Granted they didn't get there in the fashion I thought they would be the end result is what really counts.
Thunder win 100-89
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