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Oklahoma City Thunder
vs
New Orleans Hornets
Preview
The story so far
Don't look now but the Hornets are back at .500 and looking to get back into the playoff race. In the Southwest division all five teams are at or above .500, even Memphis. New Orleans is coming off a couple of great wins in their current 3 game win streak. The Hornets took care of Miami, Houston, and Utah in three straight games. OKC is looking to start another winning streak after the dominating win in Chicago on Monday. The Thunder are finally back home and starting a nice 9 day stretch at home during which they will play NO, IND, NYK, and SA. If the Thunder finish up this stand at home with 4 wins the Thunder will have a nice 23-15 record.
The Matchups
Chris Paul v Russell Westbrook
Chris Paul, the last five games, is averaging 17.8 points, 8.8 assists, 5 rebounds, 2.8 steals, and 1.4 turnovers. Westbrook, the last five games, is averaging 16.2 points, 9.8 assists, 5.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 2.4 turnovers. Westbrook did an excellent job of becoming a scorer against the Bulls. The Thunder lost at Milwaukee because besides Durant they couldn't find another option that could consistently score, against the Bulls Westbrook stepped into that role nicely. The issue is once he became a scorer he wasn't able to run the offense. It was almost as if there is a switch that is set to scorer or distributer and there is no middle ground. The great point guards are able to continue to look for teammates even while they are trying to score. The more Westbrook is able to combine those two sides of his game the better he will become.
Edge
Devin Brown v Thabo Sefolosha
Devin Brown actually shoots better from outside the 3pt line than from 2pt range. He is a sniper from beyond the arc shooting .426, almost half his shot attempts come from 3. Sefolosha has been shooting well in spurts but also has cold nights. The last 5 games Sefolosha has shot almost 50% 11-23, while he has two games where he is a combined 0-6 he is 11-17 in the others. When his shot is falling he is a good option, when it isn't he is out there for defense. Sefolosha still looks a little slower, most likely due to the injury he is fighting through, but still the best or second best defensive option on the team.
Edge Push
Peja Stojakovic v Kevin Durant
Peja is due a hot night, he is 6-30 in his last 4 games, hopefully it doesn't come tonight. KD has been phenomenal in each of his past 8 games. To be considered a class A scorer in the NBA you are expected to average 1.3 points per shot. KD has averaged 1.58, 1.9, 1.36, 1.81, 1.84, 1.4, 1.3, and 1.78. Those are phenomenal numbers for a player averaging over 20 shots a game and one of the key reasons the Thunder have won 6 of those 8 games.
Edge
David West v Jeff Green
Green has been up and down this month. Against the Bulls he had an excellent matchup against Gibson, but could not take advantage of it. I think the key right now for Green is a lack of confidence, He had a key shot in the Bulls game that just beat the 24 second clock. That shot was difficult but given no other option Green was able to not only put the shot up and in but make it look fairly easy. It looked to me as though when he wasn't thinking, he played much better. West is one of the players Green is compared to the most. West continues to be the second option for the Hornets behind Paul. West is a great shooter with a polished game down low. Tonight will be an interesting matchup to see Green's defense against the superior offense of West.
Edge
Emeka Okafor v Nenad Krstic
Krstic was less than impressive against the Bulls Joakim Noah. He shot 3-6 but since Westbrook was doing a lot of the scoring his offense really wasn't needed. Okafor is a solid rebounder and good defender down low. He could go for 20 rebounds tonight against Krstic.
Edge
Bench v Bench
James Posey is the defender. Darius Songaila is a big power forward that can score. Darren Collison steps in when CP3 takes a break.
Collison fought the good fight against Noah and the Bulls but seemed a little over matched. Maynor got quite a bit of time with Westbrook in the Thunder 3 guard lineup, he responded with 6 points, 3 rebounds, a block, and a steal. Harden had a nice game against the Bulls going for 13 points on 11 shots. Ibaka got a couple of blocks and 8 rebounds in only 22 minutes.
Edge
The Prediction
The Thunder are again facing a team that they could be battling for a playoff spot down the stretch. With two wins over the Jazz and one over Memphis the Thunder hold two key pieces in the tiebreaker puzzle, tonight they can get another piece with a win over the Hornets. The Hornets are on a roll, they have really improved since firing Byron Scott surprisingly. Westbrook and Green will have their hands full keeping Paul and West under control. Tonight the Thunder will need someone other than Westbrook to step up and score some points. Krstic could play a big part in the offense tonight, or Harden may step up and put some points on the board. If someone steps up and helps Durant carry the load the Thunder should be able to do enough defensively to get the win.
Thunder win 103-95
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