Oklahoma City Thunder

at

New York Knicks

Preview

The story so far

What a difference a month makes. When the Knicks came to OKC in January they were only one game out of the Eastern conference playoffs and the Thunder were hanging on by a half game in the West. Now the Knicks have fallen almost completely out of the race in the East, while the Thunder have extended their lead over 9^th to 3 ½ games. Hollingers playoff predictor is putting the Thunder in the 4 seed to host our first playoff series. The Knicks look a lot different than the last time the Thunder played them, but the Thunder should win this one just on defense. The Thunder have 5 games left in February after tonight 2 against Minnesota and one each against San Antonio, Phoenix, and Toronto. All 5 are winnable games which means this win streak the Thunder is on could extend to 13 games before March.

The Matchups

Sergio Rodriguez v Russell Westbrook

Okay so right off the bat how does Rodriguez fit in running the team. The Knicks have had a chance to practice together but this will be their first game since the overhaul at the deadline. Rodriguez was buried on the bench in Sacramento behind Tyreke Evans and Kevin Martin and now gets a chance to show what he can do in every point guards dream offense. November 6.1, December 7.5, January 7.9, and February so far 8.8 there is no better indicator of the fact Westbrook is getting better and better at the point than his assist totals per month. Each month it increases while his turnovers stay about the same. Westbrook's development is one of many factors contributing to the Thunder's success this season. Westbrook also is shooting better and has developed into a nightly triple double threat.

Edge

Tracy McGrady v Thabo Sefolosha

This will also mark the return of McGrady to a court in nearly two months. In his return earlier in the season McGrady played sparingly in 6 games a total of 47 minutes. It will be interesting to see if McGrady can return to playing at a high level after the amount of time he has had off. Sefolosha continues to be up and down on offense. The Thunder have done a good job some games of getting Sefolosha the ball on cuts and those games he is up other games he is reduced to a jump shooter which is not his best game. Sefolosha continues to bring the solid defense night in and out which is the primary reason he is on the court.  

Edge ?????

Danilo Gallinari v Kevin Durant

Gallinari has slowed down a little since playing the Thunder. His shooting percentage has dipped below .400 from three and down to .417 from the field. Gallinari was 0-7 against the Thunder last game but did grab 11 rebounds. KD has slowed down a little from the break neck scoring pace he was on before. 46 is the magic number tonight, certainly doable but highly unlikely. Durant just doesn't take enough shots normally to get to 40 points. However it is the Knicks so there is a chance that the lack of defense will create a perfect storm of scoring for the Durantula.

Edge

Wilson Chandler v Jeff Green

Much like Jeff Green Chandler is a smaller forward playing power forward. Chandler doesn't shoot much from outside the arc and doesn't grab many rebounds but he is averaging almost 20 points a game. Chandler had 12 points and 7 rebounds in the first game on 6-12 shooting 0-2 from three. In the Dallas game KD was struggling and the Thunder needed someone else to step up, Green was one of the players that stepped up. Green has been stepping up a lot lately and making big plays the dunk on Josh Smith, the block on the four on one against Dallas. And now that he seems to have broken out of his shooting slump the Thunder are getting better and better. I look forward to seeing a lot of Green down low against Chandler and that sweet hook shot Green has shown.

Edge

David Lee v Nenad Krstic

The double double machine that is David Lee got another one in OKC. He had 11 points and 13 rebounds, but he took 18 shots to get those 11 points. Krstic is 7' and Lee only 6'9 so Krstic should be able to shot over Lee fairly easy. It didn't exactly work that way last time but Krstic was able to keep Lee in check on the offensive side fairly well.

Edge

Bench v Bench

Whose going to play? I imagine Eddie House will get in and Duhon too. J.R. Giddens has a shot at seeing the floor but what about Jonathan Bender or Bill Walker. Al Harrington will definitely get some time that much is pretty certain. I have no idea who will play for the Knicks off the bench tonight, I would probably pick one or two of the rookies and give him some burn to see what we got but who knows what the Knicks are thinking.

The Thunder bench has been one of the best in the NBA. Each player has a role and plays it well and each player plays solid defense. Collison continues to lead the bench with effiecent offense and rebounding. Maynor is a solid backup point guard who is only going to get better. Harden has started to pick up the scoring lack but his biggest improvement has been on the defensive side of the ball. Ibaka continues to improve by leaps and bounds there is no doubt now that he can be the rim protecting man in the middle the Thunder have been looking for. 

Edge

The Prediction

The Thunder need to keep beating the teams they should, the Knicks certainly fall into that category. The Thunder have built a little bit of breathing room in the playoff push but can't relax with difficult games still on the schedule. 11 wins is all that separate the Thunder from a winning record with 30 games left a winning record seems almost inevitable. KD should put another game on his streak of games with 25 and while he won't take the scoring lead he will make up some ground with a 35 point performance.

Thunder win 108-99

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