Early in the afternoon on Sunday, I logged in to write my game preview. I started with NBA.com, and imagine my surprise and disappointment to find that the game had already started. Our streak of writing a preview for all of the games broken by my carelessness. Lame! But what would I have written had I gotten the chance? I imagine it would have gone something a little like this...
The Thunder head into Minnesota tonight this afternoon with a golden opportunity to tie the Timberwolves at 20 wins a piece and in a dead heat with 12 games to go. The T-Wolves have the advantage in regards to having a weaker schedule to finish out the season (although not by much), but the Thunder hold the edge in momentum.
Minnesota whooped OKC by 42 the last time the Thunder visited the Target Center and it's time to put the same whooping back on them. More realistically we'll probably kick their butts for three quarters before giving our starters some rest and allowing the Wolves to partially dig their way out. OKC would never let them come within 7 in the 4th as the Thunder cruised to victory.
Durant will probably have a big game scoring somewhere around 30. In a surprising effort, the team will likely turn over the ball less than ten times but that number will be near 9. Neither team will shoot very well from the field, but the Thunder will take advanatage of some extra opportunities. Rose will probably find a way to foul out without even playing a quarter and a half. Someone should really tell him to chill.
In the end the Thunder will come close to triple digits but not quite get there. I'm thinking either a 99-92 or a 97-90 victory. And with the victory, the race will officially be on for fourth in the Northwest.
Very well done on the predictions ;)
As for the Rose issue, he probably just wanted to go out with a bang. The Thunder recalled Rookie #3 from the D-League in the form of D.J. White, who is sure to get plenty of minutes over the final month.
Glad to see Coach Brooks knew when to pull the starters and conserve them for the upcoming games. Something tells me we should be hearing about the coach's future very soon. KD dominated again and looks back to his old self.
OKC will need another Spurs' like performance Tuesday night, and I'll make sure Carbert is well aware of the starting time.