The 16-46 Oklahoma City Thunder will play host to the Sixers tonight without their budding superstar, Kevin Durant. Their second-leading scorer, Jeff Green, is also questionable. Green missed last night's game with back problems. Needless to say, this is a golden opportunity for the Sixers to finish off a sweep of this quick two-game road trip. After the jump we'll take a look at the stats, the strategy and have the in-game discussion.
The Sixers have statistical advantages pretty much across the board, and the absence of Durant and possibly Green as well makes this a clear mismatch. Simply put, this game must be a win, and if it's even close, I'll be disappointed.
The key to the game has to be how the Sixers will defend Russell Westbrook. Last night, Westbrook scored 24 against the Hornets. I assume they'll start Willie on him, then probably use Miller and Ivey throughout the game. If the game is close late, which it really shouldn't be, Iguodala should get the call. Westbrook is only a 40.5% shooter from the floor, and 28% from three, but he's a freakish athlete who can get into the paint at will. He can make a living from the line where he shoots 82%.
If you're worried about this being the second night of a back-to-back, here are the minutes logged by key Sixers last night:
Iguodala - 43
Miller - 34
Thad - 30
Sammy - 25
DiLeo pretty much had to ride Iguodala last night, when he sat the Grizzlies destroyed the Sixers, but he did manage to keep Miller's minutes down. Again, let's hope this one isn't close enough where heavy minutes from the important guys are needed.
Play a smart game, utilize the mismatches, and methodically take care of OKC. A win tonight would move the Sixers back into 6th place, and pull them within a game and a half of Miami for the number five seed.
The tip is at 7pm, I'll be here, live, so join me for the in-game discussion.
Also check out
After The Lightning for the Thunder perspective.
Great points about this being a mismatch, but you can really throw every stat from OKC's side out the window. The Thunder have been a near .500 team since XMas, and that is WITH the brutal schedule from February.
The Sixers are a very skilled team, but the atmosphere at the Ford Center can get crazy. Now all the Thunder need is a few healthy bodies to make it close!
No Durant = cake win
After last night, I'm not going to badmouth anyone on the other team.
Not taking anything for grated this time any more
They just said Thabo will be back for tonight's game. Durant is out and I'm assuming Green will be out as well, since they didn't mention him.
Derrick Coleman even looks lazy as a talking head.
13-5 start for OKC. Westbrook has 7. Collison can barely dunk.
Seriously folks - the thunder aren't JUST Durant - and it seems the sixers don't realize that as well - at least not early
You can't take anyone lightly in this league, but come on. A 16-win team missing Durant and Green. Don't try to tell me you think this team is dangerous.
I think the sixers aren't good enough to just dimiss a team with a legitimate rookie of the year candidate on the floor.
Are you watching KYLE WEAVER make Willie Green his bitch?
Give it more than 5 minutes before you say they dismissed the lightning.
2 dumb fouls on Willie. Lou in early and Miller switches on to Westbrook. Thad looking good early.
Speights w/ first quarter minutes.
With Collison and Krstic in the 'big man' spots - it makes more sense anyway
Nice to see speights getting early minutes.
Thad carrying the team. I'd like to see him maintain throughout.
what a dish by lou!
Two nices passes from Lou to Speights, second one worked.
Iguodala pretty quiet in the first quarter
24-18 after 1.
Good work on the glass by Speights, finally got some stops and got the running game going.
Game turned around once sam and willie left - just saying :)
Willie had 2 stupid fouls. Sam hasn't done anything, good or bad, yet.
Not doing anything is bad in my opinion.
Iguodala looks horrible so far on the offense - no idea what's up there
He hasn't really done anything in the half court. I think he took one three, which was a good shot that he missed. Needs to get involved in some way.
Didn't know that it's a chrage if one foor on the defender isn't set yet
That was a bad call.
Alright Lou, get something going to the hoop...there you go.
I was looking at this for another reason - but i didn't know the sixers attendance was this unholy bad
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/attendance
Ladies Night Out hasn't been very effective.
ANd remember - that's paid attendance folks - not through the gate :)
It's pathetic how low they are compared to teams that trully suck the crapper (like the thunder)
Then again, what else do you do in Oklahoma City really? Philadelphia suffers I guess from being a real city.
they also suffered from the Eagles and Phillies success this season and a very slow start.
I'd like to know what their season ticket sales were like heading into this season, compared to the past couple of seasons.
That's too much of an excuse - Philadlephia just isn't a strong NBA town unless they're a title contender - the flyers sell out all the fracking time.
Lou jumps to pass at the three-point line? Come on.
He's short - like Nate Robinson short (don't care what he's listed at) :)
I HATE MALIK ROSE
Second night in a row the team has been killed w/ Reggie on the floor.
Krstic has a sweet comb-over.
20-2 so far in the second quarter. Awesome.
this is pathetic
At least they aren't hitting threes.
How about that rebounding folks :)
OKC only has 7 offensive boards. Westbrook looks gimpy out there.
You know better than that brian
they have seven offensive rebounds on seventeen defensive rebounding opportunities for the sixers.
That's a sub 70% (rough math in my head using '6' :) )
yeah, that was sarcasm.
AH - i'm tired :)
Sorry I missed that
What the hell? That 1.5 seconds was about 1/3 as long as the 1.8 seconds for Harris' shot.
all things considered, worst first half of season?
It's definitely up there. I hope DiLeo is speaking very sternly to them right now, because I don't think he yells.
Take Reggie Evans out back and shoot him?
You can do that in Oklahoma if a horse comes up lame right?
:)
Don't shoot him, just don't use him against bad teams.
Or good ones
Alright, down 12, coming off what might be the worst quarter of basketball they've played this season, need to jump on them right away to start the third.
By the way, 6/11 from the line in the first half, 54.5%, and all the FTs were taken by Iguodala, Miller and Lou. Acceptable?
Willie turning up the D? 2 forced turnovers to start the third, Sixers come up empty on the other end both times.
nice pass, iggy. awful.
these are some of the worst offensive possessions ive seen
bank shots, lefty underhand scoops. this is just getting ugly.
anyone else hate when sam goes to "help out" at the top of the key? this is just so f-ing stupid
I hate almost all things Sam does :)
It's almost time to make the permanent channel switch to JRoll, Victorino, and team USA. it's that bad.
I wouldn't blame you, but you'd miss the comeback. They're going to win this game and take it as a great comeback instead of talking about how crappy they played to get down by 16.
Brian, I'm not convinced they are even going to score 16 more points.
Luckily they only need 15 more :)
Miller has ZERO (0) assists through 25+ minutes? How is a win salvageable from here?
This is actually kind of funny. I think they've been outscored 2-0 over the past 5 or so minutes.
Anyone think they'll get to 50 by the end of the third?
Yay. They did it.
This is f-ing unreal. Anyone else feel the need to break the tv?
Yep.
Lame call on theo
Awesome FT shooting continues
oh my god iggy are you joking. what a moron. we dont deserve this, it's official (if it wasn't already)
This is unreal. Un-friggin-real. Iggy fouls watson in the back court w/ 2 seconds left.
What happened to the sets we started to run when DiLeo first became coach? This looks like the one-on-one isolation stuff that Cheeks was famous for.
And it didn't just start tonight.
Good call. That's all we've seen tonight. No back doors, no down screens, no pick and pop. Just dribbling into trouble and bad shots or bad passes.
Oh, and missed free throws too.
I mean every team runs '3 down' in the league and I haven't heard Miller call for it one time tonight.
Down 14 heading into the fourth. DiLeo usually gives the subs a run here and rests Miller and Iguodala separately, we'll see if he stays true to form.
This is pitiful.
Miller + Iggy + Lou = 6 assists, 14 turnovers, 9/17 from the line.
Sick finish by Speights w/ a lefty dunk on the break.
DiLeo figures Speights is a good matchup for Krstic? Can anyone else confirm this looks like a great idea vs Sam or Theo? Is it just about spooling up the offense at this point?
I think it's just grasping at straws at this point. Nothing is working, maybe Speights can get hot.
As bad as it may sound, they still have a shot at this game with the amount of time left, being if Lou doesn't display.... you know the rest.
the thunder are giving them every opportunity.
ivey are you kidding
10-point game, 5 minutes to go, Iggy back in. Now or never.
How about never. This is awful. Just when you thought Lou might wake up and spark the team's resurgence, they produce a performance like this one.
That's it. worst loss of the season, without question.
I'm going to a movie after the whistle, going to try to forget about this for a while. My post game will be up late tonight if I can stomach it, or tomorrow morning.
What movie?
I was watching Food Network since halftime :)
DiLeo is a complete a$$ and/or a moron.
Not really sure how th episs poor inconsistent play, poor rebounding and poor free throw shooting are his fault?
Not to mention he's an interim coach
Hope nothing is wrong with Joe. The guys have been stinking it up while he has been in haitus.
Maybe he's just pulling a John and logging in under about 8 different names.
How depressed can you get? Being blown out by the freaking Thunder without two of their starters???
beyond pathetic
Ok, I've calmed down a little. Theo racked up the fouls and Sam wasn't doing any better than Speights.
Death by a thousand cuts here. Too many turnovers; Iggy off shooting night; Lou back to a more typical shooting night; Miller wasn't dishing like usual; nobody to handle Krstic (!?).
I think we're just waiting for the end of the season here.
this would be different if they were just a bad team. but we've seen them play very well and compete with the league's elite. this is just so disappointing.
They're a mediocre team - mediocre teams are up and down.
Stop blaming poor free throw shooting and crappy rebounding on the coach - blame the GM for building a roster that can't rebound or shoot free throws or for not finding a guy who can defend the pick and roll or make a 3 as much as you want to blame dileo for last night (or saturday night)
THEY ARENT A GOOD TEAM YET - they're an up and down team - plus they suck on back to backs
To be handed a win like they were last night and to come up with a shambolic performance like this really shows a lot about this team and sadly I mean in a negative way.
Have these guys forgotten from last year that they had to play harder than other teams in order to win games?
in my opinion tonight's game is on the coach. you have 4 days off to practice and you come out with 2 subpar efforts.