OKC Thunder Preview: Looking for a Win Against Minnesota

Early Rumblings is your ultimate OKC Thunder preview for tonight’s game. The Thunder have lost some steam in recent days and seem to be counting the days until Kevin Durant returns to the floor. Unfortunately, that won’t happen tonight against Minnesota but the Thunder might not need him against one of the more disappointing teams in the league.

Minnesota Timberwolves (14-49) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (35-29)

7 p.m. CST – Wednesday, March 11, 2015 – Chesapeake Energy Arena

Broadcast on Fox Sports

STARTING LINEUP: OKC	STARTING LINEUP: MIN
Russell Westbrook	G	Ricky Rubio	G
Andre Roberson	G	Kevin Martin	G
Kyle Singler	F	Andrew Wiggins	F
Serge Ibaka	F	Kevin Garnett*	F
Enes Kanter	C	Nikola Pekovic**	C

Key Reserves

OKC Thunder: Dion Waiters, D.J. Augustin, Steven Adams, Anthony Morrow, Nick Collison, Mitch McGary

Minnesota Timberwolves: Adreian Payne, Gorgui Dieng, Justin Hamilton, Gary Neal, Zach LaVine, Chase Budinger

*Garnett is expected back in the lineup tonight. If not, Payne would start in his place

**Pekovic hurt his ankle in a recent game and his status is unclear at this posting

Storm Alert – What to Look For in Today’s Game

Biggest story: Is it wrong to keep writing OKC Thunder Really Must Win over and over again? I don’t want to turn into Jack Nicholson’s character from “The Shining” but it’s just that important.

Best matchup: With Enes Kanter starting, he has the job of trying to defend one of the more physically-imposing centers in the league, Nikola Pekovic. Kanter has the size but lacks the strength to push “Pek”out of the way in the low post; his best bet is to get him into foul trouble early and often. On a sadder note, we won’t be treated to seeing the classic battle of Steven Adams and Pekovic. Adams has spoken in admiring tones of Pekovic before, even describing his matchup with former Thunder center Kendrick Perkins as “like watching two bears attack each other.” He described the Wolves center again yesterday to Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman:

"With the Timberwolves coming to town on Friday night, Steven Adams was asked about the unenvious task of battling Minnesota big man Nikola Pekovic. Adams started talking about Pekovic’s brute strength and constant physicality. But the conversation soon turned to smack-talking. Pekovic doesn’t go back-and-forth much. Like Adams, he’s physical but generally quiet on the court.“Nah, he doesn’t chirp,” Adams said. “But if you piss him off, he will give you a ‘bow.”"

Why you should watch: We’ve seen injury-depleted OKC, we’ve seen resurgent OKC. We’ve seen really-good OKC and we’ve seen Westbrook-on-fire-OKC. Now, it’s time to watch a different version of the team, one where the focus is on execution and establishing early dominance against a team that has nothing to fight for but their pride (which is dangerous).

Plus, it’s a nice story in the NBA to see Garnett returning to the Minnesota team that drafted him. He might not be available, as he routinely misses games due to rest but he sat out the Wolves’ loss to the Suns on Wednesday (Thanks, KG…) and is likely to be on the floor on Friday night.

Current trend: OKC has scored over 100 points in 17 consecutive games, the franchise’s second-longest streak (they did that 19 straight times in 1994-95 as the Sonics)…Westbrook is averaging 33.2 points, 11.1 assists and 10.7 rebounds over the last 10 games (since KD went down with injury)…OKC’s defense, once a strong suit, has been an issue lately, allowing over 100 points in seven straight games, going 3-4 in that span…the Timberwolves have allowed league-high averages of 108.4 points and 49.1 percent shooting on road games.

History pattern: The Wolves have lost 10 straight games in Oklahoma City…Westbrook’s career average of 8.8 assists against Minnesota is the second-highest against any team…Garnett has averaged 18 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 61 career games against OKC. He’s only played more games (62) against one other team, the Portland Trail Blazers.

"*Statistics are provided by ESPN.com or Basketball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted"

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