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OKC Thunder Preview: Will San Antonio Ruin Everything?

By David Ramil

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Early Rumblings is your ultimate OKC Thunder preview for tonight’s game. No one could have predicted that Oklahoma City would respond this well following the seemingly-endless onslaught of injuries affecting this team. Yet, they take a four-game win streak into San Antonio and look to keep it going against last year’s champs. Can the combination of Westbrook and Kanter lead the team to another victory or will the Spurs ruin everything?

Oklahoma City Thunder (41-30) @ San Antonio Spurs (44-26)

8:30 p.m. CST – Wednesday, March 24, 2015 – AT&T Center

Broadcast on ESPN

STARTING LINEUP: OKCSTARTING LINEUP: SAS
Russell WestbrookGTony ParkerG
Dion Waiters
GDanny GreenG
Kyle SinglerFKawhi LeonardF
Enes Kanter*FTim DuncanF
Steven AdamsCTiago SplitterC

Key Reserves

OKC Thunder: D.J. Augustin, Anthony Morrow, Mitch McGary, Perry Jones III

San Antonio Spurs:  Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills, Marco Belinelli, Matt Bonner

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

Daily Reminder: OKC has a three-game lead over Phoenix for the eighth spot in the Western Conference standings (and a 3.5-game lead over New Orleans, who have lost three-straight games). The Suns have won four in a row and host the lowly Sacramento Kings on Wednesday. While the Thunder’s cushion is nice, Phoenix is clicking at just the right time: no rest for the weary.

Biggest story: It’s the Oklahoma City Thunder. Versus the San Antonio Spurs. At the risk of taking the easy way out, if I have to spoon-feed this one to you, there’s a good chance you don’t like basketball.

Best matchup: Ah, Enes Kanter, the savior of the Thunder’s season…wait, what? As electric as Westbrook has been all season, can you really overstate the impact Kanter is having for OKC? After his incredible performance against Miami on Sunday, he followed that up on Tuesday by recording a double-double (in the first quarter!) and finishing with 25 points and 16 rebounds. Will he be able to match that level of production against future hall-of-famer Tim Duncan? That’s a huge question, especially considering that Kanter only averaged 12.3 points and 9.8 rebounds in his last four matchups with the Spurs. Clearly, that won’t be enough to help Oklahoma City escape with a victory on Wednesday.

Why you should watch: Despite the rash of injuries, this is still as good a matchup as you can expect in the regular season. OKC has been impressive during their recent stretch, winning six of their last seven games. The Thunder have also won their past six meetings with San Antonio and dominated the Spurs when the two teams met on Christmas Day (led by Westbrook, of course). OKC has changed dramatically since then – how will San Antonio respond to the new-look team? And with another matchup between these two franchises just days away (April 7), can Oklahoma City make a statement on Wednesday night?

Current trend: The Spurs had a three-game win streak snapped on Tuesday in a loss to Dallas and are now tied with the Mavericks in the West standings…As per ESPN.com, the Spurs have averaged 112.5 points per game during a 10-2 stretch overall, have won 14 of 16 at home. They’ve scored over 100 points in seven straight games there, shooting 52.3 percent from the field and outscoring opponents by an average of 13.2 points per game….Ginobili returned to action on Tuesday after missing the past four games with an ankle sprain. He totaled 7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists in 16 minutes…Kanter has been sensational of late. He’s scoring 21.6 points on 58.7 percent shooting and pulling down 12.6 rebounds over his last eight games.

History pattern:  Westbrook is averaging 30.7 points in his last three games versus San Antonio. But in 22 career games against the Spurs, he’s shooting just 38.9 percent, his fifth-lowest percentage against all teams…Conversely, in just five career games against the Spurs, Waiters is shooting 51 percent overall and 57 percent from 3-point range, his highest marks against any team…Talk about consistency – in 61 games against OKC, Duncan averages 19.9 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists. His career averages in those categories? 19.6 points, 11 rebounds and 3.1 assists.

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

Check back with Thunderous Intentions for a full recap, post-game grades, analysis and more. 

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