Preview: Thunder host Wizards to end short homestand
By Yams
The OKC Thunder host the Washington Wizards in the second and final game of a brief homestand. Oklahoma City is looking to extend their current five-game winning streak.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been stellar since December 1st. They’ve won 19 out of their last 27 games (including a perfect 14-0 record with all five starters), and have the longest active winning streak in the league.
They started their winning streak by beating the Hornets and Kings at home with stout defensive performances, winning 101-91 and 95-88 respectively. After that, they crushed the Lakers by a score of 114-90.
The Thunder then went to Cleveland to face the Cavaliers in a game which could’ve been remembered as the game in which LeBron James hit the 30,000 point mark. It was a memorable game, except it was for different reasons.
Oklahoma City gave Cleveland the beatdown of a lifetime, beating them 148-124. The 148 points scored by the Thunder was a franchise record for points scored in a regulation game. PG13 scored 36 points, Melo scored 29 and Russ scored 23 points and dished out 20 dimes. Even Steven Adams joined the 20-point club with 25 and 10 rebounds. As a whole, the Thunder shot 58% from the field and 46.7% from 3.
LeBron failed to hit the 30K point mark, shooting 8-17 from the field and scoring 18 points (7 points short of the 25 needed). Oklahoma City then decided to follow up that game in the most Thunder way possible when Brooklyn visited Tuesday night.
The first quarter went alright – it was the second quarter that got ugly. The Thunder were outscored 33-17 in the second and found themselves down 59-47 at halftime. The Thunder couldn’t cut into the lead in the third and were down by 11 with 12 minutes to go. A furious comeback capped off by a Westbrook game-winner with three seconds left sealed OKC’s fate and kept the win streak alive.
Trouble in D.C.
The Wizards have been struggling lately, losing three of their last four. They’re 26-21 on the season, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Washington held a players-only meeting not too long ago and it did not go well. When asked about the inconsistency of the Wizards, point guard John Wall said, “We had our team meeting. A couple guys took it the negative way and it hurt our team. Instead of taking it in a positive way like we did in the past and using it to build our team up, it kind of set us back a little bit.”
Several other Wizards shared their thoughts about the meeting, although no one seemed to remember the date, a testament to how nonconstructive that meeting was.
In spite of the Wiz’s problems lately, the Thunder must not take this game lightly. They have to do the following things to come out victorious.