For the second time this season the OKC Thunder tips off versus the Houston Rockets who hold the league’s best record.
The OKC Thunder have seemingly figured out how to beat lottery teams. In fact, the squad’s last six victories came against lottery bound squads. But, as the Thunder continue the stretch run segment of their schedule they’ll need to re-summon their ability to beat upper echelon squads. This ability will be essential as 12 of the Thunder’s final 17 games are against current playoff seeds (plus the Clippers) and only four are against lottery teams.
Tonight’s opponent serves up a major challenge as the Houston Rockets arrive at Chesapeake with memories of a Christmas Day loss to the Thunder.
Despite the OKC Thunder showing glimpses of a powerhouse playoff entity there are glaring concerns. Losing Andre Roberson has affected the squad dramatically. Finding a resolution has occupied Billy Donovan since Dre went down. The addition of Corey Brewer is hoped to quell some of these issues which feels overly optimistic.
Moreover, the last time the OKC Thunder beat a seeded team it was precisely one month ago when they defeated the Warriors at Oracle. Replicating that effort sure would be a great way to quiet the critics and bolster optimism for the remainder of OKC’s stretch run.