Gameday preview: OKC Thunder play home and home versus red hot Spurs

After two consecutive losses, the OKC Thunder face the red hot San Antonio Spurs. Gameday previews the match with keys to winning.

It’s no secret the OKC Thunder had an easy strength of schedule through their first and their second half is projected as the hardest NBA schedule remaining. With two straight losses, the Thunder are learning how difficult their path to finish the year will be.

Several factors play into every season including luck – both good and bad. For the Thunder, the latter is precisely what they’ve run into in their last two games. First, they met a Wizards team who was reeling for the better part of the first half of the season. But, with John Wall out for six to eight months and the addition of Trevor Ariza suddenly the Wizards are refocused on competing.

In the case of the Timberwolves aside from the fact Andrew Wiggins plays like Michael Jordan every time these squads face off the Thunder were also dealing with a team who for the most part was eager to capture their new Head Coach his first victory. In essence, the Wolves and Ryan Saunders are in their honeymoon stage and the Thunder were the unlucky team to face them first.

The next team up continues the trilogy as the Thunder play a home and home series with the hottest Western squad – the San Antonio Spurs. In week three the Spurs uncharacteristically ranked dead last defensively and had a negative net rating of -5.5 points. Flash forward to present day and the Spurs began week 12 ranking fifth offensively, 16th defensively and have vaulted to 8th in net franking with a positive +3.1 point differential.

Isolating on the last 15 games the Spurs have the second ranked offense (115.8), top defense (101.7) and best net differential (+14.1). Suffice to say this is not the ideal time for the OKC Thunder to face the Spurs.

With that let’s dive into the specifics and keys to winning.