OKC Thunder seek 5th win in row, host Kings – preview

The vet versus the youngster:

This game will come down to the battle of the point guards. The Kings have the young and extremely fast De’Aaron Fox. The 22-year-old is averaging 19.9 points, 6.9 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.4 steals per game.

Due to his speed, Fox is getting to the rim and as such is shooting an excellent 47.1 percent from the floor. However, if you can force him into shooting from the perimeter, Fox is a less efficient 31.5 percent from the 3-point line on 3.3 attempts per game.

Fox makes it to the line 6.7 times per game sinking 4.5 attempts for 66.9 percent. To put that into perspective, Steven Adams is shooting 60.8 percent from the line. This means that fouling Fox is a good way to slow him down.

On the other side of the floor is wily veteran Chris Paul who is averaging 17.5 points, 6.7 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game. He is shooting 48.6 percent from the floor, 36.1 percent from deep and 89.5 percent from the line.

While these two players are at very different stages in their career, Paul, who is not as fast as Fox has a good chance to school the young firebrand in how to play the game intellectually as well as physically.

While Paul may not be as fast, he has shown that size and speed do not matter. He defends bigger players, faster players and stronger players all the time. Offensively, he can get to his spots on the floor with ease thanks to Steven Adams and his screens, no speed will help get through that body.