Thunder @ Jazz

 28-24

39-12






Will the Thunder make this win # 40?


It's gameday and OKC is on the road again- this time facing the Jazz. If you follow me on Twitter, you'll know I've been a long-time Jazz-hater. Right now, I don't have a lot of reason to hate them. That's all beside the point. They're coming off of two losses, probably looking for a nice win over one of the best teams in the league. 

I am not completely expecting a blowout in this one, so I believe we'll be seeing some fourth quarter for Durant and Russ. This experience for the bench has been extremely valuable, as has the rest for the starting group. But let's be honest- KD sitting out four 4th quarters in a row isn't helping his stat lines. Which you know is somewhere in the back of his mind as well as everyone wanting MVP nods for him. 

Tonight's Nitty-Gritty:

FOCUS. The same thing comes to mind with this game, as did against Phoenix on Sunday. We're rollin' right now! And we can't sleep against any team at this point- and the Jazz are sitting as 7 seed in the West.

Control the glass.

Perimeter Shooting- Utah's perimeter D is sub-par

Perk, Dirty and Serge playing good Post Defense.

If we look at how everyone has been stepping up to the plate as of late, there's no reason we can't beat anyone in this league right now. But that will require all hands on deck. There is no time for sloppy play, turnovers, or lapses in communication.

And.. uh, Gordon Hayward is out due to a shoulder injury so Utah will struggle even more to defend KD tonight. 


Injury Report:

Utah: Gordon Hayward(out til at least 2/19)- shoulder 
         Mo Williams(late February)- thumb

THUNDER: Kevin Martin is "probable"- He is playing.

Today when reading the "To Heave or Not to Heave" post on Daily Thunder, this stuck out to me:
How do Thunder players feel about the halfcourt heave? Should it be counted as an attempt? And do they pull the just-after-the-buzzer move? I asked some of them:
Russell Westbrook: “No. Nope … If I was considering about [statistics] I’d do a lot of shit different.”

This is a huge reason why I love Russell Westbrook.

Per usual, I will be manning my @OKCTHNDR handle on Twitter tonight.