Tag Archives: 7 Seconds or Less

Indiana Pacers vs. Thunder preview (Game 65 of 82)

Posted on by
Reply
  • Indiana Pacers (36-29, 7th in the East) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (45-19, 1st in the West)
  • When: Tuesday, 12 March 2024 at 7:00pm CST
  • Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Offensive Rating – IND: 120.1 (2nd) / OKC: 119.1 (3rd)
  • Defensive Rating – IND: 118.5 (25th) / OKC: 111.3 (4th)
  • Net Rating – IND: 1.5 (12th) / OKC: 7.9 (2nd)

The Set-Up

This is the first of two meetings this season between these two teams. Their next and final meeting is on April 5th.

Magic Numbers

  • To lock up the 10th seed (play-in guaranteed) – 8
  • To lock up the 6th seed (playoffs guaranteed) – 11

Betting Info

  • Line: OKC -6.5
  • O/U: 240.5

Injury Report

OKC

  • Jalen Williams (ankle) – Questionable

IND

  • Bennedict Mathurin (shoulder) – OUT
  • Doug McDermott (calf) – OUT

Three Big Things

  1. High Scoring Affair – These are two of the top offenses in the league. If there is a team that is the modern version of the “7 Seconds or Less” Suns, it’s the Indiana Pacers. They are 2nd in the league in pace and lead the league in Effective FG%, field goals made, and points in the paint. Their offensive system is top-notch. To slow this down, the Thunder may need to do something they aren’t accustomed to: they may need to slow the pace down themselves. Muddy the game a bit and have Indiana play in slosh.
  2. Attack the Paint – The Pacers’ Achilles heel is their interior defense. It’s bad. Like, Washington Wizards bad. The Pacers allow the 2nd most points in the paint, ahead of the Wizards by just a tenth of a point. The Thunder, meanwhile, are the 8th best team at scoring in the paint. Methinks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander may find himself in the painted area a lot this game.
  3. Statement Game – Speaking of the aforementioned SGA, Nikola Jokic is making a late-season push to distance himself from SGA in the MVP race. The Nuggets are 9-1 in the 10 games since the All-Star break and Joker is putting up monster triple-doubles seemingly every game. At this point, with the narrative going around, keeping OKC in the top spot in the West may not be enough to win SGA the MVP. That trophy is usually won by magical moments, especially late in the season. For as great as SGA’s consistency is, his lack of an explosive game here or there, may be hurting his MVP campaign. I know, I know…”what more do you want him to do?” But the reality is that statement games matter in the MVP races.

Oklahoma City Thunder at Phoenix Suns preview (Game 62 of 82)

Posted on by
Reply

westbrook tucker durant bledsoe thunder suns

  • When: Thursday, 06 March 2014 at 8:00 PM CST
  • Where: US Airways Center, Phoenix, AZ

With their recent 6 game home stand behind them, the Thunder hit the road for the first time since February 13th. With 21 games left, the final quarter of the regular season is about positioning and health. With two starters down because of injury, it’s the Thunder’s depth (and their two superstars) that has been their saving grace. Having the ability to spring a player like Perry Jones III or Andre Roberson off the bench to be a starter is a luxury most teams do not have. Bringing a player that has only logged 44 minutes the entire season, only to have him play 53 quality minutes over the next 3 games like Hasheem Thabeet has, is a testament to the Thunder’s “next man up” philosophy.

This is the second meeting of the season between these two teams. The Thunder, and the Phoenix Suns for that matter, have come a long way from that early November game. In that game, which the Thunder won 103-96, Russell Westbrook made his regular season debut after missing the last 9 games of the playoffs the previous season and the first two games of this season.

The Opponent

frye dragic morris green suns

The Thunder’s last opponent, the Philadelphia 76ers, were what the Phoenix Suns were supposed to be this season. Heading into this season, many thought the Suns would be one of the main contenders for the Number 1 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft. The Suns even appeared to be playing the part of a tanking team before the season started by trading starting C Marcin Gortat, PG Kendall Marshall, and SG Shannon Brown to the Washington Wizards for Emeka Okafor, who was probably going to be out for the season with a neck injury, and the Wizards’ 2014 1st round pick (that was top 12 protected). Then the season started, and something weird happened. First year coach Jeff Hornacek allowed the team to play to its strengths, instead of trying to integrate his system. The Suns won 5 of their first 7 Β games with a run and gun style that is very reminiscent of the “7 Seconds or Less” Suns of a couple seasons back that featured Steve Nash and Amare Stoudemire. Instead of Steve Nash, the Suns have the two-headed combo guard duo of Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe. And instead of Amare Stoudemire, they have Miles Plumlee and Channing Frye. They’ve kept on winning, and currently find themselves with a record of 35-25, good for 7th in a tough Western Conference. They are a rag-tag bunch of good athletic players that were mostly cast-offs from their previous teams. Gerald Green and P.J. Tucker are perennial journeymen who have seen their NBA dreams take them to different leagues in different countries, the Morris twins have been reunited, and Leandro Barbosa has found the fountain of youth in Phoenix (actually, its probably just Phoenix’s medical staff working their old man shaman magic).

Probable Starting Line-ups

Phoenix Suns

  • PG – Goran Dragic
  • SG – Gerald Green
  • SF – P.J. Tucker
  • PF – Channing Frye
  • C – Alex Len

Oklahoma City Thunder

  • PG – Russell Westbrook
  • SG – Perry Jones III
  • SF – Kevin Durant
  • PF – Serge Ibaka
  • C – Steven Adams

3 Keys to the Game

1. Battle of Rookie Big Men – This past draft was touted to be one of the better ones to find a quality big man. Alex Len, Steven Adams, Kelly Olynyk, Mason Plumlee, and Gorgui Dieng are all playing rotational minutes for NBA teams. Nerlens Noel would be playing if it wasn’t for his recovery from an ACL tear. This is the first regular season match-up between the two rookie centers. They met in the preseason and Len was a DNP-CD in their first meeting of the season.

Oklahoma City Thunder v Phoenix Suns

2. Perimeter Defense – Phoenix is not afraid to jack up the 3’s. They are top 3 in 3-point field goals made and in the top 10 in 3-point FG%. They have a bevy of shooters (Frye, Green, Marcus Morris, Tucker) and a great paint attacker in Dragic. This is where the Thunder can lose this game.

3. Bench – Phoenix has been decimated recently by injury. Miles Plumlee, Leandro Barbosa, and Eric Bledsoe will all miss the game due to injury. While the Thunder have their own injury issues to deal with, they have better depth and should be able to take advantage of this. For the second straight game, the Thunder welcome another player, as recently signed D-Leaguer Reggie Williams will be active for tonight’s game.