Oklahoma City Thunder @ Houston Rockets 11/06/09

[KidDelicious]

so what do you guys think about this matchup.. everyone says the rockets are gritty for a team with no stars or anything. but the Thunder are gritty AND talented.
kevin durant cant mess up 3 times, expect a big game from him today.

i say thunder win by 13. GO THUNDER!

[slick_watts]

Russell Westbrook / Thabo Sefolosha / Kevin Durant / Jeff Green / Nenad Krstic

@




Aaron Brooks / Trevor Ariza / Shane Battier / Luis Scola / Chuck Hayes

Matchup

Houston and OKC will be able to empathize with each other tonight as both teams had overtime losses to the Lakers in their last game.

Houston is not a big team, so that definitely plays into OKC's favor. Jeff Green might be able to get some post play in on Luis Scola or Chuck Hayes and Nenad Krstic won't be as much of a liability on the defensive end. It'll be an interesting matchup between Aaron Brooks and Russell Westbrook, Brooks is off to a great start on the year. Houston has a lot of good, streaky three point shooters like Trevor Ariza and Shane Battier that OKC will have to watch out for.

Some Numbers

Russell Westbrook is leading the league in turnovers despite playing a game less than some of the others behind him. He is, however, shooting over 46% from the field early on.

Although they are shooting only 43% as a team, OKC is holding its opposition to under 43% a game. Houston is shooting three pointers 10% better than OKC this year.

A Question

How will the OKC front court face against the undersized but tough Houston front line?

[Julio]

Like I said on Rockets board( I'm fan of both teams), will be interesting to see how Durant, who is strugling to find his rythm, is going against Battier.
Brooks and Westbrook, another great matchup. Russell has been up and down right now, and Brooks have been great, but he isn't much of a defender.
Good batle between Green and Scola.Luis is very important to the Rockets team, if he or Landry can score from inside that balances the team, so Green, who imo has been Thunder's best player so far this season, will be important.
Anyway, love these teams, I hope for a great game, and that the Thunder will be hungry, because Houston sure is every game.

[dre_1614]

If we play with the same effort in our first 4 games we can win.

[wizkid27]

Rockets weren't supposed to be much of a great team this season, but they've looked pretty good thus far (not impressive to me, but definitely better than I thought they'd be).

I think we bounce back from 2 close losses to really good teams and get a good win against a pretty solid team.

[wizkid27]

Crap... 2 REALLY early fouls on Green!

[slick_watts]

Better start than we had the last two that's for sure.

[slick_watts]

Chase freakin' Budinger just schooled Durant.

[slick_watts]

Rockets ended the 1st quarter with a 12-4 run. The Rockets bench has looked pretty good.

[slick_watts]

KD hitting his shots but playing very poor defense, letting Shane Battier beat him to the rim.

[slick_watts]

SHAUN LIVINGSTON SIGHTING

[slick_watts]

I don't know what Brooks is thinking with this lineup out there. Ollie / Harden / Livingston / Collison / Thomas against a bunch of Rockets who are 10x as fast. Getting beat down the court twice in a row for easy baskets.

[wiff]

Wow back to back dunks for the Rockets. Durant looks like he found his stroke. Looks like he might hit for 40 tonight.

[slick_watts]

Just horrible defense right now. Russell Westbrook is making stupid decisions. One on one basketball with no real ball movement. .more of the same!

Real possession: Westbrook dribbles the ball above the key for ~17 seconds before shooting a jump shot.

[dre_1614]

yeah Westbrook is playing like **** these last 3 games.