Tonight at the Prudential Center, the New Jersey Nets will take on the Oklahoma City Thunder in a game that kicks off the Nets' first back-back-back of this young, condensed season. Tonight's game is also between two teams at nearly opposite ends of the spectrum.
Background
The Thunder, who hold the Western Conference's best record at 12-3, recently re-signed Russell Westbrook to a 5-yr, $80 million contract extension which solidifies Oklahoma City's future with the team's two best players, Westbrook and Durant, under team control for years to come. In addition to those two players, the Thunder boast one of the NBA's deepest rosters boasting do-it-all shooting guard James Harden, defensive-minded veteran power forward Kendrick Perkins, and crazy athletic big-man Serge Ibaka who has monster blocking and rebounding ability among other players. The Thunder seemed to have finally become the monster of the West that they have been building towards for years now.
Conversely, the Nets are in a state of flux as outlined in my latest post on the site. The team's two best players, Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, don't have set futures with the team and could easily be on a different team at this time a year from now. For the most part, the rest of the Nets's roster is made up of stop-gap reserve players who are signed to 1-year contracts so the Nets can have as much salary cap space for the offseason free-agent signing period.
Previous Games
The Thunder head into New Jersey coming off of a surprising 105-102 loss to the hapless Washington Wizards on Wednesday in our nation's capital. The win was only Washington's second of the season and it was a surprisingly uneven Thunder performance as the offense showed up to play but the defense didn't follow suit. The Thunder didn't rebound well at all (Washington outrebounded OKC by 9) and the Thunder also committed a shocking 21 turnovers leading to 21 Wizards' points. As usual, Westbrook and Durant were the only brightspots for the Thunder as they each scored 30+ points.
The Nets' last game was a solid 107-100 win over the Golden State Warriors at the Prudential Center. Humphries went nuts on the glass, snatching up 15 rebounds in addition to adding 18 points while Marshon continued to show just how much of a draft steal he was in the late 1st-round. Brooks scored 22 points, while gaining 8 rebounds and dishing 6 assists. Deron Williams finally got his offensive game going and nearly got a triple-double with 24 points, 8 rebounds, and 10 assists. An all-around solid first home win of the season for the Nets and a much-needed confidence booster.
Probable Lineups
OKC- Westbrook (PG), Sefolosha (SG), Durant, (SF), Ibaka (PF), Perkins (C)
NJN- D.Williams (PG), Brooks (SG), Stevenson (SF), Humphries (PF), Okur (C)
Matchup To Watch- PG: Deron vs Westbrook
Obviously, these two players are some of the best in the NBA at their position. In my opinion, the only way the Nets win is if Deron is able to shut down Westbrook completely on the offensive and defensive ends. However, this is an incredibly challenging thing to do as Westbrook, like Deron, has a wide array of scoring methods but maybe his best is ability to drive and draw fouls. Deron can't fall into foul trouble early and his chance of limiting Westbrook would be to keep him out of the paint and force him to shot jump-shots which is probably the least developed aspect of his game. This will be a really fun point guard matchup to watch and once crucial to the game's outcome.
Prediction
I predict a 105-80 Thunder win. I simply can't see the Nets holding Durant and Westbrook to less than 25 points apiece. I also feel that Sefolosha, one of the game's best perimeter defenders, will neutralize Marshon to a point and will keep him under 15 points which will greatly hinder the Nets' offensive attack.
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