Oklahoma City Thunder (12-13) at Golden State Warriors (21-3)
Tip-off: Thursday, December 18th, 2014 – 7:30PM PDT
Location: Oracle Arena, Oakland, CA
TV: CSN Bay Area & TNT | Radio: KNBR 680 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors #LetsGoWarriorsLive
Projected Starting Lineups:
Warriors
PG: Stephen Curry (23.5 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 7.6 APG)
SG: Klay Thompson (21.7 PPG, 3.7 RPG, 3.3 APG)
SF: Harrison Barnes (11.2 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 1.5 APG)
PF: Draymond Green (13.0 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 3.1 APG)
C: Festus Ezeli (3.4 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 0.2 APG)
Head Coach: Steve Kerr (21-3, .875)
Thunder
PG: Russell Westbrook (26.4 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 6.8 APG)
SG: Andre Roberson (3.8 PPG, 4.9 RPG, 1.4 APG)
SF: Kevin Durant (21.5 PPG, 5.4 RPG, 3.8 APG)
PF: Serge Ibaka (14.5 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.0 APG)
C: Steven Adams (7.5 PPG, 7.0 RPG, 0.8 APG)
Head Coach: Scott Brooks (305-183, .625)
Last Times Out
Last time Warriors played, this past Tuesday on 12/16/2014, they lost to the Grizzlies in Memphis, 105-98, as Vince Carter spear-headed a 20-0 run in the 2nd quarter that Golden State could not recover from.
Last time the Thunder played, this past Tuesday on 12/16/2014, they beat the Kings in Sacramento, 104-92, as Westbrook scored 32 points and Durant added 26.
Last time the Warriors faced the Thunder, on 11/23/2014, they beat OKC, 91-86, as Marreese Speights utilized the trash-talking of Kendrick Perkins to come off the bench and score 28 points.
Last time the Warriors faced the Thunder at Oracle Arena, on 11/14/2013, Andre Iguodala hit the game-winner from the right baseline to give Golden State a thrilling 116-115 victory over Oklahoma City.
Game Notes
“Andrew Bogut had PRP (platelet-rich plasma) procedure on knee today. Likely to have another in a week. Same procedure as Dwight Howard had.” — David Aldridge, TNT
Full report from #Warriors PR on Bogut's status. Looks like he consulted his own personal physician from Australia… pic.twitter.com/G3cvEdhhfN
— Let’s Go Warriors 💦💛💙 (@LetsGoWarriors) December 18, 2014
Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports:
Westbrook is playing perhaps the best basketball of his career this season averaging 26.4 points, 6.8 assists, 5.8 rebounds and 1.9 steals in 29.3 minutes per game. Durant, however, is still trying to work off the rust while being limited minutes-wise. He is averaging 21.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.8 assists while shooting 32.3 percent from 3-point range. While the aforementioned statistics would be amazing for most NBA players, Durant averaged 32 points, 7.4 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 39.1 shooting from 3-point range last season.
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After Durant scored 26 points on 12-of-25 shooting from the field and one made free throw against the Kings, an NBA scout in attendance told Yahoo Sports: “He’s not quite there yet. I don’t think he is capable of scoring 20 points in a quarter right now or 50 points in a game. But he’s getting there. He’s close.”
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Durant agreed.
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“I’m one of those rhythm-type of players who gets his rhythm throughout a stretch, a week, a month,” Durant said. “I feel like I’m almost there. Shots that I missed [against Sacramento], it feels like it was just a matter of time that I will be making them. What I’m doing now is trying to be locked in on the defensive end.
Noey Kupchan of STATS/AP:
The Thunder have limited opponents to 93.1 points and 40.2 percent shooting during their seven-game run.
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“We just stayed poised because we’ve been there before. It’s not our first time,” Durant said. “We’ve just been trying to get better every single day. I can’t keep preaching that enough. Defensively we’ve been locking in.”
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The 26-year-old Durant became the second-youngest player to surpass 15,000 points. He’s averaging 30.8 against the Warriors for his second-highest mark against any team.
- “Warriors center Andrew Bogut (right knee) and power forward David Lee (left hamstring) are listed as out for Thursday’s game vs. OKC.” — Rusty Simmons, San Francisco Chronicle
- “Thunder guard Anthony Morrrow spent two seasons with the Warriors (2008-10), averaging 11.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 26.0 minutes over 136 games (54 starts), and is the franchise’s all-time leader in three-point field goal percentage, connecting on 46.0 percent from long range.” — Warriors PR
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