Spurs at Thunder Previews

[duncan228]

Sunday: Spurs (7-1) at Thunder (5-3) (http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/11/13/sunday-spurs-7-1-at-thunder-5-3/)
by Jeff McDonald

...Spurs finish first back-to-back of season against OKC team that has been inactive since Friday. … Spurs took three of four from Thunder last season, including both meetings in Oklahoma City

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/spursnation/2010/11/13/sunday-spurs-7-1-at-thunder-5-3/

[duncan228]

San Antonio (7-1) at Oklahoma City (5-3) (http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/preview?gid=2010111425)
Tipoff: 7:00 pm EST Sun Nov 14, 2010
TV: FSSW, FSOK
By Noey Kupchan

The Oklahoma City Thunder are doing just enough to win while getting off to their best start since relocating from Seattle. Things aren’t about to get any easier with the San Antonio Spurs coming to town.

Oklahoma City will look for its third straight win overall while avoiding its fourth consecutive loss to the Spurs on Sunday night.

The Thunder’s last four wins have come by a total of 10 points, and they’re being outscored by an average of 3.0 points per game this season. Oklahoma City (5-3) joins Golden State as the only teams in the league with winning records who are being outscored by their opponents, and Kevin Durant knows where improvement needs to begin.

“I think it’s going to start to come around for us on the defensive end,” said Durant, who scored 34 in Friday’s 110-108 win over Portland. “We always seem to play one half of good defense. I think if we continue to keep working, we’re going to start to put two halves together.”

Oklahoma City has allowed 55.8 points in the first half compared to 47.9 in the second. The Thunder held the Trail Blazers to 43 over the last two quarters.

Durant leads the league in scoring with 28.9 points per contest, and has averaged 27.7 against the Spurs over his career. He put up 45 against them - two short of his career-high - in the Thunder’s 99-96 loss the last time these teams met March 22.

Coming off a career-high 36-point effort Friday, Russell Westbrook is second on the club behind Durant with an average of 24.3 points this season, but has managed 13.6 in eight games against San Antonio.

Opponents are shooting 41.3 percent from beyond the arc against the Thunder in 2010-11, and Oklahoma City will likely need to clamp down on San Antonio, which is connecting on an NBA-best 42.7 percent of its 3-point attempts.

The Spurs connected on 8 of 18 from long distance as they won their sixth straight, 116-93 over Philadelphia on Saturday.

San Antonio (7-1) is off to its best start since 2007-08, however, it has defeated teams with a combined 16-38 record, and is looking forward to a real test.

“It was good especially considering that we play (Sunday) at a tough arena against a very athletic young team,” said Manu Ginobili, who is 11 for 21 from 3-point range over his previous three games.

Tim Duncan, who scored six points Wednesday against the Los Angeles Clippers, put up seven versus the 76ers. That marked the third time in a 14-year career that he’s been held to single digits in consecutive games.

The 12-time All Star and two-time MVP may bounce back against the Thunder, though, as he has averaged 21.5 points against the franchise.

Oklahoma City’s Jeff Green, who has scored a career-high 19.4 points this season, was unavailable for the third consecutive game Friday due to a sprained left ankle. His status for Sunday remains uncertain.

*********************

Team Stat Leaders

Points
Manu Ginobili SA 21.9
Kevin Durant OKC 28.9

Rebounds
Tim Duncan SA 10.0
Serge Ibaka OKC 7.9

Assists
Tony Parker SA 8.4
Russell Westbrook OKC 7.8

[duncan228]

Don't miss News OK.com's beat writer John Rohde's piece on appreciating Duncan.

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=165940

[Spursfanfromafar]

It is all going to depend who is going to effectively guard or restrict Kevin Durant. The job falls on RJ + Manu.. who will alternate between Sefolosha and Durant. Should be fun to watch.

I am reminded of Manu's brilliant retrieval from the baseline last year despite a miserable shooting night to win it for the Spurs.

[ezau]

For some weird reason, we actually own the Thunder. I wonder if TD's gonna put put up his usual 20 and 10 numbers, though.

[hitmanyr2k]

For some weird reason, we actually own the Thunder. I wonder if TD's gonna put put up his usual 20 and 10 numbers, though.

Probably because the Spurs have an inside game. Duncan should dominate the hell out of the OKC's weak interior.

[Chieflion]

Probably because the Spurs have an inside game. Duncan should dominate the hell out of the OKC's weak interior.

Duncan didn't even play the overtime game against OKC last season. Blair got that patented 28 points and 21 rebounds over that team. Ibaka almost won the game for OKC that time too. All the games against OKC were very close too. Manu was the hero for 2 of those games despite going 0 for 10 in the overtime game.

[shelshor]

http://www.nba.com/news/referee.html
Referee Assignments
Sun. Nov. 14
San Antonio @ Oklahoma City: Derrick Stafford; Nick Buchert; David Jones

[GinobiliForTres]

Spurs win tonight. Not an easy win, but a win nonetheless.

[duncan228]

View from the other side.


2010-2011 Game 9 Preview: Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio; A Tough Test (http://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2010/11/14/1813581/2010-2011-game-9-preview-oklahoma-city-vs-san-antonio-a-tough-test)
by Zorgon
Welcome to Loud City

...Back on our side of things, there's still no update on the Jeff Green situation. Whether he's healthy is one thing, but whether the team wants to play him on consecutive nights coming off an injury is another thing. Nick Collison is still certainly out.

But, Jeff Green or no Jeff Green, the Spurs will still give us quite the licking inside. And the Thunder will have to look for offense from their role players, and we'll need at least 3 guys not named Westbrook or Durant to be in the double digits in order to be in the running for winning this game. But, most importantly, the Thunder will need to buckle down on defense. The Spurs are actually winning some of their games in the 120s now, and I could see them destroying the Thunder by 20 or 30 points if the Thunder don't find a way to defend the post. How do we defend the post? Simple: No smallballing. If that means playing Aldrich, White, and Mullens, so be it. But I really doubt the Thunder can outscore the Spurs in any situation, and we're not quick enough to hassle their big men in the paint. But with how well the Spurs have done lately and the Thunder's inability to beat any team with good big men, I seriously doubt we can get it done tonight.

Prediction: San Antonio 115, Oklahoma City 99

http://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2010/11/14/1813581/2010-2011-game-9-preview-oklahoma-city-vs-san-antonio-a-tough-test

[GinobiliForTres]

lmao, love how even OKC doesn't think they can win.