The Thunder wrapped up its last practice before Game 2 against the Denver Nuggets the same way it started its first practice, with lots of enthusiasm and confidence.
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Most of the work the past two days has focused in on what the Thunder can improve upon from Game 1 and how to counter some of the moves the Nuggets are expected to make.
“We’ve just been coming in here and getting a lot of shots up,” Thunder backup point guard Eric Maynor told reporters. “We’ve been talking a lot about what we’re going to do defensively. Of course they are going to make adjustments too from Game 1, but we’ve just got to go out there and play. Whatever they do, it’s still going to be a 48-minute game so we just need to go out there and play.”
“We know what we have to do tonight,” Brooks said. “We have to have a better start. We’re going to have to defend their transition game better. Nene’s going to have to be contained better. Other than that, we’re just excited about the opportunity tonight inside a great building.”
The Nuggets have spent a lot of time going back and forth about how to defend Thunder forward Kevin Durant. Coach George Karl has told reporters he’s hesitant to throw double or even triple teams at Durant while Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin has said that’s the only way to go.
Brooks says whatever the Nuggets decide, it won’t be anything Durant hasn’t already seen.
“He’s seen every defense. It’s not like Denver’s going to come up with a scheme that we’ve never seen before unless it’s a … well, I don’t even know. George (Karl) is pretty clever, but I don’t know if he has something we’ve never seen. Kevin’s seen it all. Doubles from the smalls, from the bigs, from the baseline, from the top; you just have to make plays.”
And Durant has seemed to get better and better at that as the season has gone along. He’s used to fighting through double-teams now and finding the open man, usually streaking along the baseline on a back-door cut.
“That’s what good players do,” Brooks said. “When you see the right play, you have to make it. If you have a double-team there’s a reason why, it’s because you’re good. And there’s a reason why we can score off a double-team, it’s because they’re leaving a guy open and we have to make quick decisions and quick passes and quick attacks.”
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. inside the Oklahoma City Arena. You can watch all the action on Fox Sports Oklahoma or listen in on the Thunder Radio Network.