Tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena, Thunder fans will bustle into the building with the realization that after a whirlwind of a season – filled with both adversity and an incredible amount of on-court success – that it’s the second to last home game of the regular season and that the playoffs are just around the corner.
Head Coach Billy Donovan’s group, sitting in third place in the Western Conference standings, will square off against the fourth-place Los Angeles Clippers tonight, hoping to continue a stretch of strong play over the past few weeks. Despite dropping a road game on the second night of a back-to-back against the Detroit Pistons, the Thunder played excellent defense in a growing trend over the previous eight games – all wins. Tonight against the Clippers, it’ll be the same formula.
“Energy, defense and staying connected like we’ve been playing lately,” guard Anthony Morrow said, laying out the keys to the game tonight. “From a basketball standpoint, it’s getting back in transition. They have guys who are going to come out, run the floor and shoot a lot of threes. We have to eliminate the highlight plays.”
Like the Thunder did with Kevin Durant and Serge Ibaka on Tuesday in Detroit, Los Angeles will be sitting Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and DeAndre Jordan, and both Paul Pierce and Blake Griffin will miss tonight’s contest as well. Despite that, the Clippers still have talented players lining the roster, including the ultra-talented Jamal Crawford, whose scoring role will likely increase with some of the Clippers’ primary scorers out. Regardless, it will take a five-man effort for the Thunder to successfully rack up stops.
“He’s always aggressive. That’s how he plays all the time,” Morrow said. “But it’s more about us. We’re coming out, playing good team defense. It’s not on just one guy. We have to play good defense and make sure our loads are great and then get out and close out on shooters.”
“At the end of the day, whoever is on the court you have to go out and dominate every night,” Morrow added. “It’s more about us. We know where we’re at right now. We have to continue to play at a high level and take care of what we need to take care of.”
On the offensive end of the floor, the Thunder wants to keep playing with balance, pace and selflessness to get high percentage looks. Assist numbers are up, Donovan is seeing multiple players in double figures at the end of each night and Durant and Russell Westbrook are having some of their most efficient seasons in their careers.
With all the talent the Thunder boasts on the perimeter, an aspect of the team that makes it unique is the size and physicality it has up front in Steven Adams and Enes Kanter. As the year has gone along, Donovan and company have experimented more with playing those two together, and there have been some positive results as a curveball to some of the Thunder’s more traditional lineups and small ball units with Durant at the power forward.
“It’s their power that they play with, the strength that they play with and force on both ends of the court. It’s the yin and yang,” Durant said. “Steven on the defensive end is playing physical and then on the offensive end Enes is down there wreaking havoc, then they both offensive rebound at a high rate.”
“They present a lot of problems. That’s a matchup we want to stick with,” Durant continued. “Coach is going to figure out the best way to play small and play big. It gives us another luxury to have as a deep team.”
Broadcast Information:
Tip-off: 8:30 p.m. CT
Television: TNT
Radio: WWLS the Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network