Despite it not looking pretty for all 48 minutes, the Thunder used every ounce of grit, perseverance and determination in its 110-103 home victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night, and looks again to navigate through a matchup at Chesapeake Energy Arena tonight.
“We just have to trust the process and have faith that everything is going to work out,” guard Dion Waiters said. “If we play hard and play every game like it’s our last, it should be fine. Especially on a team like this where you have every piece that you possibly need. It’s up to us.”
As the New York Knicks come to town, the Thunder will try to be more efficient on offense, more communicative on defense and more consistent as a unit in order to snag another early season victory. Behind Russell Westbrook, whose 43-point, nine-rebound, eight-assist performance steered the team to victory on Wednesday, the Thunder knows it has both a leader and potent players on the perimeter in the post to be successful.
The Knicks are led, as they have been over the past few years, by Carmelo Anthony and his 23.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game. He has some help in the front court, however, in the form of rookie Kristaps Porzingis. The Latvian power forward has turned heads with his put-back dunks, along with his 12.8 points and team-high 8.6 rebounds per contest so far this year.
“They’re playing very good basketball,” Head Coach Billy Donovan said. “They have good ball movement. They’re doing a lot of things out of their Triangle. There are a lot of different things you have to get prepared for and be ready for.”
“They’re a much different team,” Waiters said. “They’re playing together, moving the ball and playing hard. The Triangle is always a tricky offense… We know what we have to do. At the end of the day, we have to be physical. If we’re physical, we control our own destiny tonight.”
For the Thunder, containing both players off the dribble while also using length and physicality to prevent clean looks at the rim will be critical to the overall defensive effort.
“That’s all we stress,” Waiters said of the defensive end. “Once we go out and get stops, it leads to offense. Our main thing right now is trying to get better on the defensive end.”
With every team, we’re trying to be the more aggressive and physical team, so that we can control them,” center Steven Adams said.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Broadcast Information
Tip-off: 7:00 p.m. CT
Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS the Sports Animal and the Thunder Radio Network