After winning two out of three on the road in California, it’s time for the Thunder to get back into the friendly confines of Loud City to follow up those performances with some more strong showings.
That starts tonight against the New Orleans Pelicans, who the Thunder have seen twice so far this season. The first time was in the preseason, but the latest meeting was less than three weeks ago, when New Orleans had an offensive explosion that the Thunder couldn’t replicate. Behind the scoring and defending prowess of Anthony Davis, the Pelicans present a tough test. Davis is aided by the firm interior defense of Omer Asik and the shooting of Ryan Anderson, in addition to the attacking ability of Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans.
It will be a five-man defensive effort by the Thunder that slows down New Orleans, and it starts with Russell Westbrook, Andre Roberson and Kevin Durant along the perimeter. Big men like Serge Ibaka, Steven Adams, Kendrick Perkins and Nick Collison are there to protect the paint, but the Thunder wants to prevent dribble penetration from even getting there.
At 13-14 on the season and 7-5 at home, the Thunder obviously wants to get another win as it does every night. Under Head Coach Scott Brooks however, there is an internal yearning to grow as a group to play the best possible version of its style for 48 minutes every night. Even though the Thunder has been humming as a unit for the most part over the past three weeks as it has finally returned to health, the team knows that it’s still just December. As a result, the Thunder’s sole goal is to improve as a group day-by-day so that it can present the best possible product on the floor in April.
“We’re interested in playing good basketball,” Brooks explained. “We know there are four and a half months left of basketball. We have to keep getting better.”
The Thunder takes on the Pelicans tonight in Chesapeake Energy Arena, looking to battle its Western Conference opponent with gritty defense and crisp offense. Getting the win is of course what the team hopes to do, but it wants that victory to come as the byproduct of a strong showing of the Thunder’s basketball on both ends of the floor to show continued growth and strides forward as a group.
Broadcast Information
Tip-off: 6:00 p.m. CT
Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: Thunder Radio Network, WWLS the Sports Animal