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Scouting Report: Wolves vs. Thunder

Key Matchup: Kevin Durant and Kevin Love Although Durant can essentially score from anywhere, Love and Nikola Pekovic are going to have to hold down the paint against the Thunder. The best way to handle Durant defensively might be to push him outside and hope Alexey Shved and Andrei Kirilenko disrupt his shots with their long reaches; this can’t be done if Durant is allowed to sneak into the paint. It’s a tough defensive assignment for Love; he will have to keep his eye on Kendrick Perkins while also trying to defend the rim against Durant or the explosive Westbrook. Durant, possibly the most talented scorer in the NBA, is coming off a 41-point victory where he made four threes, shot 9-of-10 from the charity stripe and—by the way—added 13 rebounds. Love must improve on his shooting, as he hit only 2-of-10 attempts in Tuesday’s loss; he also didn’t shoot any 3-pointers, a range that was developing as one of his strong points as recently as last season. His hand still seems to be a nuisance—he has been seen shaking it during games—and the Wolves are hoping to see him enjoy a pain-free, effective shooting game very soon. Injury Report No word yet on Josh Howard’s timeline after suffering a hyper-extended right knee Dec. 14 at New Orleans. He’s listed as doubtful for tonight’s game, which really limits how the Wolves get rest for small forward Andrei Kirilenko. It also affects the guard rotation, as Minnesota will likely have four healthy guards available tonight in Luke Ridnour, Alexey Shved, JJ Barea and Ricky Rubio. The Oklahoma City Thunder enter tonight’s game injury-free.