Thunder: Could be a playoff preview
lost 106-99 at Golden State on Monday after getting outscored 33-19 in the fourth quarter and 14-4 in the final 3½ minutes.
OKC offers three-time scoring champ Kevin Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook, who have comprised the league’s highest-scoring tandem the last two seasons, plus power forward Serge Ibaka, who has blocked more shots than any player the last three seasons.
The Clippers feature five-time steals leader and two-time assist champion Chris Paul, an NBA slam dunk champion in former Oklahoma standout Blake Griffin, plus this year’s likely Sixth Man of the Year in Jamal Crawford.
Fans voted Durant, Paul and Griffin to start in the 62nd All-Star Game in Houston next month, while Westbrook is considered a lock to be voted on as a reserve by Western Conference coaches.
Westbrook has scored 30-plus points in a careerhigh four straight games. Although he suffered a sprained left ankle late in the first half Sunday, Westbrook is expected to start against the Clippers. Westbrook has yet to miss a game in his five-year career and his stretch of 353 consecutive games played is the NBA’s longest active streak.
This season’s previous meeting between the Thunder and Clippers went into overtime.
OKC endured with a 117111 victory on Nov. 21 at Chesapeake Energy Arena, where Durant (nine) and Westbrook (six) scored all of their team’s points in overtime.
THUNDER AT L.A. CLIPPERS
When: 9:30 p.m. Tuesday
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles
TV: Fox Sports Oklahoma (Cox 37/HD 722, DirecTV 679, Dish, U-Verse 754/HD 1754).
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM, WWLS 640-AM
THREE THINGS TO KNOW
The Thunder is coming off a 121-118 overtime loss at Denver on Sunday night. It was the second consecutive overtime game for the Thunder and first loss for OKC in five games that have gone into overtime.
“It was like a playoff game in November,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said that night.
The Clippers have beaten OKC four straight times at Staples Center and that streak likely will continue if the Thunder doesn’t get a better contribution from its bench.
The Nuggets bench on Sunday outscored the Thunder bench 57-18, a season-high for Denver subs.
Every OKC bench point was scored by sixth man Kevin Martin.
The Clippers’ bench is so deep rumors swirl of a potential trade involving Eric Bledsoe, which coach Vinny Del Negro viewed as a positive.
“A lot of guys’ names will come up, but that’s a good thing,” Del Negro told the Los Angeles Daily News recently. “That means people want you. That’s a positive thing. There’ll be all these ru-
The Thunder defeated the Clippers 117-111 in overtime inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Nov. 21.
The Clippers are a half game back of the Thunder for the best record in the NBA. L.A.’s 106-99 loss Monday at Golden State snapped a four-game winning streak. The Clippers are 19-4 at home.
PROJECTED STARTERS
mors out there and things being said, and most of them probably won’t be very accurate.
“As guys’ names are out there, we’ll discuss things with them if there’s anything to it or whatever. I don’t see that being an issue for us. We’ve got pretty good balance on that and obviously, I’m always available.”
Bledsoe is averaging 18.9 minutes per game backing up Paul at point guard, but those minutes will become increasingly more difficult to find once Chauncey Billups returns from a foot injury.
Given how loaded the West is loaded with San Antonio (33-11), Memphis (26-14), Golden State (2515) and Denver (25-18) all making noise, there is no guarantee the Thunder and Clippers are on a collision course for the conference crown.
However, both teams are steamrolling in that direction and one team will pick up a bit more steam Tuesday night.