Game 54: Blazers vs. Thunder
Written by Sheed   
Tuesday, 09 February 2010 07:35

I would have never guessed this day would come so soon. The Portland Trail Blazers take on the Oklahoma City Thunder...and the Thunder have a better record. Pretty disappointing but let's put it in perspective. OKC is at full strength with Durant playing at an extremely high level. The Blazers are missing multiple key components and are trying to stay afloat.

As far as the game goes, I think I will be permanently worried as long as Brandon Roy is out. What happened in the Laker game Saturday is not something that couldn't happen again. the Lakers stayed committed to rebounding, defense, and getting points in the paint. They never really went away from that and it destroyed the Blazers when it was all said and done.

Oklahoma City Thunder coverage at Daily Thunder and Welcome to Loud City.

Blazers
30-23

 Analysis

Thunder
29-21

PG

On their recent 5-game winning streak, Russell Westbrook is averaging 19.8 points, 9 assists, and 6.4 rebounds. He has been a perfect sidekick for Kevin Durant and quality distributor on this young team.

Andre Miller has been at his best this month when he's distributing the basketball. In the 2 wins in February he's averaged 10 assists per game, and in the 2 losses just 5 apg.Andre will be stifled by the quickness of Westbrook, but hopefully he can contain the young star.

PG

SG

For now, I'm going to guess that Martell is moved to the 2 guard position and Nic Batum starts at the 3. It's the only realistic option to stop Durant. Plus Webster matches up well with the larger Sefolosha or James Harden.

Thabo and James tend to defer all scoring to Westbrook or Durant. This creates an opportunity for Martell and Jerryd to put up some points and win this match-up. They will.

SG

SF

Kevin Durant is pretty much putting on a show this year. He's averaging almost 30 a game, and during the 5 game winning streak he's averaged 33.4 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. He's a scoring machine. The interesting thing is that he's been somewhat pedestrian against the Blazers in his career, and with Batum focused on guarding him, We may be able to keep KD in check. Either way, I still think it's Durant's match-up to win.

SF

PF

LaMarcus Aldridge has been tremendous lately. He may not be a prototypical alpha dog on offense, or a banger in the low post. But in February he's averaging 22 points and 9.5 rebounds in 4 games. This match-up tonight seems perfect for LA. He is taller and longer than Jeff Green as well as quicker than Nick Collison. That doesn't mean that Green and Collison won't be a problem. Jeff is very athletic and Nick is committed to rebounding and defense. I do believe LaMarcus will win this match-up.

PF

C

Certainly not the highlight of this game, Juwan Howard and Nenad Krstic will get after it in the post. Neither guy is a major threat, but I think this could be one of those games where Pendergraph can get things going for himself. Despite a size disadvantage, I like our guys and I think the Blazers will break the 5 game winning streak by the Thunder.

C

Overall Winner:



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Comments (2)Add Comment
...
written by DogPissJones, February 09, 2010
KD doesn't have good games against us. But I think he pours a good sized portion of salt on our wounds tonight. Insult to injury! Pun intended. If Batum doesn't start i'll puke.
...
written by ThunderFan, February 09, 2010
I can only hope the Thunder would "stay afloat", in a couple of years, like the Blazers are now with that kind of structural damage.
At full strength, Portland is the team to beat in the west.
I look forward to this and future, meaningful duals between these two young teams in the near future.

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