It seems a little odd that the Thunders best chance to put together a three game winning streak is happening in the midst of them dealing with their most substantial injuries of the year. They have put together two wins in a row against the Grizzlies on Saturday, and the Mavericks, on Monday. The won both of those games despite their leading scorer, Kevin Durant, being sidelined with an ankle injury, and beat the Mavericks without Durant and their second leading scorer, Jeff Green. If the Thunder want to continue this little winning streak tonight, they'll likely have to do so in the fashion as monday, without their two leading scorers. Kevin Durant will not play tonight, and at last check, Jeff Green was still questionable.
The absense of the teams star player, and top two scorers on Monday, have really led to a total team effort coming out of this ballclub. Guy are stepping up all over the place and contributing in ways we haven't seen this season. Russell Westbrook was dishing out assists all game on Monday, finishing with the Thunders first ever triple-double. Nenad Krstic scored a season high 26 points, and is really beginning to return to form and just breaking the ice on living up to the potential that the team sees in him. Even another rookie, Kyle Weaver has stepped up big and contributed. But the biggest difference on this team has been the defense.
The acquisition of Thabo Sefolosha has changed this team, for the better. The defensive attitude and intensity has seemingly skyrocketed since his he was brought in. The guy is an unselfish hard working player that doesn't mind putting defense first, and I think he's beginning to rub off on the young guys and the rest of the team. The Thunder were more defensively stout in the 3rd quarter on Monday than they have been all year, and I really don't believe they could have done that without Thabo. If you haven't been paying attention to him, start! Not only is he playing hard nosed defense, he has been dropping the ball in the bucket too, contributing points as the teams higher scorers are sidelined, proving once again, he's willing to do what this team needs him to do.
The Wizards come in tonight with a worse record than the Thunder, and I can't even remember the last time thats happened. They have lost four out of five games, and are just starting a five game road trip. The key tonight is going to be shutting down Jamison, if we can keep him in check, we should be well on our way to our first three game winning streak. Caron Butler is listed as questionable for tonights game, and probably isn't going to play. If he does, he would be the other main focus for the Thunder defensively.
Its about time we got three wins in a row. Go Thunder Go!