If you thought things couldn't get much worse for the Thunder after a tough couple of weeks recently, well, think again. Tonight the Thunder make the short trip up to Denver to take on the Nuggets. You Nuggets have won 7 games in a row, and get this, 12 out of their last 13 games overall. The Nuggets are clearly stepping up their game as they prepare for a run through the playoffs. The Thunder will enter the game losers of 3 in a row, 6 of their last 7, and 10 of their last 13. So lets see, hmm, 12-1 over their last 13 games versus 3-10 over the Thunders past ten games. Yeah, we might want to brace for impact tonight.
One bright side for Thunder fans who watch road games, which I'm assuming we all do, I mean seriously, if you're reading this blog, you're a big enough fan to watch road games. Anyway, the game in Denver tonight will be broadcast in HD on Fox Sports Oklahoma Channel 722 for the Oklahoma City and Tulsa areas. You guys can call me crazy or whatever other names you would like, but I personally cannot stand watching games in standard definition anymore. Its complete torture because there is no way I'm not going to watch a game, and at the same time, I am not being given any other options for road games (and KSBI games for that matter) other than watching them on the crappy regular standard definition version of Fox Sports Oklahoma.
At this point in the season though, with our record, and the way the team has been playing recently, I don't think anyone is expecting a win. Generally speaking, that's the best time for a team to pull a huge upset. More importantly for the Thunder though is the evaluation process of these young guys to see where they fit in this teams future. Guys like Shaun Livingston and D.J. White are still making their case for sticking around next season. Sam Presti and the Thunder organization's main focus during these few remaining games is going to be to get as many looks at all they players they are evaluating as they can, at the positions, and in the rotations they want to test them in. I would really like to see both D.J. and Shaun get some extended playing time tonight as they've been playing really well since joining the team from down the turnpike.
Do I really even need to talk about Carmelo Anthony, Chauncy Billups, and Nene? At this point in the season, probably not. Especially Anthony who put the dagger in our hearts twice this season at the final buzzer. But what Johan Petro? Remember him? Oh yeah, he's one of those failed 7 foot centers we finally gave up on and then shipped to Denver for Chucky Atkins. Then of course you have J.R. Smith and Linus Kleiza who can both kill you from downtown. This team is chalked full of weapons and we've already seen them three times this year, so you should be quite familiar with them by now. They beat us twice at the buzzer as mentioned above, and then got the better of us again earlier last month as well. So tonight will be the last chance for the Thunder to avoid the season sweep to the Nuggets.
If you are interested in checking out the enemy perspective, head on over to Pickaxe And Roll or The Nugg Doctor, both are quality Nuggets Blogs. Its kind of a short preview today because of the game last night and trying to get up a recap and this preview for tonights game.