Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Clippers: 2010-2011 Game 55 Preview; Cheering On/Defeating Blake Griffin

This also counts as an open thread, so feel free to post your thoughts during the game here.

Records: The Oklahoma City Thunder (35-19) vs. The Los Angeles Clippers (21-35)

Time: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time

Place: The New Myriad, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

TV: Fox Sports Net Oklahoma, Fox Sports Net Prime Ticket

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1), KSPN 710 ESPN

Enemy Blog(s): Clips Nation, ClipperBlog

Previous Meeting(s): Nov. 3rd

Well, I hope you enjoyed the All-Star Weekend festivities, and are ready to dive right back into the NBA season. Because not 48 hours after the All-Star game is over, the Clippers and Thunder are ready to go at it. The Thunder are looking to solidify themselves at the top of the West, while the Clippers are trying to finish out of the cellar of the Western Conference.

But the biggest story of tonight is the return of Blake Griffin to the 405. It's his his first time playing in the state of Oklahoma while wearing a professional uniform, and saying that he won't get any cheers from the crowd tonight would be silly.

The game itself, aside from a few Blake Griffin jams, shouldn't be too exciting. The team has hit rock bottom, losing top scorer Eric Gordon to injury, and losing to terrible Eastern Conference teams like the Cavaliers, Bucks, and Raptors.

This game is important to the Thunder because they got absolutely dominated by the Clippers during the fourth game of this season, largely due to the scoring tandem of Eric Gordon and Blake Griffin. Luckily for us, the Clippers consist of a bunch of terribly inconsistent or just terrible players. There's a chance that Foye, Davis, Gomes, Jordan, and Kaman could outscore the Thunder, but 9 times out of 10 2 or 3 of them will be ineffective, and the Thudner will roll to easy victory.

Prediction: Oklahoma City 104, Los Angeles Clippers 92