Thunder vs. Kings: The Kings Can Still Win the Season Series (2011-2012 Game 63 Preview)

Gamethread tonight at 9! Be here, jump in, and discuss the action with us!

Records: Oklahoma City Thunder (42-16) vs. Sacramento Kings (19-40)

Time: 7:00 PM Central Standard Time

Place: An Arena Embarrassingly Named After Power Balance, Sacramento, California

TV: Fox Sports Net Oklahoma, Comcast Sports Net California

Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1), KAHI 950 AM

Enemy Blog(s): Sactown Royalty, Cowbell Kingdom

Previous Matchup(s): Feb. 9, Apr. 13 (Kings Lead Season Series 1-0)

We play the Kings twice more this season, and we played them a week ago. It's like a playoff series, right? Eh. The Thunder dominated the previous game, the Kings are 2-8 in the month of April, and their only wins come against the Timberwolves and Trail Blazers, who are basically sitting their players and taking a Mulligan on the year.

But instead of writing another tirade about why the Kings suck, I'm going to give you 5 reasons why the Kings will come alive tonight and a few nights from now, rising from the ashes and sweeping the season series. (Yeah, they won against us once a long time ago....when Paul Westphal was still their coach, and when they still cared.)

1. Their Defense is Charmin Soft, But Their Offense is NASCAR Fast!

Their offense sure is fast. Not good, but fast. NASCAR fast. You know how if you accidentally tune into NASCAR, the cars will be going "really fast" but they never seem to move closer to or away from each other? The Kings are like a really reckless NASCAR driver. They drive blazingly fast around the track, slamming into other cars and hitting the wall on turns. But most of the time, their attitude catches up with them and they end up in a awesome looking explosion where the car flips itself three times. Meanwhile, the other team cruises to the finish.

Still, there are times, albeit rare times, where that driver manages to wreck everyone else in the field and take the checkered flag. Maybe the Kings will get out on the break. Maybe they'll hit their threes. Maybe Demarcus Cousins and Tyreke Evans will simultaneously have good games. It's a long shot, but it could happen.

2. The Kings are #2 in offensive rebounds!

The Kings win games via transition points and second chance opportunities. If the Thunder's bigs come out tonight unmotivated, there's a strong chance guys like Cousins and Jason Thompson can come in and score garbage points.

3. The Kings throw up shots....lots of shots.

They're #1 in the NBA at doing that. If they could actually hit them all, they'd average 192 points a game. Likely? No. Possible? Yes.

4. The Kings have Jimmer?

Jimmer Fredette, some guy who scored a lot of points for BYU, hasn't been an NBA success as of yet. But any time I read an article about the Kings, everyone is gushing all over him. Jimmer this, Jimmer that, donuts make me fat. He's had a few good games this April, but his overall percentages remain atrocious, and he never gets to the line.

But who knows? If Jimmer is guarded by Derek Fisher at some point, it could be all aboard the Jimmer train tonight.

5. Their coach's last name is Smart.

Keith Smart. Bah, there's no way the Kings win this game. Discussion on the Kings' blog has shifted from basketball to finance, and their coach is some guy who got fired from the Warriors last season. The Warriors, for crying out loud. My heart goes out to you Kings fans: this one is going to be rough in the second half. Of course, they'll probably win this one and make me eat my words, but hay, that's what blogging's all about.

You could make a case for the Kings wanting an emotional win in front of a sad home crowd like last year against LA, but I think that'll happen in their home finale. I can see them keeping up for three quarters, but the Thunder are in playoff mode, and they need this win. No way they're in this game by the final five minutes.

Spurs Watch: The Spurs are playing the Lakers tonight , who are locked in an epic battle with the Clippers for the #3 seed. So if there's a time for the Spurs to lose and give the seed back to the Thunder, it would be now.

Prediction: Oklahoma City Thunder 116, Sacramento Kings 101