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Shorthanded Thunder gear up for Pelican clash

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Do the Thunder have enough firepower to complete with the fully-loaded Pelicans?

Woop!
Woop!
Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sport

2014 NBA Pre-Season Game 3
Thunder
@
2-1
(Won 2)

1-2
(Won 1)
October 16th, 2014
Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
7:00 PM Central Daylight Time
TV: NO TV
Injury Report: Mitch McGary, Kevin Durant, Reggie Jackson, Kendrick Perkins, Sebastian Telfair, Serge Ibaka, Nick Collison, and Grant Jerrett (Out)
Previous Matchups: Dec 6 (W, 109-95), Apr 11 (W, 116-94)
Probable Starters
Russell Westbrook PG Jrue Holiday
Andre Roberson SG Eric Gordon
Jeremy Lamb SF Tyreke Evans
Perry Jones III PF Anthony Davis
Steven Adams C Omer Asik

It's time for more Thunder basketball! On the radio, anyway. Yet again, fans in Oklahoma City are stranded without any visual coverage of their beloved team. However, considering the fact that the Thunder sat out over half of their active roster in Tuesday night's game against the Grizzlies, that might be for the best.

Should the Thunder sit out a similar number of players tonight, they'll definitely start running into problems.  The Pelicans have been playing basically their whole roster aside from Tyreke Evans, who will likely return from injury tonight. New Orleans will go deep overall, but it's guaranteed that their starters will see significant action in the first and third quarters.

On the Thunder's end, they'll play who they have to. It's a lock that any top 5 player won't see the floor during the second and fourth quarters, and it's also a lock that Scott Brooks won't care who wins this game. Still, it will be interesting to see how well the younger subs are able to hold up against New Orleans' decent bench. Of particular interest will be the numbers of Jeremy Lamb and Anthony Morrow. Lamb has struggled from the floor, particularly as a shooter. Meanwhile, Morrow's shooting has been good enough to make us forget all about his defensive struggles. We'll see whether those trends continue tonight.

The biggest matchup of the game will definitely be Omer Asik vs. Steven Adams. Adams had no trouble getting position on Kosta Koufos a couple of nights ago. Asik is a completely different animal, though. Asik rarely lets opposing players get the best of him, and we'll see whether Adams responds withe finesse, power, or complacence.

Prediction: New Orleans Pelicans 111, Oklahoma City Thunder 93.

What do you think of tonight's game? Drop a comment and let us know!