Game Preview Oklahoma City Thunder (22-18) Atlanta Hawks (26-13)

Season Series: First meeting

Last Game: The Hawks defeated the Suns 102-101 on Jamal Crawford’s buzzer beater at Phillips Arena, The Thunder defeated Miami 98-80 on Saturday.

TV: Sportsouth         Radio: 790TheZone

The Hawks go into their annual MLK day matinee winners of their last 3 games and with a half game lead in the Southeast division over the Orlando Magic. Just to see Oklahoma City with an over .500 record in the rugged western conference at this point in the season is a testament to Coach Scott Brooks and the Thunder front office. In my estimation they are a year or two ahead in their rebuilding process and that is easily explainable when you have a budding superstar in Kevin Durant who has been playing out of his mind this season averaging 28.9 points per game. The biggest reason for the Thunder’s turnaround is their team defense has picked up considerably and are only allowing 96.5 points per game this season.

Not to sound like Lou Holtz who would constantly build up his opponent but this game could pose some problems for the Hawks. Russell Westbrook and Durant will require a lot of defensive attention and Thabo Sefolosha is a lock down defender that could make Joe Johnson have to work extra hard today. One area that the Hawks have a distinct advantage is in Al Horford. The Hawks will need to establish him inside against Nenad Krstic and anyone else that the Thunder decide to match up against him. The last time these two teams met at Phillips Arena Joe Johnson logged a triple double. The Hawks will need Johnson the facilitator today and not him trying to force shots against Sefolosha. As a team the Hawks will also need to attack the glass on both ends of the court as they are a much better rebounding team than the Thunder.

The script doesn’t change a whole lot when the Hawks change opponents. They have to do the little things that make a basketball team successful like moving the ball, rebounding, and playing team defense. The Hawks can’t afford to fall back on any of those things against a quality opponent if they hope to come out of it with a victory.

Tags: Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder