Pregame 21: Pacing the Court

The Indiana Pacers find their way to the Chesapeake Arena tonight, entering the match-up with a 7 game winning streak and tied for the least losses in the league, with Memphis, San Antonio, and Oklahoma City all losing just 4 games so far. 

The Pacers enter tonight with a record even at .500, 10-10. The Pacers have somewhat underwhelmed since their 6th game exit in the the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Miami heat and their gentleman's sweep of the Orlando Magic in the first round of the 2011-2012 playoffs. The Pacers were 14-6 last year this far into the season, winning games against teams such as the Bulls, Lakers, and Celtics. So the Indian Pacers have a ways to go to reach the heights they reached last year as a team. 

The Pacers do have a lot of youth to them at this point in the year, with still being a team that is trying to find their identity and their chemistry as team. Once Danny Granger returns from injury, it will be interesting to see how this team functions and integrates him back into the lineup. 

The Thunder come into tonight on a blazing hot streak of wins, winning their 7 last games, 15 of their last 17, and . The Thunder have really played up to their potential as of late, showing the NBA how good they still are even after the loss of James Harden in October to Houston. Kevin Durant has seemed to finally settle into a scoring rhythm this year, scoring 35+ in 4 of the last 9 games for the Thunder. 

Russell Westbrook has continued his improved clip of assists this year, registering 8+ assists in each of the Thunder's last 7 seven wins. Russell has also down fairly well keeping up with the Durant in terms of scoring,registering 25+ in the last two games in wins against Los Angeles and Brooklyn. 

Tonight's game should be interesting, with a rolling Thunder team who might be resting on their laurels as of late and a Pacers team who has stayed close in games against several teams in loses, such the 92-89 loss to the Nuggets and a 104-97 loss to the Spurs. This is more than definitely a trap game for the Thunder, who has a tendency to drop a game here and there with the simple fact that they have won so much. However, I think the Thunder are going to play a solid game here, with a big crowd for a Sunday afternoon game cheering for them all they way there. 

Prediction: 107-92 Thunder. I am going to go with the hope that the Thunder can keep their streak of 10 straight games with 100+ points going for an 11th game. 

Now onto the stats.

"Mother, it's cold here. Father, thy will be done.Thunder and lightning are crashing down, they got me on the run."~(Only the Young) The Killers

Stat Leaders

Oklahoma City Thunder
Stat per game / Leader / Avgerage Stat


Points- Kevin Durant (27.0)
Rebounds- Kevin Durant (8.6)
Assists- Russell Westbrook (8.7)
Steals- Russell Westbrook (2.1)
Blocks- Serge Ibaka (3.2)


Indiana Pacers


Points- David West (17.3)
Rebounds- David West (8.6)
Assists- George Hill (5.4)
Steals- Paul George (1.3)
Blocks- Roy Hibbert (3.1)

Important Player of the Game

Thunder: Kendrick Perkins. Roy Hibbert is a fairly athletic center who can rebound pretty well, so it will be important for Perkins to stick to his fundamentals and shut down another center like he has the ability to do. 

Pacers: Paul George. George is the Pacers big scorer on the team, even though David West is the leading scorer. George is pretty inconsistent, playing 29 minutes against the Warriors and scoring 0 points, but can light up the scoreboard, having registered two games of 34+ points. If the Pacers want to have any chance at winning the game tonight, George has to score in bunches to offset the firepower of the Thunder. 

Three Keys to the Game

1. Locking down George. Paul George is known to put a bunch of points on the board when he feels like it, so it will be imperative that the Thunder lock down George and force him into bad/hurried shots all night long. 
2. Fast Breaks. The Thunder are 14-1 on the year when scoring more fast break points than their opponents. If the Thunder push the pace from the beginning and keep the pedal to the medal till the end, then you might as well put another W in the win column. 
3. Going hard in the paint. The Thunder have posted a 10-1 record when scoring more points in the paint or tying the total of the other team. With Indiana's inside presence of Roy Hibbert, it will be key for the Thunder to find a way to keep funneling the ball to the rim and scoring easy, high percentage shots.

The Thunder play the Indian Pacers in the Chesapeake Arena @ 6PM CT. You can watch tonight's game on Fox Sports Oklahoma, WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM), or connect to a stream here. Thunder UP!

(Credit: ESPN Stats and Information, NBA.com)