Oklahoma City Thunder to play Regular Season finale at home against Denver Nuggets – NBA Preview
The Oklahoma City Thunder will conclude their regular season with a home game against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. The Thunder are in no hurry to bring James Harden back into the squad and he will most probably not play the game against the Nuggets.
OKC are comfortably placed in 2nd place in the Western Conference and hence are not playing for positioning. However, they would like to finish their season with a victory. Denver on the other hand, could lose their 6th place to the Dallas Mavericks and hence will come into this game looking for a victory.
Denver have had a remarkable season, coming from 9th place to rise up to 6th in the Western Conference and secure a playoff spot. They have won 9 of their last 13 games and are fast becoming one of the most efficient offensive teams in the league.
Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo lead the back court of the Nuggets and that is where their offense comes from, added a few high flying dunks by rookie Kenneth Faried.
The thunder have won their last four meeting with the Nuggets, but they needed an overtime effort to secure a 124-118 victory the last time these two teams met in Oklahoma City on February 19th.
Kevin Durant has a tendency to play well against Denver. He scored a career high 51 points in the overtime victory against the Nuggets on February 19th, and is averaging 30.3 points in 22 games he has played against Denver which includes the regular season and the playoffs. Durant is also locked in for a battle against Los Angeles Lakers forward Kobe Bryant for the scoring title of the season. He is averaging 28 points per game, slightly ahead of Bryant’s 27.9 point per game. He will be looking to extend his lead over Kobe when he steps on the court Wednesday.
Besides Durant, the Thunder defence of Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins will need to be alert as the Nuggets have a tendency of scoring points of alley oops and lobs. They play a fast paced penetration style of basketball so the Thunder duo will need to defend the paint area well, not allowing them good looks and easy shots.
The Nuggets offense will be reliant on Ty Lawson and Arron Afflalo, who will have to come big if they want to defeat a high scoring team such as Oklahoma City. Lawson and Afflalo have so far done the job for the Nuggets, averaging a combined 31.5 points per game this season. Kenneth Faried will also be one to watch out for, as he has been having a spectacular rookie season, averaging 10.1 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. In his last 3 appearances, he has scored 11, 18 and 12 points.
It will be yet another high scoring game when these two teams collide and whoever controls the tempo of the game and puts up a better defensive effort will win.
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