Minnesota vs Oklahoma City NBA Preview Friday 3-23-12
The Minnesota Timberwolves are fighting hard to keep themselves relevant in the West playoff chase, despite not having their starting point guard for the rest of the season. The Oklahoma City Thunder has been sitting atop the West all season, but has seen its perch start to crumble of late with San Antonio gaining ground in the race for the top seed and home-court advantage throughout the playoffs. In their own ways, both teams need a win Friday night when the Wolves visit the Thunder. Oklahoma City won the first meeting, 104-100, at home on Dec. 26. Here’s a look at what we can expect from both teams, plus my final score prediction to help you make your NBA picks on tonight’s games.
Minnesota Timberwolves (23-25) @ Oklahoma City Thunder (35-12), 8 p.m. ET
The Wolves are wrapping up a seven-game road trip with this visit to Oklahoma City, and it has been a tough trip. A 116-100 loss at San Antonio Wednesday night was the team’s fourth in the last five games and sixth in the last eight. For most of this stretch, Minnesota has played without Ricky Rubio, who blew his knee two weeks ago and is out for the season. Luke Ridnour (11.5 ppg, 4.3 apg) has been performing admirably in his place, with J.J. Barea making an impact off the bench (11 assists in the last game). Most of the work is done by Kevin Love, which everyone knows, but if Nikola Pekovic has a solid game as a No. 2 scorer, Minnesota has generally been tough to beat. Minnesota is a competitive 11-13 on the road, even with this current 2-4 road trip. The Wolves rank fifth in the league in scoring (98 ppg) and third in rebounding (45 rpg), but are just 21 st in scoring prevention (98 ppg).
The Thunder is 20-4 at home, but has found itself to be pretty human no matter where it’s played recently. Oklahoma City has alternated wins and losses in its last nine games, and has lost three of its last six home games after winning 14 straight at home. Most recently, however, the Thunder posted a dominant 114-91 home win over the Clippers on Wednesday night in Derek Fisher’s debut with the team. OKC continues to light up scoreboards with the league’s No. 2 offense (103 ppg) and does it with its perimeter trio of Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden (a combined 68 points per game). For the Thunder, the key lately has been the play of Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. If the teams’ two starting interior players have solid games to direct attention away from the perimeter guys, then the Thunder become unstoppable.
The latest NBA odds show the Thunder favored by 10.5 points, with the total set at 210.5 points. If Perkins and Ibaka can combine for 15 points and keep Love and Pekovic from scoring 40 combined, the Thunder should roll. If either one of those things fails, the Timberwolves will have a chance to pick up the upset. If both fail to happen, the Wolves will have the advantage. It’s possible that one may happen, but it’s hard to think neither will happen, especially on the Thunder’s home court. OKC has struggled with consistency lately, but should win consecutive games for the first time in two weeks.
Final Score Prediction: Thunder 112, T-Wolves 99
