Story Created:
Mar 17, 2010 at 10:22 AM CST
Story Updated:
Mar 17, 2010 at 3:32 PM CST
By: Matt Pinto
Can the road and one of the NBA's best home court teams cool the sizzling Thunder? We'll see this evening. 41-24 Oklahoma City rolls into Charlotte to begin a three game Eastern swing having ripped off five consecutive wins, victories in eight of the last nine, 17 of 20 and seven of nine on the road. This impressive stretch has Scott Brooks' squad fifth in the West, confronting tonight the East's number six seed, the 34-32 Bobcats.
Charlotte is a lofty 24-8 at Time Warner Cable Arena, having beaten the likes of Cleveland twice, the Lakers, Nuggets, Suns, Spurs and Hawks here. The 'Cats claw defensively under the guidance of Hall of Fame head coach Larry Brown, placing in the top ten league-wide in no less than SEVEN defensive categories including steals (7th at 7.9per game) and turnovers forced (4th at 15.5per game). They, in fact, allow fewer points per game (94.0) than any team in the NBA.
All of those kudos paid, they are coming off of a 99-94 road setback last night in Indiana, a loss that snapped their six game winning streak. They are playing the second game in as many nights and may well be without their All-Star defensive havoc reeking small forward Gerald Wallace (18.5ppg, 10.4rpg, 1.55 steals per game, 1.2 blocked shots per game) with a sore left ankle that has sidelined him for two games running. With or without the ultra-athletic Wallace, Charlotte has volume, streak shooting 20.7ppg offensive force Stephen Jackson, assertive penetrating point guard Raymond Felton (11.7ppg, 5.4apg), versatile power forward Boris Diaw (11.0ppg, 5.1rpg, 4.0apg) and energetic sixth man Tyrus Thomas (9.6ppg, 6.5rpg). The Thunder must be focused and on their game to experience success in this one.
For OKC it's on to Toronto Friday and Indy Sunday before returning home. The Thunder begin this trip with momentum generated by their impressive wire to wire conquest of Northwest Division rival Utah 119-111 Sunday in an emotionally charged contest that saw Kevin Durant (29.8ppg) fire in 35 points and Russell Westbrook (16.7ppg, 8.0apg) register a spell-binding 30 point, 11 assist double-double.
This young squad will be looking to continue it's utter domination of Eastern Conference competition as they sit 19-6 versus the East, one of those victories coming against the Bobcats at the Ford Center December 26th 98-91. Expect another close one between these two playoff hopefuls. In fact, this one may be more tightly contested from start to finish as both teams pride themselves on stopping foes with straight-jacket like defense and both are far better defensively than they were when they collided some three months ago.
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