The Oklahoma City Thunder begin a three game homestand tonight against a team that has never beaten the Thunder in Oklahoma City.
In fact the Sacramento Kings have lost eight straight overall to the Thunder, 10 straight on the road and 17 out of the last 19 these two teams have played.
Read MoreWhile Thunder head coach Scott Brooks told reporters he has a "long list" of things his team needs to work on and Nick Collison agreed that defense was at the top of the list, Russell Westbrook tried to shoulder most of that burden himself.
"I've gotta step up defensively, that's just what I've gotta do to help us win games," Westbrook said after Thursday's practice.
Read MoreFor their first years here in Oklahoma City the Thunder were amazingly healthy. A couple of starters would only miss a handful of games a year, Russell Westbrook never missed a game, Kevin Durant usually didn't either and even key members of the rotation were always healthy.
This year the odds finally caught the Thunder. Out of the 71 games they've played, all five regular starters have played together in only 20.
Read MoreSecond nights of back-to-backs on the road are usually never good and they're especially never good when that game gets into overtime.
That's just one of the reasons the Thunder dramatic win in Toronto the other night was so impressive. Last night in Dallas the basketball gods got even.
Read MoreThe Thunder won't make a big deal of it publically but there's no question they're looking forward to having another crack at the Dallas Mavericks.
The Mavs afterall embarrassed the Thunder on their home floor just days ago, handing the Thunder their worst home loss since the 2010-11 season and one of their worst ever.
Read MoreDon't look now but your Oklahoma City Thunder all of a sudden are rolling again. They won their fourth straight and ninth of their last 12 Monday night by clobbering the Denver Nuggets 117-96.
Kevin Durant led all scorers with 27 points in just three quarters. That's his 35th straight game scoring at least 25 and he's now just five games away from tying Michael Jordan's record of 40 straight.
Read MoreAs many of us suspected Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook will sit out tonight's game with the injury depleted Denver Nuggets.
"Russell won't play tonight, but he will play tomorrow night," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks told reporters just before the game.
Read MoreThunder head coach Scott Brooks won't reveal his decision on whether point guard Russell Westbrook plays tonight against Denver or tomorrow night against Dallas until just before tonight's game.
Brooks doesn't usually make himself available to the media after home shootarounds and didn't today. Westbrook is expected to be back on his regular schedule of missing one game of a back-to-back set.
Read MoreThunder point guard Russell Westbrook told reporters after his team’s practice today, “I feel great,” putting to rest any fears of problems after banging knees with Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry Friday night.
“I actually felt great after the game, but we had to make sure that everything was good.”
Read MoreThe Thunder are expected to have their All-Star point guard back in the starting lineup tonight when they take on the Raptors in Toronto.
Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said yesterday that Russell Westbrook would play tonight after sitting out last night's game in Cleveland.
Read MoreWe had all seen the movie before, you know the one about the hometown basketball team cruising along with a big lead and then blowing it at the end.
In fact we've not only seen it, we've seen it repeated a couple of times and it looked like we were going to see it again last night in Cleveland.
Read MoreThunder head coach Scott Brooks is once again keeping his plans about whether point guard Russell Westbrook will play tonight or sit on the bench a secret until just before game time.
Yesterday after the Thunder practiced in Chicago, Brooks would say only that Westbrook would indeed sit out one of the games of this latest back-to-back set, either tonight's game in Cleveland or tomorrow night's in Toronto.
Read Morehe Thunder's on again-off again defense was on again last night in Chicago, holding the Bulls to just 34.5 percent shooting. That's one of OKC's top defensive performances of the season and it follows hard on the heels of one of the team's worst defensive efforts.
Sunday against the Mavericks the Thunder couldn't keep Dallas from hitting at least half the shots they put up in any quarter. Then last night, just 24 hours later, the Thunder didn't allow the Bulls to make even 40 percent of their shots in any quarter.
Read MoreThe Thunder have played with starters out before and played well but three starters on the bench? A superstar and their two best defenders? That was just too much.
The Thunder decided to rest point guard Russell Westbrook, part of his recovery plan from that third knee surgery. Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins are also out with injuries.
Read MoreJust moments ago Thunder head coach Scott Brooks told reporters that All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook will sit out tonight’s game against the Dallas Mavericks.
"Reggie (Jackson) will start tonight and Russell will start tomorrow night," Brooks said.
Read MoreWill he? Or won't he? Whether Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook plays tonight against Dallas or tomorrow night in Chicago against the Bulls is the question of the day.
Yesterday Thunder head coach Scott Brooks told reporters, "there's going to be some back-to-backs he's not going to play."
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