Brooks Changing Lineup Tonight
After sticking with second year man Perry Jones III for seven games in the absence of injured shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha Thunder head coach Scott Brooks is changing things up tonight going with rookie Andre Roberson.
“It’s nothing that Perry’s done, I just wanna see some different guys there,” said Brooks. And he has maintained ever since Thabo went down that he would likely experiment a little with that position, but he went on to say, “Jodie (Meeks) had a big game Sunday and we don’t wanna see that tonight.”
The Lakers haven't played a game since beating the Thunder in Los Angeles on Sunday. That afternoon Meeks scored a career-high 42 points on 11-for-18 shooting and he will be a particular concern to the Thunder defense as the change to defensive specialist Roberson shows.
"We're gonna need him to be aggressive tonight and chase (Meeks) off screens," Brooks said. "(Andre) is a guy we like and we expect him to compete on both ends of the floor but we definitely have to have him locked in on defense."
When the Lakers were blown out by the Thunder at The Peake back in December, Meeks scored just nine points on 3-for-16 shooting.
L.A. head coach Mike D’Antoni was asked just before the game if Kobe Bryant’s comments about D’Antoni’s future would be a distraction for the players, “I hope they won’t be,” he said.
NOTES
- The Lakers have lost seven straight at Chesapeake Energy Arena. They haven’t played a game since that Sunday win. The Thunder beat Houston Tuesday night.
- Thunder forward Kevin Durant scored 42 points against the Rockets in that game and has now scored at least 25 points in 29 straight games. That ties the longest streak of his career and it’s longest such streak in the NBA since Michael Jordan scored 25+ in 40 games during the 1986-87 season. Durant isn’t thinking much about offense though, “We have to buckle down and take pride in our defense,” he said after today’s shootaround.
- The Lakers are 4-15 on the road against Western Conference opponents, the Thunder are 17-2 against the West at home.
Click back after the game, we'll post videos from inside the Thunder lockerroom with comments from Coach Brooks and the players.