Health News A Bit Better

By Randy Renner

Thunder fans have been hoping that Reggie Jackson, Thabo Sefolosha and Kendrick Perkins would be back in the team's lineup soon and listening to Scott Brooks after practice it sounds like that day is getting close.

Like say tomorrow.

Maybe.

"Reggie went through most of the practice, we'll see how he feels tomorrow. Perk did I would say most of it also, with a few breaks here and there. And then Thabo just did the very beginning, just the warmup part," Brooks said after Wednesday's practice.

So is it possible one of those guys is back in the lineup Thursday against the Spurs?

"Not sure, not sure. We'll just see how they feel tomorrow."

That's a more encouraging answer than what the message has been. Watching both Perk and Reggie today it appeared that perhaps Jackson was the closest to playing, though Perk might be able to go in limited minutes. His conditioning, since he hasn't been able to run until the last few days, could be the biggest issue.

The Thunder would of course love to get Jackson back either Thursday or Friday if the team plans to stick with the ban on Russell Westbrook playing both games of back-to-back sets though today Brooks didn't absolutely say that would happen.

"We're just gonna focus on the next game and we'll let you know at the appropriate time," he said.

Brooks said the team's plan of whether to play Westbrook against the Spurs won't be affected one way or the other by whether San Antonio decides to start Tony Parker or rest him. San Antonio will be playing the  second night of a back-to-back Thursday and speculation is that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will likely rest Parker or Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili or even all three against OKC.

"We're worried about what we do, not what they do," Brooks said. "We can't make changes to our plan. We'll make adjustments throughout the game obviously but we have a plan in place and we've stuck to that. It's best for all parties involved."

So it sounds like Westbrook will definitely sit either Thursday or Friday. My guess is, he'll play against the Spurs and sit against the Rockets and the Thunder will hope that Jackson is ready to go for that Friday game.

The old saying is, 'plans change,' right now though the Thunder don't see a reason to change theirs.