Thabo Still In Starting Lineup

Thabo Sefolosha works against Clippers guard J.J. Redick. Photo by Torrey Purvey for InsideThunder.com

Some wondered if Thunder head coach Scott Brooks would put Caron Butler back in the starting lineup and then bring Thabo Sefolosha off the bench to counteract when Jamal Crawford came off the Clippers bench but Sefolosha will remain in the starting lineup tonight.

Brooks admits his team must play much better defense tonight, especially on the perimeter. The Clippers shot 51.7 percent from beyond the arc in Game 1 and after eight playoff games Los Angeles has splashed 82 threes to lead the NBA.

Commissioner Adam Silver is in the arena tonight and will officially present Kevin Durant with his MVP trophy. As special as yesterday was, tonight should be great too because this will give almost 19-thousand Thunder fans a chance to show their appreciation.

NOTES:

According to player tracking data from SportVU the Clippers took 82 shots in Game 1 and 58 of them (70.7 percent) were uncontested. Meanwhile the Thunder shooters were covered most of the time with 55 of their 85 shots contested (64.7 percent).

Durant is shooting just 75.0 percent from the free throw line in this season's playoffs, that's by far the worst he's ever shot from the stripe. His previous playoff was last season when he hit 83.0 percent of his free throw attempts.

The Clippers have scored 30 points or more in six of their last seven quarters.