Injury Bug Bites Thunder Again

By Randy Renner

Thunder forward Serge Ibaka hadn't missed a game this injury plagued season, starting all 64 the Thunder have played coming into tonight's game against Minnesota.

That streak ends tonight. 

Ibaka is out of the lineup with "soreness" in his right knee. Head coach Scott Brooks did not go into many details saying only that Ibaka will be listed as day-to-day and "we'll monitor him closely."

Rookie forward Mitch McGary will start in place of Ibaka and in his first NBA start will likely have to go up against veteran big man Kevin Garnett. Garnett though is a gametime decision because of overall soreness. 

Brooks also announced another change in the starting lineup, but this one doesn't come as a huge surprise. Brooks is replacing Kyle Singler, who's been filling in for Kevin Durant, with Dion Waiters. Singler has struggled shooting the ball since coming over from Detroit in the Reggie Jackson trade.

In the last five games Singler is averaging 3.0 points on 4-for-17 shooting. But Brooks said the change isn't really about Singler missing shots, "it's not because of what Kyle hasn't done, it's because of what Dion has done." 

In those same five games Waiters is averaging 10.1 points on 21-for-54 shooting. 

So a big shakeup for the Thunder tonight heading into a game they really need to have to avoid falling further behind the olayoff pack in theWestern Conference. 

Our full crew is here and we will have postgame reaction from the lockerroom in a video report and a recap blog, plus you call follow the action live on our Twitter feed page from reporters here at The Peake.