Snowstorm Delays Thunder-Nets Game Till 6:30 Tonight

By Randy Renner

The big snowstorm that’s buried the northeast in more than two feet of snow has forced a delay in today’s scheduled game between the Thunder and the Brooklyn Nets.

The teams had been scheduled to tipoff at 2:30 Oklahoma time but the start has been pushed back to 6:30 central because of travel delays within the NYC metro. The Thunder arrived in New York early Saturday morning before the worst of the storm but streets have been closed since and are just now being cleared.

With sunshine and clear skies today plows are expected to have streets passable so that teams, game officials, staff and fans can get to the Barclays Center by this evening.

The Nets would probably rather just pass on this one since they’ve lost five straight and 10 of their last 11 overall and 13 of their last 14 at home. The Thunder meanwhile would much rather go ahead and play since they’ve won seven straight and 22 of their last 26.

Center Steven Adams will miss tonight’s game with that strained right elbow he suffered during pregame warmups in Dallas on Friday. In fact Adams most likely will also miss Tuesday’s game with the Knicks and Wednesday’s contest at Minnesota.

Veteran Nick Collison is expected to start again in Adams’ spot so that backup center Enes Kanter can continue coming off the bench in what has become a very comfortable and productive role.

Collison scored six points and grabbed a season-high 11 rebounds against the Mavs and Kanter scored 16 points in Dallas to lead an OKC bench that scored 47 points.

The Thunder come into tonight’s game averaging 108.8 points a game, second-best in the NBA. The Nets are at the exact opposite end of things with the league’s second-worst scoring offense (95.1) and and they’ve been even worse than that lately being held under 90 points seven times in their last 11 games.

Brooklyn hasn’t been any better on defense, allowing 107.3 points on 51.2 percent shooting since Lionel Hollins was fired as head coach and assistant Tony Brown took over. The Nets are 1-6 since the coaching change.

The Thunder shot 52.6 percent and beat Brooklyn in OKC back in November 110-99. The Nets were tough inside outscoring the Thunder 66-44 in the paint that night. Center Brook Lopez scored 26 points on 11-for-23 shooting to lead the Nets in that game. With Adams out of the lineup the painted area could be big again for Brooklyn.

Thunder Lightning Bolts

·         Kevin Durant has scored at least 20 points in 30 straight games the longest current such streak in the NBA.

·         Over their last 31 games the Thunder are holding opponents to 97.7 points per game on 42.5 percent shooting.

·         OKC is 20-3 this season when its bench outscores the opponent bench and 31-3 when Thunder reserves score 29+ points.

You can see tonight’s Thunder-Nets game on Fox Sports Oklahoma, pregame at 6pm and tipoff at 6:40 from Brooklyn.

Randy RennerComment