The Golden State Warriors will host one of their biggest threats to defending their NBA Championship this season on Saturday when they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Warriors come in at 45-4, which is the best record in the NBA, while the Thunder come in at 38-13, which is the third best record in the NBA but also third in the Western Conference.
This game already gained a significant amount of buzz about a week ago when Stephen Curry basically guaranteed a win. After Curry's favorite football team, the Carolina Panthers, made it to the Super Bowl, he said it will be nice to get a win on Saturday and for the Panthers to win on Sunday.
The Thunder have not fed into that semi-guarantee, as both Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook avoided the question. Head coach Billy Donovan said that it was just another game in an 82 game schedule, but you just know that the Thunder want to make a statement in this game. The Thunder have an unbelievable record, but you get the feeling that they aren't being taken seriously as title contenders. Most of the championship talk has been about the Warriors, the Spurs and the Cavaliers, but the Thunder want to throw their hat in that ring permanently.
This game features a tremendous point guard matchup between the reigning MVP and maybe the most athletic player in the game. Expect this game to be extremely high scoring, as these are two of the best offensive teams in the league, and expect Steph Curry and Russell Westbrook to be big reasons why.
The Warriors are coming in off a win over the Washington Wizards, where they scored 134 points and a visit to the White House. In the game against the Wizards, Curry had 51 points and made 11 three pointers, so he shows no signs of cooling down any time soon.
The Thunder, meanwhile, have won five straight games, and Westbrook has gotten a triple-double in the last three games. Wetsbrook's last triple-double came in a monster stat line, as he had 24 points, 19 rebounds and 14 assists. Oh yeah, let's not forget that Durant had 37 points in that game, as well.
This game is certainly filled with a lot of star power, as these two teams will be sending a combined five guys to the All-Star game and have three of the five starters, as well.
On the injury front, the Warriors have ruled out both James Michael McAdoo and Festus Ezeli for this game. McAdoo wasn't in the teams rotation anyway, so his absence isn't a huge deal. Ezeli, though, is a big part of the team as the backup center, but he is dealing with a knee injury and has been ruled out until after the All-Star break.
For the Thunder, they are relatively healthy, but they will be without starting shooting guard Andre Roberson in this one. Roberson sprained his knee a couple of weeks ago and is still expected to miss at least another week with that injury. Roberson starts but doesn't do much offensively, as he is more of a defensive presence that the Thunder have been able to make up for.
This is the first of three meetings between these teams this year. Last season, the Warriors took three of the four meetings, so the Thunder are hoping for a reversal of fortunes this season.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 9 p.m. Eastern time on ESPN, and to watch the live broadcast, go here. For the Warriors radio broadcast, go here, and for the Thunder radio broadcast, go here.
