Minnesota vs. Thunder: Pre-game primer

vs.

Minnesota Timberwolves (1-1) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (0-2)
Sunday, November 2
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
6:00 p.m. CST

TV: Fox Sports Net Oklahoma (Cox 37)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Game thread
NBA.com preview

Coming off a tough loss in Houston, the Thunder is trying to find themselves offensively. Kevin Durant got on track with a nice 26-point performance, but no one else really chipped in much. Chris Wilcox was his usual self, playing on really nice game that makes you think, "Ok, here we go. He gets it now" but then came back with a game that made you think, "Ohh, I get it now."

Tonight, the Thunder needs to crack down in two areas: free throw shooting and rebounding. The making the free throws wasn't really the problem against Houston, it was actually the shooting of the free throws. The Thunder only got nine chances at it. One reason? Russell Westbrook only played 18 minutes. Why? You tell me. The rotation was strange last night with the starting five seeing almost all the court time. Tonight, Westbrook and or other people need to attack the rim and get to the stripe. Next, Johan Petro played decent against the Rockets, but every major loose ball went the way of the Rockets. Wilcox and Collison must do a better job on the boards.

In order to win... the Thunder must keep up the defensive work, but now add on some offense. Instead of one guy having a good night at a time (Wilcox in the opener, Durant last night) a couple of guys needs to put together a good night offensively.

Prediction: OKC treats the home crowd with a better game offensively and shoots the ball extremely well. Westbrook comes off the bench to spark the team in the second half as the Thunder holds off the Wolves. Thunder 94, Timberwolves 88.