Minnesota vs. Thunder: Pre-game primer

vs.

Minnesota Timberwolves (3-10) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (1-15)
Friday, November 28
Ford Center
Oklahoma City, OK
7:00 PM CST

TV: Fox Sports Net Oklahoma (Cox 37, HD 722)
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM, 640 AM)

Woo! The day is here! The rematch we've all been waiting for! We all remember the Thunder's 88-85 win about a month ago against the Wolves. I mean, how could we forget (for obvious reasons)? I know I've been counting the days down for this one after the Clippers loss.

There's a good thing about this game and a bad thing. And one of the two will happen. Either OKC gets its second win and breaks this horrible losing streak, or the Thunder loses to Minnesota, and further devastates the team, the coaches and the city.

The Timberwolves finally broke away from their one loss woes, winning two games last week. You look at their stats, and they're strikingly similar to the Thunder. One guy averaging 20 plus, and a bunch of guys averaging eight to 12 points. Evidently, obviously, that's sort of a recipe for losing lots of games.

OKC is rapidly approaching Orlando's 1-19 2004 territory and another loss tonight really makes that type of record a real possibility. Nobody in Oklahoma City saw this coming. Perhaps we thumped our chests a little too much, thinking we could influence games as a crowd and spur this group on to victories. Perhaps we forgot that a decent team is needed for that equation to square.

A big night for the Thunder. At this point, how can you call a game between two teams with a combined record of 4-25 a must-win for either squad, but boy, OKC really needs to win this one. Everyone had this same feeling for the game against the Clippers and we folded like a card table in the second half. Tonight, the Thunder needs energy and execution for four quarters and needs to start pulling this city with them. I'm not afraid to say that people here are grumbling. I know I feel it. That doesn't mean we're going to throw in the towel and bring only 12,000 a night to the Ford Center. We'll still come out strong, we'll still support the heck out of them, but we desperately want to bring these guys in and make them our own. And their 1-15 record is making it difficult to do that.

Just like Bob Wiley, it's all about baby steps. Win tonight, then look on to the next one. Set a goal of eight wins in December. Be realistic. Take the small steps forward and start trying to salvage this mess of a season. Pretend a new season starts tonight. Win and then look on to the next one. Please. Pretty please.