Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

San Antonio Spurs vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
December 25, 2014, 1:30 p.m. Spurs Time
TV: ABC - RADIO: 1200 AM WOAI

Merry Christmas, Pounders! This year Santa decided to give us a terrific slate of NBA games, one of which is a rematch of last year's Western Conference Finals matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder. This edition of the series isn't as filled with star-power as it could be; both Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant are expected to be out with injuries. Even in their absence, there's still more than enough incentive to tune in.

The Spurs will attempt to build off of a great win versus the Los Angeles Clippers, in which they shot .636 as a team. Individually speaking, Tony Parker will be looking to build up momentum after a great performance versus the Clippers, his first game back from sitting out 5 games with a hamstring injury. San Antonio has struggled mightily with him out of the lineup recently, and him stringing together 2 quality performances versus good teams could be what they need to get back on track.

For Oklahoma City, Russell Westbrook is having an MVP-caliber season so far. The 7th-year guard is averaging 28.2 points on .463 from the field, 7.1 assists, 5.8 boards, and 2 steals per game. He's producing all of this in 31.7 minutes per game, which, for reference, is a tad under the average amount of minutes that 38 year-old Tim Duncan plays in games. Westbrook is having both his most productive and most efficient season yet, and will certainly be on the prowl for a big game on a big stage without having to split shots with Kevin Durant.

One matchup that everyone should keep an eye on in this game is between Cory Joseph and Reggie Jackson as the backup point guards. Jackson has become an x-factor for the Thunder versus the Spurs; having a tendency to have a huge scoring nights versus them in recent seasons. Joseph, San Antonio's relentless bench defender, will have to keep Jackson relatively in check for the silver-and-black to come away with a win.

	vs.
Oklahoma City Thunder (13-16)		San Antonio Spurs (18-11)
December 25, 2014
AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
1:30 p.m. CST
TV: ABC Radio: WOAI 1200AM
Starters
Russell Westbrook	PG	Tony Parker
Andre Roberson	SG	Danny Green
Perry Jones	SF	Kyle Anderson
Serge Ibaka	PF	Tiago Splitter
Steven Adams	C	Tim Duncan

Game prediction: Spurs by 3.

For the Thunder's perspective, visit Welcome to Loud City.

As always, Tony must dominate Fisher, and you can get your San Antonio Spurs tickets from Daniel Farias with Spurs Sports & Entertainment: Tel: 210-444-5607 | dfarias@attcenter.com