The 2012 NBA All-Star game will be played on February 26th, 2012 in Orlando, FL. 5 OKC Thunder players including KD, Russ, Harden, Ibaka, and Perkins are on the ballot so vote early, vote often, and more importantly, vote Thunder! Vote at NBA.com until January 31st.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will take on the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday night, the teams third game in four days to start the season. The Thunder grabbed a pair of wins in the first two, with a dominant preformance over Orlando and a nail biter in Minnesota. This game will mark the first meeting between the two teams since it’s epic seven game series in last years playoffs.

The Grizzlies are coming off of a 13 point loss at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. This is the Grizzlies home opener.

This should be a very close game that goes down to the wire, as Memphis’ home crowd will almost certainly come out to see Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Starting Line Ups

Oklahoma City

PG: Russell Westbrook

SG: Thabo Sefolosha

SF: Kevin Durant

PF: Serge Ibaka

C: Kendrick Perkins

Memphis

PG: Mike Conely

SG: Tony Allen

SF: Rudy Gay

PF: Zach Randolph

C: Marc Gasol

Injury Report

None

Three Bold Statements

1. Serge Ibaka comes back to life. In the previous two games, Serge has gotten into verbal spats with teammates and been almost a complete non factor offensively. No one really knows what the problem is, but I predict that the off day gave Ibaka some time to think. He may not contribute much more to the offense, but I would look for him to be more of a consisten player on defense and for him to be more active on the boards.

2. Kevin Durant has a huge game. In the past, Durant has struggled slightly against Memphis, but that was with Shane Battier pestering him for most of the evening. Tonight, Rudy Gay will get the assignment. Gay might be an underrated defender, but we’ll see how he does tonight agains the two time scoring champ.

3. Thabo Sefolosha and Tony Allen are the Keys to the game. These two teams are very similar in that they both feature defensive minded shooting guards in their starting lineups. In the fourth quarter when (and if) this game is close, it could be up to one of these two players to hit a wide open three to win the game.

Final Prediction

Oklahoma City Thunder: 98

Memphis Grizzlies: 97

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On Monday night, just 24 hours removed from Oklahoma Cities impressive victory over the Orlando Magic, they will take on Ricky Rubio’s Minnesota Timberwolves in the young Euro star’s NBA debut.

Ricky Rubio is expected to make his long awaited debut off the bench tonight and is sure to match up with Thunder G Eric Maynor for much of the evening. Rubio headlines a second unit that includes Wayne Ellington and J.J. Barea that is sure to give the Thunder fits when the time comes.

The Thunder are coming off of a resounding win against the Orlando Magic, one that prompted CBS’ Ken Berger to say that “OKC was playing championship basketball” tonight on his twitter account (@KBergCBS). ESPN’s Jalen Rose said that he felt the Thunder handled the increase in expectations for the team well, but also looks for them to continue doing so throughout.

James Harden, who had 19 points in 32 minutes against Orlando, will be a big part of tonights game yet again. Harden and his beard will likely square off against Wes Johnson in tonights game, a test that Harden should look forward too.

Also impressing in the seasons debut against Orlando was Kevin Durant (30 points), Kendrick Perkins (limited Dwight Howard to just 4-12 shooting), Thabo Sefolosha (8 points, 2-2 from 3), and Eric Maynor (8 points, 2-3 from 3). The only starter with a dissapointing start was Serge Ibaka, who looked lost offensively as he just took just one shot and had zero points in 23 minutes of play. While his offensive production is not a huge concern, it will be something to watch as we progress through the season.

All the other players will look to build on their impressive nights, as they look to push the Thunder to 2-0 start to the young season.

Starting Line Ups

Oklahoma City

PG: Russell Westbrook

SG: Thabo Sefolosha

SF: Kevin Durant

PF: Serge Ibaka

C: Kendrick Perkins

Minnesota

PG: Luke Ridnour

SG: Wes Johnson

SF: Michael Beasley

PF: Kevin Love

C: Darko Milicic

Injury Report

Oklahoma City

Lazar Haywood- Sore Thumb- Day to Day

Minnesota

Ricky Rubio- Right Ankle- Probable

J.J Barea- Left Quad- Probable

Brad Miller- Knee Surgery- Out

Nikola Pekovic- Strained abductor- Out

Martell Webster- Micro discectomy surgery - Out

Three Bold Statements

1. Kevin Durant will go for 40 points tonight. Durant averages nearly 32 points per game against Minnesota tonight, and I think his young legs and explosive power will be too much for his child hood friend Michael Beasley to handle. Look for KD to put on a show at the Target Center.

2. Russell Westbrook will threaten a triple double. Westbrook knows he didn’t get off to a good start last night, and I think he will play with a chip on his shoulder tonight. He went in to Honey Badger mode last night and the Thunder got more of the bad then the good. Look for Russ to limit his turnovers and to have close to a triple double in tonight’s contest.

3. Thabo Sefolosha has at least 10 points tonight. We heard rumblings about how Thabo had improved his game from beyond the arc overseas this summer, and it showed last night. Thabo grabbed eight points including two threes in his debut. As always, any offense provided by Sefolosha is a bonus, but he goes in to tonights game with the confidence he got from last night, he could be a real threat from downtown.

Final Prediction

Oklahoma City- 102

Minnesota -93

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