Oklahoma City (44 - 21)

Expert Pick
33% ·······><············· 67%

Washington (40 - 24)

To of the League Collides


Week 14 is upon us, the week before the trade deadline! And today we’re focussing on a HUGE match up between teams right up the top of the opposing conferences in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Washington Wizards. The Thunder: The Thunder have been amazing this year. The Anthony Edwards leap was real and they made a big play by massively overpaying to bring in DeAndre Ayton, but it worked. The team has been firing on all cylinders and has blown the rest of the West out of the water to lead the conference by 6 games. This is also with Ayton now having gone down with injury and leaving DeAndre Jordan to run the big man show alone. Edwards and Young’s pairing has been fire and they have role players around the big 3 in Jordan, Caruso, Grimes and Clarke who all play their role perfectly to help out the lack of defence that the big 3 bring. The offence though, is elite and they are all over the rebounds which has been their bread and butter. Until Ayton went down, they were also their usual healthy self, after being the healthiest team in the league last year. All of this equates to a big strong season record which is looking like a sure fire top seed in the West, and maybe, just maybe, bringing them a title by the end of the season. The Wizards whom they play today, are going to be one of the contenders in the East vying to be the team to meet them in that Championship series, so this match up is super interesting! The Wizards: The Wizards began the season in completely blistering form but have since gone a little quieter to be 4^th in the East. That said, they have the 5^th best record in the league with only the Thunder in the West with a better record, so if they were in the West they would be #2! So that puts their “quiet” into perspective. They have had a couple of key outs and a bit of a coaching test run at times which has seen them drop some games you might have expected them to win, and the bench has been mostly average at best since they were a 2^nd apron team with few opportunities to sign people to help them. But, they have one of the most elite and most complimentary big 3 of any team in the land and then they have a rim protecting anchor man to fit with that, and that’s a winning recipe. The time is now in Washington with Lebron running around on those last 40+ year old legs, so expect the Wiz to try and get some right now help to allow them to bat a little deeper and go back at that top of the East title and maybe meet their opponent today, in the final weeks of the season. The Projected Match-Ups: C: DeAndre Ayton Vs Clint Capela Ayton has been the perfect big man for the Thunder this year, despite not really doing much more than what just one of the pieces that was traded to bring him in, would do. 13 points, 14 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks is all you can ask of your big man and he’s using his size to anchor the middle for the Thunder as their high power offence works around him. He’s got the match up with the similar type role player here in Capela who has averaged 10 points, 14 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks on the year shooting 71% on his limited attempts. He knows his role is to anchor and fill space on defence, and that’s what he does for this Wizards team. Whoever might impact the rebounds more, might be the one that helps win the game. PF: Brandon Clarke Vs Lebron James Clarke has started all his games for OKC and played his defensive menace role, closing ground and forcing contested shots very well for them. He doesn’t show up much on the boxscore at only 7 pouts and 5 rebounds with a steal, but his energy and “right play” team first approach, is what gets him minutes. He’s got a big one in this game though, matching up on the monster that is Lebron James, and frankly it won’t be a matter of stopping him, but maybe making him miss just a couple of extra shots on his way to 40+ points…which is his average! SF: Anthony Edwards Vs Taurean Prince Edwards is the main man in OKC now and 35 points game will do that to you! He’ll probably get his direct match up in Prince defending him, unless Lebron moves down to take him, and despite being only 6’4, he’s still a strong play at the 3. Prince is new in town for Washington so we haven’t seen him perform in this exact role, but in SA he didn’t do a vast amount but space the floor and play some average defence. If he indeed has Edwards in this one, he’s going to struggle mightily. SG: Alex Caruso Vs Devin Booker Caruso is the stopper in OKC and he’ll go to Booker you’d imagine cause he can match him for size and loves playing defence on the perimeter. He’s only averaging 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists himself, with 1.2 steals, but his role is clamp on other guys top guys, and that’s what he’ll do here. Booker on the other hand will ignore all defensive work and try to be the main man whenever Lebron allows him to be. He can light up a team and carry that offensive load, but if he has Caruso matched up on him, it might go more through Lebron in this game, despite Book still getting a chunk of his. PG: Trae Young Vs Vince Williams Jr. Trae is pouring in 29 points a game this year still despite the rise of Edwards and he’s also giving out 6.5 assists, so he has a lot of hands in the pie. He won’t bother anyone on the other end, and sometimes struggles with height on him, which makes Vince Williams a solid big body to play on him, but will it be enough? Williams himself has only suited up for 4 games this year, all off the bench, and is thrust into a larger role this week with Payne gone and Holiday out. He won’t be expected to handle the ball much though with the big names playing and he can just play his defensive role on Trae. Bench V Bench: Quentin Grimes, Drew Eubanks, Taj Gibson, Jaden Hardy, Amir Coffey Vs Thomas Bryant, Davion Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, Tristan Thompson Both benches have their strengths and weaknesses, but the 5 man tends to work nicer overall, so I’d give the edge to the Thunder. They won’t ask 2k to think with this line up and their stars will get all the right court time, while the Wizards might encounter issues if they get foul trouble or in game injuries.

Week 14 is upon us, the week before the trade deadline! And today we’re focussing on a HUGE match up between teams right up the top of the opposing conferences in the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Washington Wizards.

The Thunder:

The Thunder have been amazing this year. The Anthony Edwards leap was real and they made a big play by massively overpaying to bring in DeAndre Ayton, but it worked. The team has been firing on all cylinders and has blown the rest of the West out of the water to lead the conference by 6 games. This is also with Ayton now having gone down with injury and leaving DeAndre Jordan to run the big man show alone. Edwards and Young’s pairing has been fire and they have role players around the big 3 in Jordan, Caruso, Grimes and Clarke who all play their role perfectly to help out the lack of defence that the big 3 bring. The offence though, is elite and they are all over the rebounds which has been their bread and butter. Until Ayton went down, they were also their usual healthy self, after being the healthiest team in the league last year. All of this equates to a big strong season record which is looking like a sure fire top seed in the West, and maybe, just maybe, bringing them a title by the end of the season. The Wizards whom they play today, are going to be one of the contenders in the East vying to be the team to meet them in that Championship series, so this match up is super interesting!

The Wizards:

The Wizards began the season in completely blistering form but have since gone a little quieter to be 4^th in the East. That said, they have the 5^th best record in the league with only the Thunder in the West with a better record, so if they were in the West they would be #2! So that puts their “quiet” into perspective. They have had a couple of key outs and a bit of a coaching test run at times which has seen them drop some games you might have expected them to win, and the bench has been mostly average at best since they were a 2^nd apron team with few opportunities to sign people to help them. But, they have one of the most elite and most complimentary big 3 of any team in the land and then they have a rim protecting anchor man to fit with that, and that’s a winning recipe. The time is now in Washington with Lebron running around on those last 40+ year old legs, so expect the Wiz to try and get some right now help to allow them to bat a little deeper and go back at that top of the East title and maybe meet their opponent today, in the final weeks of the season.

The Projected Match-Ups:

C: DeAndre Ayton Vs Clint Capela

Ayton has been the perfect big man for the Thunder this year, despite not really doing much more than what just one of the pieces that was traded to bring him in, would do. 13 points, 14 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.9 blocks is all you can ask of your big man and he’s using his size to anchor the middle for the Thunder as their high power offence works around him. He’s got the match up with the similar type role player here in Capela who has averaged 10 points, 14 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 1.9 blocks on the year shooting 71% on his limited attempts. He knows his role is to anchor and fill space on defence, and that’s what he does for this Wizards team. Whoever might impact the rebounds more, might be the one that helps win the game.

PF: Brandon Clarke Vs Lebron James

Clarke has started all his games for OKC and played his defensive menace role, closing ground and forcing contested shots very well for them. He doesn’t show up much on the boxscore at only 7 pouts and 5 rebounds with a steal, but his energy and “right play” team first approach, is what gets him minutes. He’s got a big one in this game though, matching up on the monster that is Lebron James, and frankly it won’t be a matter of stopping him, but maybe making him miss just a couple of extra shots on his way to 40+ points…which is his average!

SF: Anthony Edwards Vs Taurean Prince

Edwards is the main man in OKC now and 35 points game will do that to you! He’ll probably get his direct match up in Prince defending him, unless Lebron moves down to take him, and despite being only 6’4, he’s still a strong play at the 3. Prince is new in town for Washington so we haven’t seen him perform in this exact role, but in SA he didn’t do a vast amount but space the floor and play some average defence. If he indeed has Edwards in this one, he’s going to struggle mightily.

SG: Alex Caruso Vs Devin Booker

Caruso is the stopper in OKC and he’ll go to Booker you’d imagine cause he can match him for size and loves playing defence on the perimeter. He’s only averaging 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists himself, with 1.2 steals, but his role is clamp on other guys top guys, and that’s what he’ll do here. Booker on the other hand will ignore all defensive work and try to be the main man whenever Lebron allows him to be. He can light up a team and carry that offensive load, but if he has Caruso matched up on him, it might go more through Lebron in this game, despite Book still getting a chunk of his.

PG: Trae Young Vs Vince Williams Jr.

Trae is pouring in 29 points a game this year still despite the rise of Edwards and he’s also giving out 6.5 assists, so he has a lot of hands in the pie. He won’t bother anyone on the other end, and sometimes struggles with height on him, which makes Vince Williams a solid big body to play on him, but will it be enough? Williams himself has only suited up for 4 games this year, all off the bench, and is thrust into a larger role this week with Payne gone and Holiday out. He won’t be expected to handle the ball much though with the big names playing and he can just play his defensive role on Trae.

Bench V Bench:

Quentin Grimes, Drew Eubanks, Taj Gibson, Jaden Hardy, Amir Coffey
Vs
Thomas Bryant, Davion Mitchell, Aaron Wiggins, Tristan Thompson

Both benches have their strengths and weaknesses, but the 5 man tends to work nicer overall, so I’d give the edge to the Thunder. They won’t ask 2k to think with this line up and their stars will get all the right court time, while the Wizards might encounter issues if they get foul trouble or in game injuries.

Thunder Star

Anthony Edwards
Edwards has taken that leap from being same level or maybe a tad below Trae last year, to being the main man this year. He’s averaging 35 a night on great efficiency and takes the ball out of Trae’s hands which helps the team more, despite Trae also being great. Ayton has been the cherry on top also fitting with these 2 guys, but Edwards is the one to watch.

PPG 33.8

RPG 4.3

APG 3.5

SPG 0.8

BPG 0.5

FPG 1.7

TPG 1.3

PPG 40.4

RPG 8.3

APG 4.6

SPG 1.1

BPG 1.7

FPG 2.3

TPG 1.9

Wizards Star

Lebron James
Old man Lebron does not age. And he’s played every game this year smashing out 40+ points per game and doing it all around the court. The team wouldn’t be where they are without him and they are going to ride him until they die, as they should. The man can carry a team, too, even if he needed to, which he hopefully won’t with Booker and Holiday running around next to him. Look for Lebron to be the leader in this game.

X-Factor
- The XFactor is simple in this one. Both teams average about the same rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. They shoot about the same from the field and deep, and the line, but the Wizards average more FTs and more points per game. The one knock on this Thunder team is that they aren’t the most amazing defensive squad with only their role players really influencing that end of the court, while the Wiz have guys all over who play both ends. The XFactor then? Who’s high octane Offence stands up to the pressure.

X-Factor

- The XFactor is simple in this one. Both teams average about the same rebounds, assists, steals and blocks. They shoot about the same from the field and deep, and the line, but the Wizards average more FTs and more points per game. The one knock on this Thunder team is that they aren’t the most amazing defensive squad with only their role players really influencing that end of the court, while the Wiz have guys all over who play both ends. The XFactor then? Who’s high octane Offence stands up to the pressure.

Injury Report
Injured Players: Jrue Holiday (Knee/Shoulder/Rest) - 12 NBA Games missed this season Returning Players: Daniel Theis (returning from Neck/Thumb) - 5 NBA Games missed this season	Team is healthy this week Returning Players: Deandre Ayton (returning from Finger/Illness/Calf/Back/Knee/Leg) - 19 NBA Games missed this season

Prediction
Head to Head Prediction: All offence all the time. I like the rounded line up of the Thunder with Ayton back, while Holiday is missing for the Wizards, but the Wizards still have the equal big 3 but lesser roles players alongside. I might just give this to the size though, which means, Wizards. Wizards by 3.

Prediction

Head to Head Prediction:

All offence all the time. I like the rounded line up of the Thunder with Ayton back, while Holiday is missing for the Wizards, but the Wizards still have the equal big 3 but lesser roles players alongside. I might just give this to the size though, which means, Wizards.

Wizards by 3.

		Comments (1)
Joshua 03/03 04:58 am	Thanks for the write up! Hopefully your prediction is correct but this is one tough thunder squad. Can’t wait for this one!

	MIL	56
	ORL	45

	NY	109
	TOR	101

	CLE	99
	NO	104

	GS	103
	SA	104

	DAL	115
	LAC	97