Clippers-Thunder live blog, 7 p.m.
Thunder-Mavericks Live Blog
Thunder To Host Fan Party
The Thunder is hosting a watch party Saturday night at Emerson Biggin’s on 1732 S. Meridian Ave in Oklahoma City. The party starts at 6:30 p.m. Tip-off for Saturday’s Thunder-Mavs game is 7:30.
All Thunder fans are invited to the party, the team’s first of the season. There will be drink specials, door prizes and a chance to win a trip to Phoenix to see the Thunder take on the Suns. The Thunder Girls will also be in attendance, signing autographs and cheering on the team with fans along with the drum team.
Any fan who brings another team’s hat will receive a free Thunder replacement.
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Wilcox Out Up To 2 weeks
Chris Wilcox will miss up to two weeks after dislocating his left ring finger Wednesday night against Memphis.
Wilcox, who sustained the injury in the first quarter while swiping at the ball on defense and hitting Grizzlies forward Darko Milicic’s elbow, had been the team’s starting center since Nov. 29 after taking over for opening-day starter Nick Collison, who is likely to return to the starting lineup.
For Wilcox, the injury is the latest in a season of setbacks. Wilcox entered training camp just days after recovering from an illness that caused him to lose 15 pounds. He was then hampered by minor injuries during the preseason before a knee injury in mid-November forced him to miss five games.
“Hopefully I’ll be back before (two weeks). It’s just something that I have to deal with,” Wilcox said. “This is the NBA. You can’t control what goes on with different things like this. But hopefully things will get better and this will heal up and I’ll be back out there on the court.”
Wilcox had his finger popped back into place at Wednesday’s game and will not need surgery.
Wilcox is averaging 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds in 18 games, six as a starter.
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Grizzlies-Thunder live blog, 7 p.m.
Thunder-Warriors Live Blog
Thunder-Heat live blog, 6:30 p.m.
Magic 98, Thunder 89
A few notes from the day….
* As soon as Russell Westbrook learns a little more control and develops better decision-making he’s going to be a serious all-around threat. This is the second time he’s bounced back from a terrible game and had an extremely solid performance. He finished with 19 points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals in 33 minutes, one game after scoring 10 points on 2-for-9 shooting with five assists and five turnovers against Charlotte. When he went 3-for-19 against Orlando on Nov. 12, he notched his first career double-double two nights later against New York with 19 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. That says a lot about the kid’s heart.
“I was just trying to come in and be aggressive,” Westbrook said. “The last game I wasn’t aggressive on the defensive end and put my team in good position. That’s what I tried to do today was play defense and get us in transition and rebound the ball, which I haven’t been doing.”
I asked Thunder coach Scott Brooks why he sat Westbrook for nearly a 12-minute stretch from the six-minute mark of the third quarter to the six-minute mark of the fourth quarter, a span in which the Magic turned a 3-point advantage into a nine-point lead.
“It’s just the rotation,” Brook said. “Russell needed a break. When he plays the way we want him to play he’s going to get tired. The way he was pressuring the ball and going up and down he needed some blows tonight. It’s tough to play a lot of minutes when you’re playing hard like that.”
* Hats off Johan Petro for his performance tonight, without a doubt the best effort after Westbrook’s and perhaps even better given the shock factor of his number being called. Entering Friday’s game, Petro had played just 12 minutes in the Scott Brooks era, all of them coming in one game. He’s walked around the locker room lately looking like he knows he won’t play. So for him to score 15 points off the bench on 7-for-9 shooting in 19 minutes says a lot. Early foul trouble by Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison, coupled with Jeff Green having to briefly leave the game in the first half after being hit in the midsection, presented an opportunity for Petro. And he responded, not only by scoring against All-World defensive center Dwight Howard, but by getting in the passing lanes and coming up with two steals. Granted, he needs to work on his two rebounds.
“I’m proud of him,” Brook said. “I’ve been in that position many times and I’ve laid an egg as a player. He came in (and contributed). That’s hard to do…But this is the NBA. You might have to get out there and play 25 minutes.”
* Green said he is OK after getting hit in the midsection, a play in which he was called for an offensive foul. Obviously, he returned to the game. But what fans didn’t see was him rolling around on the Amway Arena floor for several minutes while the telecast was on commercial break.
“I’m fine now,” Green said after the game. “It was an accident. It hurt for a little while. It was tough that I couldn’t play. Being out of the game, I hate doing that. But it’s nothing big. I got hit in the wrong section.”
* Kevin Durant said he’s also OK after falling hard on the floor and having his momentum run him into the goal’s cushion late in the third quarter. Durant said the fall was worse than the impact against the cushion because he landed on his hip before hitting his back. But it’s something that’s worth keeping in mind, especially with the Thunder headed for a back-to-back Saturday night in Miami.
* Paging Nick Collison. Four minutes tonight. Two rebounds. Two fouls. 0-for-1 shooting.
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Thunder vs. Magic live blog — Friday, 6 p.m.
Thunder-Bobcats Live Blog
