Tonight at 8:00 p.m. ET on TNT the Oklahoma City Thunder (7-3) will square off with the Los Angeles Clippers (8-4) in Chesapeake Energy Arena, a.k.a. "Loud City," for the first time since Serge Ibaka and Matt Barnes were ejected for nearly coming to blows. Watch the game on TNT or live stream it here; Clippers fans can listen to the game on KFWB 980 AM, while Thunder fans may do the same on WWLS 98.1.
The Thunder have a superstar in Kevin Durant dropping close to 30 points a game, but to win tonight they'll need to contain Chris Paul, who has opened the season with 12 consecutive double-doubles.
"It's just cool to see the ball go through the net," Paul said. "I'll take it whenever. Fourth quarter is winning time and we're all competitive, but as the leader of the team, me and Blake, we know that's when it's time to win."
The 12 straight double-doubles is an NBA record, surpassing Magic Johnson's mark of 11 in the 1990-1991 year. "It's huge man. Magic is a mentor of mine, somebody I look up to," Paul said. "His basketball production was unbelievable so be mentioned in anything with him is huge and an honor."
In addition to limiting Paul, the Thunder have acknowledged their propensity to need comebacks to secure victories. "It's tough. We can't continue to (fall behind) and put pressure on ourselves," point guard Russell Westbrook said. "We've got to start the game better."
Head coach Scott Brooks expanded on that, saying "We're going to keep fighting to the last possession. That's always been a trademark, but we can't just turn it on the second half. We have to correct that. It's my job to find combinations where guys are going to play with more defensive force."
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