Suns welcome Thunder to town

There was plenty of rain in the Valley on Tuesday. On Wednesday, we’ll have some Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder come to town to take on the Phoenix Suns tonight at U.S. Airways Center. The Thunder come into tonight’s game at 13-14 after dropping a tough one in L.A. to the Lakers on Tuesday night.

The game also marks a return to the Valley for Thunder rookie guard James Harden, who starred at Arizona State for two seasons. Harden, an All-American as a sophomore, led the Devils to an NCAA Tournament bid, and was the third overall pick by the Thunder last June.

The Suns are trying to bounce back from a LeBron James-delivered beatdown on Monday night. James scored 29 points in the Cavaliers’ 18-point win.

Here are tonight’s expected starting lineups…

Oklahoma City Thunder (13-14)


F - 35 Kevin Durant - 6-9 - Texas
F - 22 Jeff Green - 6-9 - Georgetown
C - 12 Nenad Kristic - 7-0 - Yugoslavia
G - 2 Thabo Sefolosha - 6-7 - Switzerland
G - 0 Russell Westbrook - 6-3 - UCLA

Phoenix Suns (18-10)


F - 1 Amare Stoudemire - 6-10 - Cyp.Creek HS
F - 33 Grant Hill - 6-8 - Duke
C - 8 Channing Frye - 6-11 - Arizona
G - 23 Jason Richardson - 6-6 - Michigan State
G - 13 Steve Nash - 6-3 - Santa Clara

By the Numbers

9
The number of consecutive wins the Suns have over the Oklahoma City/Seattle franchise.

21.1
The Suns’ three-point shooting percentage in Monday night’s loss to Cleveland. It was their lowest single-game three point percentage of the season.

35.0
The three-point shooting percentage allowed by Oklahoma City this season.

11
The number of consecutive games missed by Suns’ guard Leandro Barbosa (ankle).

4-7
The Suns’ record during Barbosa’s most recent injury.

12-2
The Suns’ record this season when Barbosa’s been healthy.

4
The number of consecutive games Thunder rookie James Harden has scored in double figures.

Any minute now
The amount of time it will be until Harden moves into OKC’s starting five.

8.2
The 2009-10 scoring average of Thunder center Nenad Kristic.

8.2
Incidentally, the number of hairs left on Kristic’s head.

23
Kevin Durant’s career scoring average against the Suns.

46
The number of points Durant scored at U.S. Airways Center last February in the NBA All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge.

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Tags: Amare Stoudemire, Channing Frye, Grant Hill, James Harden, Jason Richardson, Jeff Green, Kevin Durant, Leandro Barbosa, Nenad Kristic, Russell Westbrook, Steve Nash, Thabo Sefolosha