Oklahoma City Thunder @ Brooklyn Nets Preview

The Brooklyn Nets may have had a less than stellar first-half of the basketball season, however, at the moment, they hold the NBA’s best record in January and can finish the month on that high note if they can get past the scoring monster Kevin Durant and the hottest team in the NBA.

Oklahoma City are going to have a lot of momentum going into this game. In their last outing they simply rolled over the defending champions, the Miami Heat in the second half. On top of the the Thunder are riding a nine-game wining streak into Brooklyn.

That is not the only streak the Thunder have to brag about. Durant is on a roll himself.  He has not gone 12 straight games with 30 or more points. This is the NBA longest 30-plus-point streak since Tracy McGrady’s run of 14 in the 2002-03 season.

Durant was particularly impressive in his last outing, considering he was taking on some formidable opponents.

Durant managed to rack up 33 points and led his team to a comeback victory over Miami, 112-95. The Heat had an 18 point lead early in the game, but with Durant leading the charge it simply didn’t stick.

Another interesting stat, or frightening one if you are in a Nets jersey, is Over 12 games Durant has average 38 points.

A positive stat for the Nets: Since Christmas Durant has only failed to score more than 30 points twice.  One of those times was against Brooklyn back on Jan. 2. The Nets managed to hold the monster to 24 points.  They also won the 95-93 thanks to a buzzer-beater from Joe Johnson.

The Nets streak isn’t as flashy as Durant’s scoring run but is still impressive.  The Nets have only two losses this month, both of which came against the rejuvenated Toronto Raptors. Every other team in the NBA has at least three losses.  If they lose tonight so will they.

The Thunder are the favorites to win this one with a –5.5 point spread. The game starts at 8:05 p.m. ET.  You can watch it on ESPN.