Clippers set to face tough Thunder team

The Clippers know they will have their hands full with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night in this back-to-back game for Los Angeles.

Not only will the Thunder be looking to exact some revenge from last week’s loss to the Clippers at Staples Center, but Oklahoma City’s Serge Ibaka will be looking to play the entire game this time.

Ibaka was ejected from the Clippers-Thunder game last week after getting into an altercation with Matt Barnes.

Barnes will miss his second consecutive game with a bruised left eye.

The Thunder also will have center Kendrick Perkins this time. Perkins missed the first game in Los Angeles because of a death in his family.

For the Clippers, it will mean having one less top defender to throw at Thunder All-Star small forward Kevin Durant.

Durant leads the NBA in scoring, 29.6 points per game.

“We’ve got to come out aggressive and we’ve got to play defense,” Blake Griffin said. “That team obviously can score and score in volume and quickly.”

It’s only a two-game trip for the Clippers, but after the win over Minnesota on Wednesday night, L.A., is not thinking split.

“We’ve got to be greedy,” Griffin said, “and we’ve got to want it for 48 minutes.”

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