Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Chesapeake Energy Arena (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: ESPN and Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @TheThunderGuys for live-tweets during the game
After dropping the first two games of the first round matchup with the Portland Trail Blazers, the Oklahoma City Thunder gets a chance to play basketball in front of the home crowd and hopefully begin a series turnaround.
The odds are against the Thunder to come back and win the series, but playing at the ‘Peake is a good place to start. Paul George had a bad Game 1, and Russell Westbrook had a terrible Game 2, so the Thunder’s superstar duo needs to get on the same page and play at a level high enough to push OKC over the edge. Meanwhile, Steven Adams has been a consistent force early in both games, and he will need to be active from start to finish.
Oklahoma City’s role players have been largely ineffective through two games, and the biggest culprit is Jerami Grant. He is going to need to elevate his game moving forward if the Thunder wants to have any chance to turn this series around.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Russell Westbrook
- SG: Terrance Ferguson
- SF: Paul George
- PF: Jerami Grant
- C: Steven Adams
Trail Blazers
- PG: Damian Lillard
- SG: CJ McCollum
- SF: Maurice Harkless
- PF: Al-Farouq Aminu
- C: Enes Kanter
Injuries
Thunder
- Hamidou Diallo (right elbow surgery) is OUT.
- Andre Roberson (left patellar tendon) is OUT.
Trail Blazers
- Jusuf Nurkic (fractured left leg) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 22-22 (13-9 at home, 9-13 on the road) against the Trail Blazers in the regular season and 0-1 (0-0 at home, 0-2 on the road) in the playoffs.
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Trail Blazers 4 times, lost it 5 times, and tied twice.
- The Thunder swept the Blazers 4-0 this season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
Game Notes
- The Thunder and the Blazers have both seen first-round exits the last two years of playoffs.
- Oklahoma City was 22-19 on the road this season while Portland was 32-9 at home.
- Oklahoma City went 28-24 against the Western Conference this season while Portland went 29-23.
- The Thunder went 29-21 after 1 day of rest this season while the Blazers went 37-17 after 1 day of rest.
- Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes
- Portland Trail Blazers Official Game Notes
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