Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Chesapeake Energy Arena (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live-tweets and discussion during the game
The Oklahoma City Thunder rebounded on Wednesday against the Houston Rockets with an easy 104-87 win just two days after being embarrassed by the same team. Now the Thunder turns their attention to the Minnesota Timberwolves for another 2-game series, but this time it’s a back-to-back.
The Timberwolves made some moves in the offseason in order to position themselves to make a playoff push, but so far, things aren’t working out for them. Minnesota has dealt with injuries and covid-19, and as a result, they’re just 5-16 on the season.
At face value, this should be an easy win for OKC, but the Thunder is without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (sprained left knee) and Luguentz Dort (left knee soreness), and George Hill (right thumb surgery) is still set to miss a couple more weeks. Still, Oklahoma City should be able to piece together a good enough game to get a win, but if they come out with low energy, they very well could lose this one.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Theo Maledon
- SG: Hamidou Diallo
- SF: Kenrich Williams
- PF: Darius Bazley
- C: Al Horford
Timberwolves
- PG: D’Angelo Russell
- SG: Malik Beasley
- SF: Josh Okogie
- PF: Anthony Edwards
- C: Naz Reid
Injuries
Thunder
- Trevor Ariza is OUT (not with team).
- Moses Brown is OUT (G League; two-way).
- Luguentz Dort is OUT (left knee soreness).
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is OUT (sprained left knee).
- Josh Hall is OUT (G League; two-way).
- George Hill is OUT (right thumb surgery).
- Ty Jerome is OUT (G League; two-way).
- Aleksej Pokusevski (G League; two-way).
Timberwolves
- Jarrett Culver is OUT (sprained left ankle).
- Ashton Hagans is OUT (G League; two-way).
- Juancho Hernangomez is QUESTIONABLE (health & safety protocol reconditioning).
- Naz Reid is PROBABLE (sprained right wrist).
- D’Angelo Russell is QUESTIONABLE (right quad contusion).
- Karl-Anthony Towns is OUT (health and safety protocols).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 33-13 against the Timberwolves (17-5 at home, 15-9 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the 4-game regular season series against the Timberwolves 8 times, lost it twice, and tied it twice.