Tip-Off: 1 PM CT
Location: Toyota Center (Houston, Texas)
Television: Fox Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live-tweets and discussion during the game
At the beginning of February, the Oklahoma City Thunder hosted the Houston Rockets twice in 3 days, and those games could not have been more polarizing. In the first one, Houston slapped OKC by 30, but in the second matchup, it was the Thunder with the big win, a 17-point victory over the Rockets. Today, the two teams meet for the third and final time this season.
The Thunder have seemingly decided to focus more on tanking as a number of players continue to sit with basic injuries, but that doesn’t guarantee a loss. It doesn’t really matter who OKC puts on the floor, they’re going to play with every ounce of energy they can muster.
Meanwhile, the Rockets are riding a 19-game losing streak, which is tied for the 13th-longest losing streak in NBA history, 9 shy of tying the all-time record. Houston has dealt with their own laundry list of legitimate injuries, though, and now that they’ve got most of their main guys back, it wouldn’t surprise me if they pick up the win today or very soon at the least.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Theo Maledon
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Aleksej Pokuševski
- PF: Isaiah Roby
- C: Moses Brown
Rockets
- PG: John Wall
- SG: Victor Oladipo
- SF: Danuel House Jr.
- PF: Jae’Sean Tate
- C: Christian Wood
Injuries
Thunder
- Darius Bazley (left shoulder contusion) is OUT.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (sore right shoulder) is OUT.
- Josh Hall (sore left knee) is OUT.
- George Hill (right thumb surgery) is OUT.
- Al Horford (rest) is OUT.
- Meyers Leonard (not with team) is OUT.
Rockets
- Dante Exum (strained right calf) is OUT.
- Eric Gordon (strained right groin) is OUT.
- David Nwaba (sprained right wrist) is OUT.
- Kevin Porter Jr. (sore right quad) is QUESTIONABLE.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 22-23 against the Rockets in the regular season (15-9 at home, 7-14 on the road) and 7-9 against the Rockets in the playoffs (5-2 at home, 2-7 on the road).
- The Thunder has won the season series with the Rockets 6 times, lost it 4 times, and tied 2 times.
- The Thunder won the regular season series last season against the Rockets 2-1 (1-0 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- The Thunder is 1-1 (1-1 at home, 0-0 on the road) against the Rockets so far this season.