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 hasn’t played since a 116-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, but since then, the roster has changed a bit. The Thunder wasn’t near as active at the trade deadline as I expected, but after sending George Hill to Philadelphia, OKC acquired Tony Bradley and Austin Rivers from the Knicks, who were also involved in the trade.
Tonight, the Thunder hosts the Boston Celtics, who have added Evan Fournier, Mo Wagner, and Luke Kornet and have seen the departures of Daniel Theis, Jeff Teague, and Javonte Green. The Celtics are severely underperforming this season, but they are still in a decent position in the playoff standings. Just 2 days after dropping a 2-point decision to the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday, the Celtics were able to defeat the Bucks 122-114 last night, so maybe a big win like that is something that will turn them around.
Meanwhile, the Thunder is going to struggle more now than all season as they are going to be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for quite some time. This will be a good time for Théo Maledon and some of the other young guys to get plenty of run and continue to develop. With that in mind, don’t expect too many wins to finish out the season, and I wouldn’t bank on one tonight.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Théo Maledon
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Aleksej Pokusevski
- PF: Isaiah Roby
- C: Moses Brown
Celtics
- PG: Payton Pritchard
- SG: Marcus Smart
- SF: Jaylen Brown
- PF: Jayson Tatum
- C: Robert Williams III
Injuries
Thunder
- Darius Bazley is OUT (left shoulder contusion).
- Tony Bradley is OUT (not with team).
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is OUT (plantar fascitis in right foot).
- Austin Rivers is OUT (not with team).
Celtics
- Evan Fournier is OUT (health & safety protocols).
- Romeo Langford is OUT (health & safety protocols).
- Semi Ojeleye is OUT (strained left side).
- Tristan Thompson is OUT (health & safety protocols).
- Kemba Walker is OUT (left knee injury management).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 13-11 against the Celtics (5-7 at home, 8-4 on the road).
- The Thunder has won the season series with the Celtics 4 times, lost it 3 times, and tied 5 times.
- The Thunder went 1-1 against the Celtics last season (0-1 at home, 1-0 on the road).
- The Thunder has lost 3 consecutive matchups with the Celtics at Chesapeake Energy Arena.