Tip-Off: 8 PM CT
Location: Ball Arena (Denver, Colorado)
Television: Bally 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 is fresh off a 118-102 win against the Orlando Magic that a lot of Thunder fans view as a horrible mistake. At this point, OKC has been eliminated from the Playoffs, an expectation from day one, and so the goal should be finishing as low in the standings as possible in order to have a better chance at a top pick. That goal becomes much easier to attain when you play a clearly better team like the Thunder does tonight as they take on the Denver Nuggets on the road.
The Nuggets are a solid team, sitting at 6th in the Western Conference with a 43-31 record. This is particularly impressive considering they have missed Jamal Murray, their star point guard, all season long. Murray is due to return around the start of the playoffs, but in his absence, reigning MVP Nikola Jokic has continued doing what he does, which is a little bit of everything.
The Thunder has a tough matchup ahead of them tonight, which is really exactly what they want, but don’t expect a blowout. When these two teams met just a few weeks ago in Denver, OKC was able to come away with the win, so this should make for a good game.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Tre Mann
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Darius Bazley
- C: Isaiah Roby
Nuggets
- PG: Monte Morris
- SG: Will Barton
- SF: Aaron Gordon
- PF: Jeff Green
- C: Nikola Jokic
Thunder
- Luguentz Dort is OUT (left shoulder surgery).
- Derrick Favors is OUT (lower back soreness).
- Josh Giddey is OUT (right hip soreness).
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is QUESTIONABLE (right ankle soreness).
- Ty Jerome is OUT (sports hernia surgery).
- Mike Muscala is OUT (right ankle soreness).
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is OUT (third metatarsal fracture in right foot).
- Kenrich Williams is OUT (sprained left knee).
Nuggets
- Vlatko Cancar is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Jamal Murray is OUT (left knee injury recovery).
- Zeke Nnaji is QUESTIONABLE (bilateral knee soreness).
- Michael Porter Jr. is OUT (lumbar spine surgery).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 24-28 against the Nuggets (16-12 at home, 8-16 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series with the Nuggets 6 times and lost it 7 times.
- The Thunder went 0-3 (0-1 at home, 0-2 on the road) against the Nuggets last season.
- The Thunder is 2-1 against the Nuggets so far this season (1-1 at home, 1-0 on the road).