Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Moda Center (Portland, Oregon)
Television: Bally Sports Oklahoma
Radio: WWLS 98.1FM OKC The Sports Animal
Twitter: Follow @ZacharyLowNBA for live-tweets and discussion during the game
The NBA regular season is winding down, and with just two weeks and just eight games remaining for the Oklahoma City Thunder, the tank race continues tonight as the Thunder takes on the Trail Blazers in Portland.
The Blazers have had a pretty terrible season based on recent history, and the blame primarily falls on injuries. With Damian Lillard missing a chunk of the season, Portland has essentially been directionless under first year head coach Chauncey Billups, and who can blame them? Still, they have had moments where they were actually trying to win games, and I believe that was likely because they were hoping to at least make the playoffs and have Lillard return at some point. Now, however, that is not the case.
Lillard has been ruled out for the rest of the season, likely because Portland has a very small chance of even making the play-in game, and based on tonight’s injury report, they don’t appear to be trying to win anything. With 10 players listed as out for the Blazers, their limited roster has made it difficult to compete against even the worst teams in the league.
Meanwhile, the Thunder has conceivably made extra efforts to keep losing games by sitting guys out that could likely play. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander continues to be listed as questionable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he didn’t play another game all season long. Still, the young guns have stayed competitive, and tonight’s matchup could be an interesting one in terms of who even wants to win or perhaps who wants to lose more.
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Theo Maledon
- SG: Tre Mann
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Aleksej Pokusevski
- C: Isaiah Roby
Trail Blazers
Blazers
- PG: Brandon Williams
- SG: Keon Johnson
- SF: CJ Eleby
- PF: Greg Brown
- C: Drew Eubanks
Thunder
- Darius Bazley is DOUBTFUL (sprained right knee).
- 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).
- Kenrich Williams is OUT (sprained left knee).
Trail Blazers
Blazers
- Eric Bledsoe is OUT (left achilles tendinopathy).
- Greg Brown III is QUESTIONABLE (corneal abrasion in left eye).
- Josh Hart is OUT (patellar tendinopathy in left knee).
- Joe Ingles is OUT (left knee injury recovery).
- Damian Lillard is OUT (core muscle recovery).
- Nassir Little is OUT (left shoulder recovery).
- Didi Louzada is OUT (left knee injury recovery).
- Jusuf Nurkic is OUT (plantar fascitis in left foot).
- Anfernee Simons is OUT (patellar tendinopathy in left knee).
- Trendon Watford is OUT (left knee bone contusion).
- Justise Winslow is OUT (left calf inflammation).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 27-26 (15-11 at home, 12-15 on the road) against the Trail Blazers in the regular season and 1-4 (1-1 at home, 0-3 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 6 times, and tied 3 times.
- The Thunder went 1-2 (0-1 at home, 1-1 on the road) against the Blazers last season.
- The Thunder is 2-0 (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road) against the Blazers this season.