The Oklahoma City Thunder is forever etched in history as the team that Lebron James was playing whenever he passed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in career points scored, but it was OKC who came out as the real winner in a 133-130 win on Tuesday night. The win served as an important one particularly because the Thunder is 26-28 on the season, a full two games ahead of the Lakers in the Western Conference standings, and just a half a game away from 10th place, which is where they need to get for a spot in the play-in.
The Thunder continues their West Coast road trip on Friday night as they travel to Portland to take on Damian Lillard and the Trail Blazers. OKC defeated the Blazers twice in OKC earlier this season, but both teams look slightly different after Thursday’s whirlwind of a trade deadline. The primary core for each squad has remained intact, though, so this should be a good matchup. Luguentz Dort has been upgraded to questionable for OKC, and if he is able to play, that would be a huge relief, as he has done a really good job at slowing down Damian Lillard over the last few years.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 9 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
Game Notes: Oklahoma City Thunder Official Game Notes, Portland Trail Blazers Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylen Williams
Blazers
- PG: Damian Lillard
- SG: Anfernee Simons
- SF: Nassir Little
- PF: Jerami Grant
- C: Drew Eubanks
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng is OUT (non-displaced fractured right wrist).
- Luguentz Dort is QUESTIONABLE (G League — on assignment).
- Chet Holmgren is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Aleksej Pokusevski is OUT (left tibial plateau; non-displaced fracture).
- Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is OUT (G League — on assignment).
Blazers
- Ibou Badji is OUT (left knee soreness)
- Greg Brown III is OUT (not with team).
- Keon Johnson is QUESTIONABLE (sprained right ankle).
- Jusuf Nurkic is OUT (strained left calf).
- Justise Winslow is OUT (sprained left ankle).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 31-26 (18-11 at home, 13-15 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 4-0 (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road) against the Blazers last season.
- The Thunder is 2-0 (2-0 at home, 0-0 on the road) against the Blazers so far this season.