The Oklahoma City Thunder has lost 5 straight games, and for all intents and purposes, it appears they may be ready to tank. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set to miss his fourth straight game, and it was announced on Thursday that Kenrich Williams will miss the rest of the season with a wrist injury. Still, it’s not too late for the Thunder to climb back into the playoff contention as they are just 2.5 games back of a play-in spot and 4 games back of 6th place.
Friday night seems to be a pivotal game for the Thunder as they host the Utah Jazz, who are are holding on to a play-in spot currently at 9th place in the Western Conference standings. This game matters in overall standings as well as a potential division tiebreaker scenario.
OKC is without its best player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but the Jazz are missing their two best guards in Collin Sexton and Jordan Clarkson, so you could argue the playing field is leveled there a bit. The Thunder should really be concerned with Utah’s Lauri Markannen, though, as he carried the Jazz to a win over the Thunder just a little over a week ago. Stopping him will be key to OKC’s chances at a win.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
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, Utah Jazz Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Jazz
- PG: Talen Horton-Tucker
- SG: Ochai Agbaji
- SF: Lauri Markkanen
- PF: Kelly Olynyk
- C: Walker Kessler
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng is OUT (G League — on assignment).
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is OUT (abdominal strain/health and safety protocols).
- Chet Holmgren is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Aleksej Pokusevski is OUT (left tibial plateau; non-displaced fracture).
- Lindy Waters III is OUT (G League — on assignment).
Jazz
- Jordan Clarkson is OUT (sprained right thumb).
- Micah Potter is OUT (G League — two-way).
- Collin Sexton is OUT (strained left hamstring).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 33-20 (20-6 at home, 13-14 on the road) against the Jazz in the regular season and 2-4 (2-1 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 Jazz 10 times, lost it twice, and tied once.
- The Thunder went 0-4 against the Jazz last season (0-2 at home, 0-2 on the road).
- The Thunder is 0-1 against the Jazz so far this season (0-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).
- The Thunder has lost 8 in a row to the Jazz, including 3 in a row in Oklahoma City.