The Oklahoma City Thunder wraps up a 4-game West Coast road trip on Sunday evening as they take on the depleted Portland Trail Blazers. OKC is 1-2 so far on the road trip, defeating the Los Angeles Clippers in a tight one last Tuesday before getting blown out by them on Thursday followed by another tight loss in LA against the Lakers.
The Thunder currently sits at 10th in the Western Conference standings, and Portland is 3.5 games back from there. The Blazers have a very slim chance at making the play-in game, especially considering they are missing almost their entire typical starting lineup, including Damian Lillard. OKC really needs to win this game if they want to keep their playoff hopes alive, but there is honestly no excuse for a loss.
The Blazers have won just 4 of their last 16 games, and none of those wins came against a playoff team. The Thunder needs to take care of business tonight and then head back to the 405 with a chance to win a few easy ones in front of the home crowd.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6 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: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Blazers
- PG: Ryan Arcidiacono
- SG: Shaedon Sharpe
- SF: Matisse Thybulle
- PF: Trendon Watford
- C: Drew Eubanks
Injury Report
Thunder
- Chet Holmgren is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Kenrich Williams is OUT (scapholunate ligament surgery in left wrist).
Blazers
- Ibou Badji is OUT (left knee surgery)
- Jeremi Grant is OUT (left quad contusion).
- Damian Lillard is OUT (right calf tightness)
- Jusuf Nurkic is OUT (right knee soreness).
- Anferneee Simons is OUT (right foot soreness).
- Justise Winslow is OUT (sprained left ankle).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 32-26 (18-11 at home, 14-15 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 3-0 (2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road) against the Blazers so far this season.