The Oklahoma City Thunder had one of their more dramatic finishes on Tuesday night as they hosted the Charlotte Hornets. OKC led by 13 in the third quarter before trailing by 13 with 6 minutes left in the game. The Thunder rallied a comeback to tie it all up with just under a couple minutes left, but they were unable to come out on top, falling to the Hornets 137-134. Despite Charlotte missing several key starters and having no real incentive to win the game, OKC was unable to pull out a win, thus hindering their hopes of making the playoffs.
Now OKC is set to host the Detroit Pistons. The Pistons are dead last in the Eastern Conference Standings and have the worst record in the NBA at 16-59. As a result, the Thunder is nearly a double-digit favorite for the third consecutive game, but if the last two games are any indicator of how OKC might play tonight, then it’s going to be a stressful matchup.
On Sunday, the Thunder barely edged the Blazers in Portland before following up that poor performance with a lackluster loss last night at home against Charlotte. For the second night in a row, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will sit due to a sprained ankle, but last night’s issues went much deeper than the scoring capabilities that SGA brings to the table. OKC’s defense was consistently out of place, the offense was out of sync at times, and ultimately, Mark Daigneault’s rotations were not ones that looked like winning was the goal.
Still, today is a new day, and tonight’s game is a new opportunity for the Thunder to improve their playoff chances. At 10th in the Western Conference, OKC is currently in a play-in position, but that is only because they are ahead of the Dallas Mavericks due to a tiebreaker. With just 6 games remaining, every single one is going to shift teams in the standings, so the Thunder needs to do what they couldn’t do last night, and that means taking care of business against a clearly lesser talented team.
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, Detroit Pistons Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Josh Giddey
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Pistons
- PG: Killian Hayes
- SG: Jaden Ivey
- SF: Isaiah Livers
- PF: Marvin Bagley III
- C: James Wiseman
Injury Report
Thunder
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is OUT (sprained left ankle).
- Chet Holmgren is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Lindy Waters III is OUT (plantar fasciitis in left foot).
- Kenrich Williams is OUT (scapholunate ligament surgery in left wrist).
Pistons
- Bojan Bogdanovic is OUT (left achilles tendinopathy).
- Alec Burks is OUT (left foot soreness).
- Cade Cunningham is OUT (left tibia stress fracture).
- Hamidou Diallo (sprained right ankle).
- Rodney McGruder is OUT (sprained right foot).
- Isaiah Stewart is OUT (left shoulder impingement).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 19-9 against the Pistons (10-3 at home, 9-6 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Pistons 7 times, lost it 1 time, and tied it 6 times.
- The Thunder went 1-1 against the Pistons last season (0-1 at home, 1-0 on the road).
- The Thunder is 0-1 against the Pistons so far this season (0-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).