The Oklahoma City Thunder will likely play their third consecutive game without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Friday night as they travel to Indiana to take on the Pacers. SGA sprained his ankle last Sunday in Portland against the Blazers, and he is listed as questionable on the latest injury report.
OKC has struggled without SGA, dropping a tough loss to the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday before Jalen Williams was able to put back a missed shot by Josh Giddey with less than a second left on the clock to give the Thunder a 107-106 victory over the Pistons on Wednesday.
Tonight’s game should be another close one as the Pacers have not quite been eliminated from playoff contention. At 33-44, Indiana is 12th in the East, and they technically still have a shot at making the play-in game, but that would require them to basically win out the rest of the way and some teams ahead of them to lose out.
Considering the Pacers have lost 4 in a row and 6 of their last 7, it is unlikely that they will put it together, especially when dealing with key injuries like they are. Indiana will be without Tyrese Haliburton, Chris Duarte, and possibly Myles Turner, who all are heavy contributors to the Pacers. Still, OKC cannot mess around in this one. They need to pick up a win on the road and finish out the season strong enough to make the play-in tournament in the West.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6 PM CT
Location: Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Indianapolis, Indiana)
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, Indiana Pacers Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Pacers
- PG: Andrew Nembhard
- SG: Bennedict Mathurin
- SF: Buddy Hield
- PF: Aaron Nesmith
- C: Myles Turner
Injury Report
Thunder
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is AVAILABLE (sprained left ankle).
- Chet Holmgren is OUT (right foot surgery).
- Lindy Waters III is AVAILABLE (plantar fasciitis in left foot).
- Kenrich Williams is OUT (scapholunate ligament surgery in left wrist).
Pacers
- Kendall Brown is OUT (stress reaction in right tibia).
- Chris Duarte is OUT (left ankle soreness).
- Tyrese Haliburton is OUT (sprained right ankle, sore left elbow).
- Myles Turner is QUESTIONABLE (left ankle soreness).
- Gabe York is QUESTIONABLE (G League — two-way).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 13-14 against the Pacers (8-4 at home, 5-10 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Pacers 3 times, lost it 4 times, and tied 6 times.
- The Thunder tied the season series 1-1 (0-1 at home, 1-0 on the road) last season.
- The Thunder is 1-0 against the Pacers so far this season (1-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).