The Oklahoma City Thunder got back on the winning track on Thursday night as they handily defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 133-110 at home. The Thunder is one of the hottest teams in the league lately, winning 7 of their last 9 with the 2 losses being close ones to teams atop the standings.
Tonight the Thunder travels to Dallas to take on the Mavericks, another solid team in the Western Conference. Luka Doncic did not play last night due to the birth of his daughter, and it stands to believe that he will miss tonight’s game as well. Either way, the Thunder match up well with the Mavericks.
**UPDATE** Luka Doncic is available and will play this evening.
OKC has a top-5 scoring offense in the NBA, and Dallas is right behind at 6th, but the Thunder plays pretty solid defense, while the Mavericks…not so much. One of the Thunder’s key strengths is depth off the bench, and while Dallas has a few solid options in their second unit, they just don’t have the variety of players that OKC does.
Winning this game will likely come down to defensive stops. Both teams can score, and the Thunder probably doesn’t want to turn this one into a shoot out, although there will be plenty of points scored. If OKC can lock in on defense and for Dallas into tough shots, they should be able to come away with the win.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8 PM CT
Location: American Airlines Center (Dallas, Texas)
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, Dallas Mavericks Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Mavericks
- PG: Luka Doncic
- SG: Kyrie Irving
- SF: Josh Green
- PF: Grant Williams
- C: Dereck Lively II
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng is OUT (G League — on assignment).
- Keyontae Johnson is OUT (G League — two-way).
Mavericks
- Dante Exum is OUT (personal reasons).
- Josh Green is QUESTIONABLED (sprained right elbow).
- Tim Hardaway Jr. is QUESTIONABLE (back spasms).
- Kyrie Irving is QUESTIONABLE (right foot soreness).
- Maxi Klieber is OUT (dislocated right small toe).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 27-25 against the Mavericks in the regular season (15-11 at home, 12-14 on the road) and 9-5 in the playoffs (4-3 at home, 5-2 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Mavericks 5 times, lost 7 times, and tied 3 times.
- The Thunder went 2-1 against the Mavericks last season (1-0 at home, 1-1 on the road).