The Oklahoma City Thunder rolled over the Los Angeles Clippers 134-115 on Thursday night in front of a home crowd, and the Thunder will look to handle the other Los Angeles team tonight as they host Lebron James and the Lakers.
Since winning the NBA’s Inaugural In-Season Tournament, the Lakers have struggled losing 5 of their last 6, but the Thunder has won 7 of their last 9, including big wins at home against the Lakers, the Warriors, and the Clippers, and on the road against the Mavericks and the Nuggets.
OKC has experienced so much success because of their ability to play well out of halftime. In the last 9 games, the Thunder has outscored teams by an average of 7.8 points in the third. Unfortunately, they have lost the fourth quarter by 5.0 points in that same time frame. The bigger story out of that is that OKC’s leads have been so far large at times that the Thunder’s end-of-the-bench unit has not been able to maintain the same output. Either way, if the Thunder can play well down the stretch, they should be able to defeat the struggling Lakers and give Thunder fans everywhere a Merry Christmas.
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, Los Angeles Lakers Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Lakers
- PG: D’Angelo Russell
- SG: Cam Reddish
- SF: Taurean Prince
- PF: Lebron James
- C: Anthony Davis
Injury Report
Thunder
- Josh Giddey is OUT (sprained left ankle).
Lakers
- Anthony Davis is QUESTIONABLE (left ankle sprain and bone bruise).
- Rui Hachimura is PROBABLE (left wrist soreness).
- Jalen Hood-Schifino is PROBABLE (lower back spasms).
- Lebron James is QUESTIONABLE (peroneal tendinopathy in left ankle).
- Jarred Vanderbilt is PROBABLE (bursitis in left heel).
- Gabe Vincent is OUT (left knee effusion).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 28-25 against the Lakers (15-11 at home, 13-14 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Lakers 7 times, lost 6 times, and tied it twice.
- The Thunder went 1-2 (0-1 at home, 1-1 on the road) against the Lakers last season.
- The Thunder is 1-0 against the Lakers so far this season (1-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).