The Oklahoma City Thunder manhandled the Washington Wizards on Friday night 147-106, and now they take their 4-game win streak into Houston on Sunday evening for the second meeting of the season against the Rockets.
The Thunder has lost 5 straight to the Rockets when playing in Houston, which isn’t too shocking when you consider how similar these two teams have been the last couple of seasons. Fortunately for OKC, they seem several years ahead of the Rockets when comparing rebuilds at this point, and that’s exactly why the Thunder is a 6.5-point favorite tonight.
To pick up a win on the road tonight, Oklahoma City needs to focus on doing what they have been doing lately: play solid, hard-nosed defense and turn that into quality shots for easy buckets. It’s easier said than done, but if the Thunder can maintain this pace through the end of the season, they very well could end up as the top-seed in the West, if not close. Either way, things are looking good in OKC.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6 PM CT
Location: Toyota Center (Houston, 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, Houston Rockets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Rockets
- PG: Fred VanVleet
- SG: Jalen Green
- SF: Dillon Brooks
- PF: Jabari Smith
- C: Alperen Sengun
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng is OUT (G League — on assignment).
- Adam Flageler is OUT (G League — two-way).
- Keyontae Johnson is OUT (G League — two-way).
Rockets
- Steven Adams is OUT (PCL surgery on right knee).
- Tari Eason is OUT (lower left leg injury management).
- Nate Hinton is OUT (G League — two-way).
- Jermaine Samuels Jr. is OUT (G League — two-way).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 26-29 against the Rockets in the regular season (18-10 at home, 8-19 on the road) and 7-9 against the Rockets in the playoffs (5-2 at home, 2-7 on the road).
- The Thunder has won the season series with the Rockets 7 times, lost it 5 times, and tied 3 times.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Rockets last season (2-0 at home, 0-2 on the road).
- The Thunder is 0-1 against the Rockets so far this season (0-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).
- The Thunder has lost 5 straight to the Rockets in Houston.