The Oklahoma City Thunder trailed by 12 in the first half of Friday night’s matchup with the Miami Heat, but that wasn’t enough to keep Shai Gilgeous-Alexander from popping off in the fourth quarter to lead OKC to an 8th straight home victory. The 107-100 win also put OKC back on top of the West where they lead the Minnesota Timberwolves by a half a game. Tonight, the Thunder will look to extend their lead as they host the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Memphis Grizzlies have suffered from the injury bug as bad as any team this season, and it shows in their record. At 22-42, Memphis should be eliminated from playoff contention soon, and it’s through no real fault of their own. Even with Ja Morant’s suspension to start the season, the Grizzlies were still playing some type of decent basketball, but at this point, nearly the entire roster is on the injury report.
Oklahoma City needs to do nothing more than play a clean, solid game to get a win against Memphis tonight. Slipping up against the Grizzlies is the type of the thing that young and immature teams do. If the Thunder wants to show everyone just how far they have come, tonight is a great opportunity to put a lesser team away early and get everybody plenty of play time. If they can lock in on defense and choose great shots over good ones, then they should be able to win big.
Tip-Off: 6 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, Memphis Grizzlies Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Josh Giddey
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Grizzlies
- PG: Jacob Gilyard
- SG: Demond Bane
- SF: Vince Williams
- PF: Jaren Jackson Jr.
- C: Xavier Tillman
Injury Report
Thunder
- NONE
Grizzlies
- Desmond Bane is OUT (sprained left ankle).
- Brandon Clarke is OUT (left achilesse tendon repair).
- Jordan Godwin is DOUBTFUL (left achilles soreness).
- GG Jackson is QUESTIONABLE (left knee soreness).
- Luke Kennard is QUESTIONABLE (left knee soreness).
- John Konchar is DOUBTFUL (right ankle soreness).
- Ja Morant is OUT (labral repair in right shoulder).
- Scotty Pippen Jr. is OUT (lumbar disc bulge).
- Derrick Rose is OUT (right groin/lower back injury recovery).
- Marcus Smart is OUT (central slip tear in right ring finger).
- Yuta Watanabe is OUT (sprained right wrist).
- Vince Williams Jr. is QUESTIONABLE (left patellar tendon soreness).
- Ziaire Williams is OUT (right lower back and hip flexor strain).
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder are 31-23 against the Grizzlies (20-9 at home, 11-14 on the road) in the regular season and 9-10 in the playoffs (6-5 at home, 3-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Grizzlies 8 times, lost it 6 times, and tied it once.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Grizzlies last season (2-0 at home, 0-2 on the road).
- The Thunder are 1-0 against the Grizzlies so far this season (1-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).
- The Thunder have won 3 straight at home against the Grizzlies.