The Oklahoma City Thunder turned a sluggish offensive start into a defensive masterpiece on Saturday night against the Chicago Bulls. Despite shooting well below last season’s averages for the second game in a row, OKC locked in on the defensive end to defeat the Bulls in Chicago 114-95.
Finally, the Thunder now gets to open up the season for fans at home as they play host to the Trae Young and the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks are off to a great 2-0 start, but their victories have come a little differently. First off, their opponents have been pretty weak in terms of where they left off last season. A 120-116 victory over the Brooklyn Nets and a 125-120 win over the Charlotte Hornets—both at home—aren’t all that impressive. However, the Hawks have shot the ball extremely well, and while their defense is nowhere near what OKC is doing, their offense is formidable, so it should make for a fun matchup tonight.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 7 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: FanDuel Sports Network – 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, Atlanta Hawks Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Hawks
- PG: Trae Young
- SG: Coby White
- SF: Zach Lavine
- PF: Patrick Williams
- C: Nikola Vucevic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Isaiah Hartenstein (fractured left hand) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left ACL surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
- Kenrich Williams (right knee surgery recovery) is OUT.
Hawks
- Dominick Barlow (not with team) is OUT.
- Bogdan Bogdanovic (right hamstring tendinopathy) is OUT.
- Kobe Bufkin (right shoulder subluxation) is OUT.
- Seth Lundy (sprained left ankle) is OUT.
- Cody Zeller (not with team) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 17-13 against the Hawks (10-5 at home, 7-8 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Hawks 5 times, lost it 3 times, and tied 8 times.
- The Thunder went 1-1 against the Hawks last season (1-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).