The Oklahoma City Thunder’s perfect start to the season was in danger on Friday night as Jalen Williams hit a buzzer beater right before halftime against the Portland Trail Blazers to tie the game up at 68-68. The Blazers caught fire in the second quarter, and a 17-point Thunder lead dwindled into nothing. Despite Portland’s best efforts in the third quarter, OKC slowly pulled away before eventually stepping hard on the gas to come up with a 137-114 victory.
OKC now turns their focus to the LA Clippers where they will play their second road game in as many nights. The Clippers are still without Kawhi Leonard, and while they have competed admirably with James Harden running the show, they’re just 2-3 so far. Oklahoma City is a much deeper squad, and regardless of it being the second game of a back-to-back, the Thunder should be able to maintain enough energy to move to 6-0 for just the second time in franchise history.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 9:30 PM CT
Location: Intuit Dome (Inglewood, California)
Television: FanDuel TV – 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, LA Clippers Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Clippers
- PG: James Harden
- SG: Norman Powell
- SF: Terance Mann
- PF: Derrick Jones Jr.
- C: Ivica Zubac
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Ducas (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Adam Flagler (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (fractured left hand) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left ACL surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
- Kenrich Williams (assigned to G League) is OUT.
Clippers
- Mo Bamba (left knee injury recover) is OUT.
- Cam Christie (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
- Trentyn Flowers (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Kawhi Leonard (right knee injury recovery) is OUT.
- P.J. Tucker (not with team) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 30-27 against the Clippers (20-8 at home, 10-19 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Clippers 6 times, tied 4 times, and lost 6 times.
- The Thunder went 2-1 against the Clippers last season (2-0 at home, 0-1 on the road).