The Oklahoma City Thunder kicks of the NBA Cup Quarterfinals at home on Tuesday night as they host the Dallas Mavericks. The Thunder enters the matchup having won 5 of their last 6, but the Mavs are the hottest team in the NBA right now with 7 straight wins. Dallas got the best of OKC in the first meeting less than a month ago, but that game was missing several key faces, including Isaiah Hartenstein for the Thunder and Luka Doncic for the Mavericks. Both will be in the starting lineups tonight.
Whoever wins will move on to the Semifinals of the NBA Cup, which will be played in Las Vegas on Saturday. While the NBA Cup is little more than an opportunity at a financial bonus and bragging rights, it does appear as if teams are playing harder to win the in-season tournament than they did last year. For example, the 4 teams representing the West in the Cup are all in the top 5 in the Western Conference standings.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: TNT
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, Dallas Mavericks Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Mavericks
- PG: Luka Doncic
- SG: Kyrie Irving
- SF: Klay Thompson
- PF: P.J. Washington
- C: Dereck Lively
Injury Report
Thunder
- Ousmane Dieng (small fracture in right ring finger) is OUT.
- Adam Flagler (fractured right fourth metacarpal) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (fractured right iliac wing) is OUT.
- Dillon Jones (G League — on assignment) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (left ACL surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Mavericks
- Dante Exum (right wrist surgery) is OUT.
- Jaden Hardy (sprained right ankle) is OUT.
- Maxi Klieber (illness) is OUT.
- Naji Marshall (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- P.J. Washington (illness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Brandon Williams (G League — two-way) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 30-27 against the Mavericks in the regular season (17-12 at home, 13-15 on the road) and 11-9 in the playoffs (5-5 at home, 6-4 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder have won the season series against the Mavericks 6 times, lost 7 times, and tied 3 times.
- The Thunder went 3-1 against the Mavericks last season (2-0 at home, 1-1 on the road) in the regular season before losing to Dallas 4-2 in the Western Conference Semifinals (1-2 at home, 1-2 on the road).
- The Thunder is 0-1 against the Mavericks so far this season (0-1 at home, 0-0 on the road).