The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered their first loss of the season on Wednesday in Portland, a 121-119 decision against the Blazers. They have a chance to get back on the winning track on Friday night in Sacramento as they take on the Kings for the second time in 10 days. This will be the third game in a 4-game road trip.
On Wednesday night against the Blazers, OKC was short-handed, they looked tired, and in the end, a lack of discipline cost them the game. No team is without flaws, and even with everything that went against the Thunder, they still had a chance to win the game. Almost winning is still a loss, though, and Sacramento is a good opportunity for a bounce-back win.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander shot a season-low 38.5% from the field, his most inefficient outing of the season, so he should be in for a much better night. Add to it that Chet Holmgren and Alex Caruso are off the injury report, and the Thunder should look a lot better on both ends of the floor than they did against Portland.
Sacramento is coming off a 121-116 win over a short-handed Golden State Warriors squad, and despite their 3-5 record, they have consistently played teams close. If Domantas Sabonis (left ribcage contusion) can’t play, their strategy—particularly on offense—changes quite a bit. So far this season, Sabonis is averaging 14.5 points, 14.2 rebounds, and 4.0 assists. His contributions—especially his rebounds—will be difficult to recoup elsewhere, but even if he does play, OKC is clearly the better team.
This game is one of those opportunities where the reigning champ can remind everybody just how good they are. The simplest way to forget a loss is to turn around and get a win, and as long as OKC plays the game like they can, this one shouldn’t even be close.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 9 PM CT
Location: Golden 1 Center (Sacramento, California)
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, Sacramento Kings Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Chet Holmgren
- C: Isaiah Hartenstein
Kings
- PG: Dennis Schroder
- SG: Keon Ellis
- SF: Zach Lavine
- PF: DeMar DeRozan
- C: Domantas Sabonis
Injury Report
Thunder
- Luguentz Dort (strained right upper trap) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Aaron Wiggins (strained left adductor) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (right wrist surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Kenrich Williams (left knee surgical recovery) is OUT.
Kings
- Dylan Cardwell (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Keegan Murray (left thumb UCL injury recovery) is OUT.
- Daeqwon Plowden (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Domantas Sabonis (left ribcage contusion) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Isaiah Stevens (G League — two-way) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 38-23 against the Kings (22-7 at home, 16-16 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the regular season series against the Kings 10 times, lost it 3 times, and tied it 2 times.
- The Thunder went 3-0 against the Kings last season (1-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- OKC is 1-0 against Sacramento so far this season (1-0 at home, 0-0 on the road).