The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered their second loss in three games on Friday when they fell apart agains the Minnesota Timberwolves late, losing 112-107. The shots weren’t falling, and the defense wasn’t up to snuff, but OKC gets a chance to right the ship on Monday night as they host the Memphis Grizzlies.
Both OKC and Memphis have extensive injury reports, but OKC’s is likely at least partially due to managing the busy week ahead. The Thunder takes on the Spurs in San Antonio on Tuesday night before hosting the Spurs on Thursday as part of the NBA’s Christmas Day slate.
Tonight’s game should focus on slowing down Jaren Jackson, especially with Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Jaylin Williams all out. OKC will lack size, but they can make up for it in speed with a feisty backcourt full of defenders and plenty of depth to spare.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Thunder has not shot well lately, falling below 42% from the field and below 29% from three in their two recent losses. OKC has been able to overcome poor three-point shooting at times, but in the three games in which the Thunder has failed to shoot at least 43% from the floor, they’ve lost. Correcting the easy misses at the rim will shore that up a bit, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso are all shooting 30% or worse from downtown over the last three games.
Shooting slumps come and go, and with the tough schedule ahead—the most difficult remaining schedule in the league—it would go a long way for the Thunder to start knocking down shots, especially when they’re wide-open looks. Still, the defense is the engine that runs this team, and as long as they continue to force teams into turning the ball over and taking tough shots, they’ve got a chance. Memphis doesn’t turn the ball over a ton, but with their shorter roster, perhaps OKC’s physical defense can cause some problems.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: Peacock, 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, Memphis Grizzlies Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Cason Wallace
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Kenrich Williams
Grizzlies
- PG: Cam Spencer
- SG: Cedric Coward
- SF: Jaylen Wells
- PF: Santi Aldama
- C: Jaren Jackson
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Caruso (sprained right middle finger) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Ousmane Dieng (strained right calf) is OUT.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (right soleus soreness) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (illness) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Aaron Wiggins (right adductor soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Jaylin Williams (right heel bursitis) is OUT.
Grizzlies
- Brandon Clarke (strained right calf) is OUT.
- Zach Edey (left ankle stress reaction) is OUT.
- Ty Jerome (strained right calf) is OUT.
- John Konchar (left thumb UCL surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Ja Morant (sprained left ankle) is OUT.
- Scotty Pippen Jr. (left great toe surgery recovery) is OUT.
- Javon Small (left toe turf toe) is OUT.
- Vince Williams Jr. (left knee soreness) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 37-23 against the Grizzlies (21-9 at home, 14-14 on the road) in the regular season and 13-10 in the playoffs (8-5 at home, 5-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the regular season series against the Grizzlies 10 times, lost it 6 times, and tied it once.
- The Thunder went 4-0 against the Grizzlies in the 2024-25 regular season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road) before sweeping them in the first round of the Western Conference Playoffs (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- The Thunder has won 14 straight games (regular season and playoffs) against the Grizzlies, including 8 in a row at the Paycom Center.