For just the fourth time in the last two seasons, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost a second consecutive game on Monday in an embarrassing blowout at home to the Charlotte Hornets. OKC hasn’t lost three games in a row since April of 2024, and I don’t see it happening on Wednesday night as the Thunder hosts the Utah Jazz.
Oklahoma City has been in a funk since the NBA Cup Semifinal game, when they lost their first of three meetings in 12 days with the San Antonio Spurs. Going into that game, the Thunder had a 24-1 record. Since then, they have gone 6-6. Sure, they’ve been dealing with injuries, but that’s been the case all season. The schedule hasn’t exactly favored them either, as Monday was the 6th game in 9 days. Still, the reigning NBA champ shouldn’t be getting blown out at home to the Charlotte Hornets, even on a random Monday night in January.
Wednesday night offers an opportunity for a reset of sorts with the Utah Jazz in town. Utah is just 12-23 on the season, and they have been particularly bad away from home, losing their last three road games by an average of 15 points. Tonight’s focus for the Thunder shouldn’t be about winning alone but dominating from start to finish. One thing the Jazz do well is move and share the ball, so OKC’s defense cannot take this team lightly, but Utah’s defense is pretty horrendous. If the Thunder can lock down the Jazz and force some turnovers, expect to see some transition points for OKC.
Losing brings out all the ugly commentary, including trade talk, people need to be fired, etc. Winning, however, seems to solve a lot of problems. OKC needs to get back on the winning track tonight, but doing it in a dominant fashion would go a long way toward flipping the narrative back to the Thunder’s chances at repeating as champions.
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, Utah Jazz Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Jalen Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Jazz
- PG: Keyonte George
- SG: Brice Sensabaugh
- SF: Ace Bailey
- PF: Lauri Markkanen
- C: Jusuf Nurkic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Caruso (lower back soreness) is OUT.
- Ousmane Dieng (strained right calf) is OUT.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right knee bursitis) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (strained left soleus) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (right heel bursitis) is OUT.
Jazz
- Ace Bailey (strained left hip flexor) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Elijah Harkless (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Walker Kessler (left shoulder injury recovery) is OUT.
- Kevin Love (rest) is OUT.
- Georges Niang (fourth metatarsal stress reaction in left foot) is OUT.
- John Tonje (G League — two-way) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 44-21 (26-6 at home, 18-15 on the road) against the Jazz in the regular season and 2-4 (2-1 at home, 0-3 on the road) in the playoffs.
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series against the Jazz 13 times, lost it 3 times, and tied once.
- The Thunder went 4-0 against the Jazz last season (2-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- OKC is 2-0 against Utah so far this season (0-0 at home, 2-0 on the road).
- OKC has won 12 of the last 13 meetings with Utah, including the last 6 at the Paycom Center.