It’s a winter wonderland in Oklahoma City, but the weather won’t stop the Thunder from hosting the Toronto Raptors for a Sunday evening matchup between inter-conference foes. The Thunder is coming off a rough 117-114 loss at home to the Indiana Pacers on Friday night, whereas the Raptors are riding a 3-game road win streak.
OKC continues to deal with injuries, but the show must go on. On Friday, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren had impressive outings, but they didn’t get much help otherwise. The defense couldn’t get stops, nobody else could really get much offense going, and the Pacers were lights out from downtown. Tonight’s matchup is a new opportunity to show resilience and move forward, though.
The Raptors entered the season picked to just barely sneak into a play-in position for the postseason. Right now, though, they are locked in at 4th place in the East, only 1 game behind the 2nd-place Boston Celtics. Brandon Ingram leads the team with 21.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, but Scottie Barnes is probably more important to Toronto’s gameplan with 19.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game.
Tonight’s focus for the Thunder will once again need to be on the defensive side of the ball. The Raptors don’t rely on one guy to execute the game plan, so playing team defense through and through will be necessary to keep any one particular guy from getting it going on. On the offensive side of the ball, the Thunder needs to look for every transition opportunity possible, yet be patient when in the halfcourt, slowing down in order to get a good shot.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 6 PM CT
Location: Paycom Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
Television: FanDuelTV – 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, Toronto Raptors Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
- SG: Luguentz Dort
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Jaylin Williams
- C: Chet Holmgren
Raptors
- PG: Immanuel Quickley
- SG: Brandon Ingram
- SF: RJ Barrett
- PF: Scottie Barnes
- C: Sandro Mamukelashvili
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Caruso (strained right adductor) is OUT
- Isaiah Hartenstein (strained right soleus) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Aaron Wiggins (right hip impingement) is AVAILABLE.
- Jalen Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Raptors
- Chucky Hepburn (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Collin Murray-Boyles (left thumb contusion) is OUT.
- Jakob Poeltl (strained lower back) is OUT.
- Immanuel Quickley (right ankle soreness) is AVAILABLE.
- Ja’Kobe Walter (right hip pointer) is AVAILABLE.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 21-12 against the Raptors in the regular season (10-7 at home, 11-5 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the regular-season series with the Raptors 6 times, lost it once, and tied it 10 times.
- The Thunder went 2-0 against the Raptors last season (1-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).
- OKC has won the last 4 consecutive meetings with Toronto.