The Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs meet for the fifth time so far this season on Wednesday evening—a scheduling quirk due to an extra meeting in the NBA Cup Semifinal—and it comes at a good time for the Thunder. OKC is coming off a couple of solid wins: a dominant victory against the Nuggets in Denver on Sunday and a blowout at home last night against the Orlando Magic. Now, the Thunder is hoping for a second win against the Spurs after losing the first three matchups.
Since the Spurs beat the Thunder on Christmas Day, they have gone just 10-9. Still, they sit in second place in the West, 6 games behind Oklahoma City. OKC has slowly started to see guys come off the injury report, but Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a strained abdominal muscle, so he will miss time through the All-Star Break, and Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell are still out. The lack of ball handlers and scoring options has been an issue for the Thunder in this matchup all season long, so it would be beneficial if OKC focused on defense to create turnovers for fastbreak opportunities.
Chet vs. Wemby is the typical rivalry storyline that the media likes to run with, but the real story between these two teams is the battle of the bench units. The winning team’s bench has outscored the losing team’s bench in all four matchups, and a major key to that has been outside shooting. The Spurs shot well above their season average against the Thunder in their three wins, but OKC held them below their average in the most recent win for the Thunder.
A lot of factors can swing this game toward either team: turnovers, transition points, bench play, and three-point shooting, for example. But when it comes down to it, OKC has not only the best player on the floor in this game, but the best player on the floor on any given night. Unfortunately, he won’t be playing in this one, so the Thunder is going to need a team effort to get the job done on the road tonight.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8:30 PM CT
Location: Frost Bank Center (San Antonio, Texas)
Television: ESPN
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, San Antonio Spurs Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Cason Wallace
- SG: Isaiah Joe
- SF: Aaron Wiggins
- PF: Kenrich Williams
- C: Jaylin Williams
Spurs
- PG: De’Aaron Fox
- SG: Stephon Castle
- SF: Devin Vassell
- PF: Justin Champagnie
- C: Victor Wembanyama
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Caruso (right adductor injury management) is OUT.
- Luguentz Dort (right patellofemoral joint inflammation) is OUT.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (corneal abrasion in right eye) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (lower back spasms) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (strained abdominal) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Nikola Topic (surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Spurs
- Stephon Castle (left adductor tightness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Dylan Harper (right ankle soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- David Jones Garcia (G League — two-way) is OUT.
- Kelly Olynyk (left foot soreness) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Jeremy Sochan (strained left quad) is OUT.
- Lindy Waters III (left knee hyperextension) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 31-33 against the Spurs in the regular season (21-11 at home, 10-21 away, 0-1 at neutral location) and 10-8 against them in the playoffs (7-2 at home, 3-6 away).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City, the Thunder have won the season series with the Spurs 5 times, lost 7 times, and tied 5 times.
- The Thunder went 2-1 against the Spurs last season (1-0 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- OKC is 0-3 against the Spurs so far this season (0-1 at home, 0-1 on the road, and 0-1 at a neutral location).