The Oklahoma City Thunder locked up the 1-seed in the Western Conference with a 128-110 over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night. With the best record in the league, OKC will have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs. The regular season isn’t quite over, though, as they wrap up a 3-game road trip with the regular season road finale in Denver against the Nuggets on Friday night.
OKC vs. Denver has made for a ton of fun matchups over the last couple of seasons, but tonight’s game won’t quite be the typical fireworks. The Thunder is resting the majority of the regular rotation, and the Nuggets have a handful of question marks ahead of tip-off. The difference is that the Thunder doesn’t need a win as their playoff position is locked in, but Denver’s spot is still to be decided based on how these last few days go.
The Nuggets are currently 3rd in the West, a full game ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers and the Minnesota Timberwolves. With two games remaining for all three teams, Denver needs to finish ahead, as the Lakers have the tiebreaker over the Nuggets. After tonight, the Nuggets travel to San Antonio to play the Spurs in the regular season finale on Sunday. The Spurs have also locked up their position—#2 in the West—so they may rest some guys on Sunday as well. If Denver were to lose even one game, the Nuggets could fall as far as 5th in the West.
When it comes down to it, there’s merit to manipulating seeding in the postseason, but if the past has proven anything, it’s that the postseason changes everything. Defenses stiffen, rotations are trimmed, and the whistle is tightened up. You have to play whoever is in front of you. OKC still looks like the best team in the league, and the focus ahead of the playoffs is staying healthy. As for tonight, the end of bench rotation will get plenty of run to wrap up the regular season, and perhaps even some of those guys can contribute something in the postseason.
Game Details
Tip-Off: 8 PM CT
Location: Ball Arena (Denver, Colorado)
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, Denver Nuggets Official Game Notes
Projected Starters
Thunder
- PG: Nikola Topic
- SG: Jared McCain
- SF: Luguentz Dort
- PF: Aaron Wiggins
- C: Kenrich Williams
Nuggets
- PG: Jamal Murray
- SG: Christian Braun
- SF: Cameron Johnson
- PF: Aaron Gordon
- C: Nikola Jokic
Injury Report
Thunder
- Alex Caruso (rest) is OUT.
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (right oblique injury management) is OUT.
- Isaiah Hartenstein (left soleus injury management) is OUT.
- Chet Holmgren (lower back spasms) is OUT.
- Isaiah Joe (knee soreness) is OUT.
- Ajay Mitchell (left ankle injury management) is OUT.
- Thomas Sorber (right ACL surgical recovery) is OUT.
- Cason Wallace (left great toe soreness) is OUT.
- Jalen Williams (right hamstring injury management) is OUT.
- Jaylin Williams (right Achilles tendinitis) is OUT.
Nuggets
- Christian Braun (strained right hip flexor/left ankle injury management) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Aaron Gordon (right hamstring injury management) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Cameron Johnson (right ankle injury management) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Nikola Jokic (right wrist injury management) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Spencer Jones (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
- Jamal Murray (right shoulder impingement) is QUESTIONABLE.
- Peyton Watson (strained right hamstring) is OUT.
Head-to-Head
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder is 33-35 against the Nuggets in the regular season (20-16 at home, 13-19 on the road) and 7-4 in the Playoffs (6-1 at home, 2-3 on the road).
- Since arriving in Oklahoma City in 2008, the Thunder has won the season series with the Nuggets 7 times, lost it 8 times, and tied it twice.
- The Thunder went 2-2 against the Nuggets in the regular season last year (1-1 at home, 1-1 on the road).
- OKC defeated Denver 4-3 in the Western Conference Semifinals last year (3-1 at home, 1-2 on the road).
- OKC is 3-0 against Denver so far this season (2-0 at home, 1-0 on the road).