A pair of teams in the Northwest Division take the floor trying to keep their playoff hopes alive take the floor in the Beehive State. The Oklahoma City Thunder are on the road as they make the trip to take on the Utah Jazz Thursday night. Oklahoma City was beaten 136-125 on the road by Golden State in their previous contest Tuesday night, failing to cover the line as a 7.5-point underdog. Utah was edged 135-133 in overtime by the Lakers at home in their previous game Tuesday night, though they did cover the line as an 11-point underdog. In the all-time regular season series between the teams, the Thunder owns a 114-87 advantage and have taken two of the three meetings this season. That includes a 129-119 home win in the most recent matchup on March 5.
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Oklahoma City suffered their third straight loss and their sixth defeat in the last eight games as they were beaten on the road by Golden State in their previous contest Tuesday night. The Thunder fell to 38-42 with the loss and stood third in the Northwest Division, 14.5 games behind the Nuggets for the top spot. They stood 10th in the Western Conference, half a game ahead of 11th-place Dallas to remain in the playoff picture. Against Golden State, Oklahoma City couldn’t get the stops on the defensive end of the floor and that proved to be their undoing. The Thunder led by three after the opening quarter and by 10 at the half before things fell apart. Oklahoma City saw the lead trimmed to four after three quarters before getting outscored 34-19 in the final stanza to take the loss. The Thunder shot 47.3% from the field, including 11 of 32 from beyond the arc, and lost the rebounding battle 54-38. Shai Gilgeous- Alexander led the Thunder with 32 points, five rebounds and seven assists in the loss.
This season, the Thunder are 5th in the league in scoring offense as they average 117.5 points per game on the year. Oklahoma City is 14th in rebounding with 43.5 boards per contest while they are 21st in assists with 24.3 dimes a night. The Thunder are 21st in the league in scoring defense as they allow an average of 116.8 points a night. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the team with 31.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per contest. Luguentz Dort is the most reliable secondary scoring option with 13.8 points per game. The Thunder look to get more production from Josh Giddey (16.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.1 assists) and Tre Mann (7.7 points) are other secondary scoring options. Aleksej Pokusevski, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, Jalen Williams (14.1 points), Dario Saric, Kenrich Williams, Darius Bazley and Aaron Wiggin s have to be contributors if they hope to have success. Oklahoma City is 24th in the league in field goal percentage as they shoot 46.6% from the floor as a team on the year. The Thunder are 14th by hitting 12.1 threes per game and 18th in three-point shooting by hitting 35.6% of their attempts from beyond the arc.
Chet Holmgren, the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, will miss the season after suffering a Lisfranc injury he suffered in a pro-am event during the summer. Kenrich Williams (wrist) is done for the season after rupturing a ligament.
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