OKC Thunder: 3 keys to winning series versus Spurs

Game specifics:

Records:

• Thunder: 14-21
• Spurs:18-13

The Venue:  Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Tipoff:  9:00 PM ET  | 8:00 PM CT

TV: Fox Sports  Oklahoma | NBA League Pass

Radio: WWLS 98.1 FM OKC

Odds:

The last time these teams met the Thunder were favored but now with most of their players back, the Spurs are the oddsmakers’ clear favorite. Mind you, based on the injury report, Gregg Popovich is electing to give some of his crew extra days off leading into the break .

Injuries:

OKC Thunder:

• Al Horford (rest) *Since the Thunder hadn’t posted their injuries as of this posting this is an assumption since Horford has sat in one game in every back-to-back set.
• Hamidou Diallo missed the last three games with a groin injury and coach Daigneault indicated he’d be out at least two more days so is expected to be out Thursday.
• Josh Hall (knee) is out
• Darius Miller (illness) missed the last two games and is questionable for Thursday
• George Hill underwent a procedure on his ailing thumb that will keep him off the court until early March.
• Trevor Ariza (personal) out indefinitely

Spurs:

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

In a first (that I’ve seen anyway) the Spurs are going to rest some players, including their rookie Devin Vassell. These are players who dealt with COVID-19 recently. The NBA injury report calls it a ‘coaches decision’ so we’ll assume this is Gregg Popovich reacting to his trainer and medical personnel’s advice.  They are referring to it as ‘reconditioning’. :

• LaMarcus Aldridge, – Stomach; Illness is questionable
• Rudy Gay – Coach’s decision: post health and safety protocols, reconditioning is out
• Derrick White – Coach’s decision: post health and safety protocols, reconditioning is out
• Devin Vassell – – Coach’s decision: post health and safety protocols, reconditioning is out

History:

The teams have played each other 176 times in regular-season history with the Spurs holding a 97-79 advantage.

In the 2019-20 campaign, they met each other on four occasions with each team taking two contests.

This is the third time they’ll play this season. Each team has won a game as Spurs won the initial January 12th meeting 112-102  while OKC evened up the score last Wednesday, February 24th with SGA’s career setting night and Lu Dort’s buzzer-beater netting the 102-99 victory.

Enjoy the game and make sure to check back tomorrow for grades and three takeaways.