OKC Thunder have a chance to launch into first place in the Western Conference with win

What a wild night in the association. On Monday, Joel Embiid dropped 70 points as he dominated the San Antonio Spurs, the Cleveland Cavilers mobbed the floor with the Orlando Magic, and Karl-Anthony Towns posted 62 points in a loss to the lowly Hornets.

The Minnesota Timberwolves dropped a game late to Charlotte, 128-125, in a contest where Towns' 62 points scored earned him a single-game plus-minus of 0. Towns had a late-game blunder and is the rare face of a joke after such a lethal scoring performance.

The OKC Thunder are playing for first place tonight against the Portland Trailblazers.

After the Hornets stung the Timberwolves, Oklahoma City moved just half a game out of first place in the Western Conference. The OKC Thunder tamed the Timberwolves in a fun back-and-forth game on Saturday to help inch closer in the standings.

Now, if Oklahoma City can beat the Portland Trailblazers on Wednesday, who they downed by 63 just weeks ago, they will be elevated to first place in the Western Conference more than halfway through the NBA season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder battle with the Blazers, seeing first place on the line against one of the worst teams in the NBA.

Each team comes into this contest healthy, as the Thunder will only miss a trio of G League assignments in Ousmane Dieng, Lindy Waters III, and Olivier Sarr. Portland lists Moses Brown (wrist) as out, Shaedon Sharpe (abdominal strain) as out, and Robert Williams III (Knee) as out.

When these two squads met previously, the Trailblazers were without the former first-overall pick, DeAndre Ayton. Now, it appears Chet Holmgren will match up with Ayton for the first time as the former Sun is not on the injury report.

How the Thunder adjusts to that size and potential threat will be interesting, but overall, Oklahoma City is a far superior team.

The Thunder should be able to take care of business against the Blazers on the front end of a back-to-back. OKC will see a quick turnaround tomorrow on National Television as Holmgren meets up with Victor Wembanyama on Rivals Week on Wednesday.