The Oklahoma City Thunder will make the trip to the Frost Bank Center to face the San Antonio Spurs in an NBA Emirates Cup matchup on Wednesday morning.
The Spurs are 6-8 and 12th in the Western Conference, while the Thunder are 11-3 and second in the conference standings behind the Golden State Warriors.
Match preview
© Imago
The San Antonio Spurs have looked like a better side this season compared to last, but they come into this match off the back of a 110-93 defeat to the Mavericks, which followed a loss to the Lakers in their first NBA Cup match of the season.
With Victor Wembanyama sitting out the match, Zach Collins led the Spurs with 20 points and six rebounds, Julian Champagnie contributed 13 points and Sandro Mamukelashvili added 14 off the bench, but it was not enough to avoid a second straight loss to the Mavs following a 120-109 defeat on opening night.
The Mavs outscored the Spurs 38-18 in the third quarter, outshooting them 59% to 22.7% - notably, Collins was zero for five from long range, while Wemby shot 24 of 50 from beyond the arc in the last four games, illustrating the big man's importance to the team this season.
While Wemby is likely to resume duty in this match, the same cannot be said for Gregg Popovich, who suffered a mild stroke earlier this month and is expected to remain out indefinitely.
Mitch Johnson has been serving as the Spurs' acting head coach during Popovich's absence and will continue to lead the team for the foreseeable future. However, it remains uncertain if San Antonio has a clear plan in place to replace Popovich if he decides to retire.
© Imago
Meanwhile, the Oklahoma City Thunder have made a very bright start to the season but they were also beaten by the Mavericks in their last outing, in a match that was eerily similar to last season's playoff series.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander delivered an impressive 36 points, while Jalen Williams stepped up with a solid 27, and Lu Dort added 18 points to the tally, as the Thunder shot 49% from the field and 14 of 42 from three-point range.
What was evident in the loss, though, was that the injury absentees that OKC have fared excellently without over the last week seemed to be their undoing here, with Dallas bullying them on the boards at both ends.
Still, the Thunder are a top-10 side on both ends this term, putting up 115.4 PPG while allowing just 103.5 points per night, which is the second-best record in NBA, only 1.1 more than the Orlando Magic.
Additionally, OKC are 9-5-0 against the spread, seventh in the league, and they currently have the second-best away record in the West, with only a single defeat conceded in five outings this season.
- W
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- W
- W
- W
- L
Team News
© Imago
As mentioned, Wembanyama sat out the match against the Mavericks due to a bruised knee but reports suggest that the Frenchman has made a recovery and should be able to feature from tip-off in this one.
However, the Spurs still have several players sidelined at present due to injury, including the likes of David Duke Jr., Harrison Ingram, Tre Jones, Riley Minix and Jeremy Sochan.
Mark Daigneault is still without several of his big men, but arguably the most important is Alex Caruso, whose absence against the Mavs was evident as OKC seemed to struggle with the physicality under the rim.
Nikola Topic is out for the season after undergoing surgery on his ACL, Isaiah Hartenstein will miss the next six weeks due to a fractured hand and Chet Holmgren is now expected to be sidelined for up to 10 weeks after sustaining a hip fracture against the Warriors.
San Antonio Spurs possible starting five:
Champagnie, Barnes, Wembanyama, Castle, Paul
Oklahoma City Thunder possible starting five:
Dort, Wiggins, Williams, Gilgeous-Alexander, Joe
We say: Oklahoma City Thunder to win by 3+ points
While the Spurs have certainly improved this season, the Thunder have been very difficult to contain, even with several injury absentees, and we feel that the visitors will be able to edge this one, albeit by a slender margin.
Devesh Jaganath
