- Portland Trailblazers (12-30, 4th in the West) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (29-13, 2nd in the West)
- When: Tuesday, 23 January 2024 at 7:00pm CST
- Where: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, OK
- Offensive Rating – POR: 107.6 (30th) / OKC: 119.8 (5th)
- Defensive Rating – POR: 117.2 (23rd) / OKC: 111.7 (5th)
- Net Rating – POR: -9.6 (28th) / OKC: 8.1 (3rd)
The Set-Up
The number one seed in the Western Conference is within the Thunder grasp. A win tonight, and the Thunder tie the Timberwolves for first in the West, while also owning the tie-breaker against Minnesota. Hot on the Thunder’s tail, though, is the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. This just shows you the competitiveness of the West. In the Eastern Conference, the first and sixth seeds are separated by 9.5 games. In the West, the first and sixth seeds are separated by only 5 games. If you have a bad week in the West, leap-frogging will occur.
This has made the Thunder’s rise even more impressive. Young teams tend to ride the highs and focus too much on the lows. But the Thunder seem to be the most even-keeled young team in recent memory. The ability to not only keep climbing, but also keep the teams behind them at bay has been very surprising. How this bides for them for the rest of the season remains to be seen. But early returns have been extremely positive.
This is the third of four meetings this season between these two teams. The Thunder have been dominant in their first two meetings, beating the Trailblazers by 43 and 62 points, respectively.
Betting Info
- Line: OKC -13.5
- O/U: 233.5
Injury Report
OKC
- None
POR
- Moses Brown (shoulder) – OUT
- Shaedon Sharpe (lower abdominal strain/thigh) – OUT
- Robert Williams III (knee) – OUT
Three Big Things
- Number 1 Seed in Sight – A win tonight accomplishes several things for the Thunder. If the Thunder get the W, then they would be tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for first in the West. They would be the number one seed because they own the tie-breaker against Minnesota by virtue of their win on Saturday. But a win tonight also gives the team one more division victory, which could pay dividends for future tie-breakers. The top three teams in the West are all from the Northwest division. It also allows them to stay ahead of the fast-charging Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers.
- Trap-Game Possibilities – When you beat a team by a combined 105 points in your two meetings against them, it would almost be human nature to look past them. Despite their putrid record, the Blazers have won two of their last three games. Even though the Thunder have shown a propensity to not fail in trap-game situations, the possibility is always there.
- Second-Chance Points – The Trailblazers aren’t good at a lot of things. But one thing that they are good at is offensive rebounding and 2nd-chance points. These are all things that keep bad, young teams in games. Eliminate these things and you eliminate one of their main sources of offense.