• Oklahoma City Thunder (23-11, 3rd in the West) @ Washington Wizards (6-29, 14th in the East)
• When: Monday, 08 January 2024 at 6:00pm CST
• Where: Capital One Arena, Washington D.C.
• Offensive Rating – WAS: 111.3 (25th) / OKC:119.3 (4th)
• Defensive Rating – WAS: 121.6 (30th) / OKC: 111.7 (7th)
• Net Rating – WAS: -10.3 (27th) / OKC: 7.6 (3rd)

The Set-Up

Wait…so this team isn’t perfect? You mean to tell me that the Oklahoma City Thunder are likely not going to win every game this season from here on out? I totally feel like I’ve been sold a bill of goods. I mean, this team was supposed to buck all the trends in the world and become the greatest team since the 73-9 Golden State Warriors…while winning the title. Like, if this team isn’t going to do that, then we might as well start tanking again, right?

Let’s take a breath, Thunder nation. *cue Martin Lawrence’s “Woo-sah” from Bad Boys 2.* Yes, the Thunder have suffered some losses to some inferior opponents. The Atlanta loss was what they call in the NBA “a scheduled loss”. Second night of a back to back while the first game was an epic win at home. Flight delay that caused the team to arrive in Atlanta around four in the morning. No energy. No legs. Scheduled loss. But the Nets game was the anomaly. Here’s the thing: those things happen in the NBA. Bad night shooting. The other team gets off to a hot start and goes up big early. Your weaknesses (rebounding) come to the forefront for that evening. It happens. You “Men In Black” that out of your memory and move on to the next one.

This is the first of two meetings this season between these two teams. They meet again on February 23rd.

Betting Info

• Line: OKC -10.5
• O/U: 247.5

Injury Report

OKC

• None

WAS

• Landry Shamet (hamstring) – Day to Day
• Delon Wright (quad) – Day to Day

Three Big Things

1. Attack the paint – The Washington Wizards rank 29th in the league in points allowed in the paint. The Thunder are 7th in the NBA in scoring points in the paint. Outside of Daniel Gafford, the Wiz don’t have a ton of interior protection. This game is tailor-made for the Thunder to go off offensively.
2. Rebounding, Advantage: Thunder – This is literally the only team in the league that is worse at rebounding than the Thunder. As a matter of pride, we better win this rebounding battle.
3. Fool’s Gold – I hope the Thunder don’t get goaded into thinking this will be a cake-walk. Yes, the Wizards are one of the worst teams in the league. And, yes, they are very inefficient. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have weapons. Kyle Kuzma and Jordan Poole have each had 50-pieces in their careers. Corey Kispert and Tyus Jones are adept at their positions and good shooters. We all know what former Thunder players Mike Muscala and Danilo Gallinari are good at. We all know how awesome of a teammate Eugene Omoruyi is. What you saw in Brooklyn could repeat itself in DC if the Thunder don’t stick to their defensive principles and start off disciplined.