New York Knicks vs. Thunder preview (Game 75 of 82)

Posted on March 29, 2026 by Alex Roig

New York Knicks (48-26, 3rd in the East) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (58-16, 1st in the West)
When: Sunday, 29 March 2026 at 6:30pm CST
Where: Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, OK
TV: NBC/Peacock
Offensive Rating: NYK: 118.7 (3rd) / OKC: 117.2 (7th)
Defensive Rating: NYK: 112.1 (5th) / OKC: 106.3 (1st)
Net Rating: NYK: 6.6 (5th) / OKC: 11.0 (1st)
Current Streaks: NYK: Lost their last game, winners of 7 straight before that / OKC: Won their last game, went 15-2 in their previous 17.
Magic Number (to clinch the No. 1 seed in the West): 7

The Tip-Off

OKC has the hardest remaining schedule in the league, per Tankathon.com. Seven of their last 8 games are against current post-season qualified teams, with five of those games coming against teams that in the top-4 of their conferences. Now, as this is the end of the season, the rosters may not always play out in full strength, but the possibility is still there. In addition, the Thunder are being chased by San Antonio, who has a much easier schedule to finish out the year. If you are a fan of games of consequence in April, this is the year for you. Enjoy the last 8 games of the season…not just in OKC, but throughout the NBA. There’s an air of vulnerability with the Thunder and teams are trying their hardest for positioning and opportunity.

This is the second and final meeting of the regular season between the Thunder and Knicks. The Thunder won the first meeting 103-100 in Madison Square Garden in a game that saw the Knicks get two opportunities to tie the game in the finals seconds only to miss the shots. In that game, Chet Holmgren led the Thunder with 28 points and 8 rebounds.

Betting Info, presented by FanDuel

Line: OKC -8.5
O/U: 223.5

Injury Report

OKC

Brooks Barnhizer – Day to Day
Thomas Sorber – OFS (knee/ACL)

NYK

Kevin McCullar Jr. – OUT (calf)
Deuce McBride – OUT (pelvis)
Landry Shamet – OUT (knee)

Three Big Things

Perimeter Defense – The Knicks are 7th in 3-pointers made, 11th in 3-pointers attempted, and 4th in 3-point percentage per game. The dribble and drive game of Jalen Brunson facilitates the open looks for Karl-Anthony Towns and New York’s plethora of 3-and-D wings. The point of attack defense on Brunson will be crucial to limiting this aspect of New York’s offense. Lu Dort, Cason Wallace, and Alex Caruso will need to be on their defensive game today.
Jalen Williams – New York struggles a little on offense against the Thunder because of Jalen Williams’ ability to guard KAT one on one. Dub wasn’t available for the last game between these two, but having a fully healthy Williams to matchup against KAT can open up rotational options for the Thunder.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – It’s been a while since SGA has had a defining game. I know, I know…how can you average 30+ points per game, lead the best team in the league, and be in the midst of a record (20 points scored per game) and still need defining games? But we were spoiled to a stretch there where OKC was winning games of consequence and SGA was hitting game-winner after game-winner that essentially shut-down the MVP at that time. But then NBA twitter and the talking heads got bored with that and in entered Victor Wembanyama into the MVP chat. So SGA has about 5 more games left this season (I doubt he plays the remaining games this year) to make a statement and let people who may have forgotten know “the MVP still resides in Oklahoma City”.

Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves preview (Game 17 of 82 / In-Season Tournament Game #4)

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Alex Roig

Oklahoma City Thunder (11-5, 2nd in the West) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (12-4, 1st in the West)
When – Tuesday, 28 November 2023 at 7:00pm CST
Where – Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
Offensive Rating – MIN: 113.2 (13th) / OKC: 117.9 (6th)
Defensive Rating – MIN: 106.8 (2nd) / OKC: 109.6 (7th)
Net Rating – MIN: 6.4 (4th) / OKC: 8.3 (3rd)

The Set-Up

If you are writing a story about the come-up of a great young team, you always have to have the protagonist. The rival the team has to overcome to make it to the top of that mountain. For the Michael Jordan Chicago Bulls, it was the Detroit Pistons. For the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, it was the Sacramento Kings. For the Curry Warriors, it was Mark Jackson. For this iteration of the Thunder, we still don’t know who that team is. It could be the Orlando Magic. The San Antonio Spurs. Maybe the Houston Rockets.

Or it could be the team that we’ve already faced in a non-regular season scenario. These two teams faced off in the 2nd round game of the Play-In Tournament last season, with Minnesota out-dueling the Thunder on their way to a 120-95 victory. The Wolves were very physical and bested the Thunder in points in the paint, 58-30. The frontcourt tandem of Rudy Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns combined to score 49 points and grab 19 rebounds, while shooting 19 free throws.

Season Series – This is the first meeting this season between these division rivals.

Injury Report

OKC

None

MIN

Jaylen Clark (Achilles) – Out
Jaden McDaniels (ankle) – Out
Jordan McLaughlin (knee) – Out

Three Big Things

High stakes – Okay, so these may not be huge stakes. No one really cares about who’s number one in their conference 17 games into an 82-game season. I get it. But, man, would it feel good to be conference king for a day. If nothing else, a win gives you a leg up on a division/conference rival for future playoff seeding and knocks Minnesota out of the In-Season Tournament.
Big rotation – It’ll be interesting to see how head coach Mark Daigneault handles the big rotation tonight. We saw in the Philly game his willingness to play two bigs in Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams. What could be most interesting is the Naz Reid vs. Kenrich Williams match-up that I think we’ll see some tonight.
Shooting – I’ve got a secret for you guys. The Thunder, now hear me out, tend to do better when their 3-point shot is falling. I know, I know. Shocking! All kidding aside, the Thunder have turned into the quintessential modern NBA team. Most of their shots come from the 3-point line and in the paint. Only 7.6% of their points come from the mid-range. And while the Thunder do lead the league in 3-point percentage, when that shot isn’t falling, the offense can get very clunky. Players like Lu Dort and Cason Wallace, who started the season off hot, have now regressed to where they likely will be for the rest of the season. And if Isaiah Joe isn’t completely flame-throwing from deep, the offense looks even worse.

Thunder @ Minnesota Timberwolves preview (Game 1 of 82)

Posted on October 19, 2022 by Alex Roig

Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0) @ Minnesota Timberwolves (0-0)

When: Wednesday, October 19th, 2022 at 7:00 PM CST

Where: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN

And so it begins. Another season of Oklahoma City Thunder basketball. This is the time of year where hope springs eternal. Can the Thunder make it to the play-in tournament? Sure. Could Shai Gilgeous-Alexander be an All-Star this year? Sure. Will Jalen Williams make some noise in the rookie class? Hell yeah. And for you tank aficionados, can the Thunder lose enough games to get the highest odds for a certain generational Frenchman? In the words of former Thunder legend Russell Westbrook, why not?

To kick things off, the Thunder open up the season on the road against one of the off-season’s mystery teams: the Minnesota Timberwolves. The all-in trade for Rudy Gobert this offseason catapulted the Timberwolves into the “contender or pretender” narrative for this season. Will Gobert and Karl-Anthony Towns be a harmonious twin tower combination or will one of them eventually get played off the floor in meaningful games?

Injury Report

OKC – Chet Holmgren – OUT (R foot – Lisfranc surgery recovery)
MIN – Eric Paschall – OUT (L ankle/Achilles tendinosis)

Three Big Things

Starting Line-ups – Thunder coach Mark Daigneault has made a point this season to be more secretive about his starting line-ups leading into games. Minnesota’s front court may force Daigneault to get a little creative with his starting line-up today. Jeremiah Robinson-Earl is likely the starter from the center position. But the options for who starts at the PF position may be a mystery. Does Daigneault want Aleksej Pokusevski going up against Gobert or Towns on the defensive end? Or does Daigneault want to exploit Towns’ issues on the defensive end and go with a small-ball line-up with Jalen Williams starting at the 4? Or maybe we go completely bonkers and start Ousmane Dieng at the 4 to compete with Minnesota’s size up front. Many options and many questions.
SGA – The preseason was nullified for Gilgeous-Alexander due to an MCL sprain. Thankfully, the injury will not keep SGA out for any regular season time. Coach Daigneault at practice yesterday confirmed SGA is a full go and has no minutes restrictions heading into tonight’s game. The All-Star campaign for SGA starts tonight. It will be interesting to see how quickly SGA meshes with all the new parts on the team this season.
Surging Sophomores – The quartet of 2nd year players for the Thunder (Josh Giddey, Tre Mann, JRE, and Aaron Wiggins) have all come into this year with high expectations. Giddey appears to be straddling the line of superstardom with his ability to break defenses down and get into the paint at will. Mann seems well on his way to being one of the premier scoring guards off the bench this season. And JRE and Wiggins have glue guy/key role player written all over them.

Prediction: Minnesota wins a close one 111-104 as their size proves to be the deciding factor late in the game.