The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to maintain their perfect start to the NBA season when they take on the Orlando Magic at Paycom Center on Tuesday morning.
OKC have stormed out the gate this season and are one of only two teams still unbeaten, while the Orlando Magic are 3-3 and currently sit in sixth place in the Eastern Conference.
Match preview
© Imago
The Oklahoma Thunder are looking increasingly like the team to beat in the West this season and put in arguably their best performance to date in their 105-92 victory over the LA Clippers on Sunday morning.
OKC began the match sluggishly, finishing the first quarter down 28-19, and the Clippers extended their advantage to 13 points shortly after, seemingly on their way to handing the West leaders their first loss of the campaign.
However, as we have already seen this season, something then seemed to click for Oklahoma in Q2, as they drained 15 points in the space of three minutes, and after trading baskets in the second half, they went on a 14-6 run and never really looked back.
While Mark Daigneault's side's offence did face a few struggles in the second period, we once again saw MVP-candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander step up for his side in a big way, finishing with 25 points on seven of 14 shooting, including 50% from three-point range and 9/9 at the free throw line.
What has been most impressive about the Thunder this season is their ability to remain effective at both ends, currently ranked 10th in points per game (117.2), while they lead the league in PPG allowed as the only side averaging fewer than 100 points conceded (98.6).
© Imago
Meanwhile, the Magic faced the Cavaliers on Saturday in a rematch of the opening round in last season's playoffs, and it was Cleveland that once again came out on top 120-109 to hand Orlando their second loss on the bounce.
While the Cavs were favoured in the contest, the result revealed a worrying concern for the Magic, illustrating just how much some of the other teams in the league have improved this season compared to themselves.
Jalen Suggs put up 28 points, eight rebounds and seven assists in the loss, while Franz Wagner and Tristan Da Silva added 17 points each, but only one other player managed to get into double digits for the side on the night.
With that result, Jamahl Mosley's side are now ranked 19th in the league on the scoring chart, with an average of 111.7 PPG, though they are still a top-10 outfit on defence, allowing 109.8 points per outing.
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- L
Team News
© Imago
Oklahoma City Thunder will remain without the services of Nikola Topic for the foreseeable future, with the teenage point guard having undergone ACL surgery and expected to remain sidelined for a long while.
Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein are also ruled out for this match owing to a knee and hand injury respectively, while Jaylin Williams is flagged as a major doubt for the match due to a hamstring strain.
Orlando Magic, on the other hand, were handed a massive injury blow recently, with Paolo Banchero sustaining an abdominal injury, which has sidelined him for at least another week.
Goga Bitadze is touch and go with a foot injury and Wendell Carter Jr is questionable due to a knee injury. Both players will be assessed ahead of tip-off to determine if they are able to feature.
Oklahoma City Thunder possible starting five:
Williams, Dort, Holmgren, Gilgeous-Alexander, Wiggins
Orlando Magic possible starting five:
F. Wagner, Caldwell-Pope, M Wagner, Suggs, Black
We say: Oklahoma City Thunder to win by 7+ points
Something special seems to be brewing in OKC this season, as the young Thunder continue to churn out wins and look to be improving with each passing match, regardless of their opponents.
The Magic are solid defensively again this season, but their inconsistency in scoring is a major concern, and we feel they will struggle to keep up with this Oklahoma side on Tuesday.
Devesh Jaganath
