Game 54 Clippers at OKC Thunder

[mistwell]

Sportskeeda Game Preview

The Thunder will host the Clippers at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on Thursday starting at 8 p.m. EST. Bally Sports OK and Bally Sports SoCal are the local networks that will cover the game. Streaming is also available by subscribing to the NBA League Pass.



Basketball fans can listen to SiriusXM, WWLS/WKY and AM 570KLAC/S: KTMZ to tune in to the action.



Moneyline: Clippers (+110) vs. Thunder (-130)



Spread: Clippers (+2.0) vs. Thunder (-2.0)



Total (O/U): Clippers (o236.5 -110) vs. Thunder (u236.5 -110)



Editor's note: The odds could change close to the game. The odds listed were as per available information at the time of writing.



LA Clippers vs OKC Thunder: Game preview

The Clippers have steadily surged up the Western Conference standings since acquiring James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-December. With “The Beard” in the lineup, Ty Lue’s team has become an offensive juggernaut. LA had a slight hiccup leading into the All-Star break but must be raring to return to its dominant form starting with the matchup in Oklahoma.

The Thunder is one of a few teams who have been as good as the Clippers since Harden arrived in Hollywood. While the spotlight has unsurprisingly been in LA, OKC has been quietly doing its business dispatching opponents. Oklahoma will be hoping to win the season series and hold an important advantage over LA for playoff positioning.

LA Clippers vs OKC Thunder: Starting lineups

Terance Mann, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Ivica Zubac and James Harden will start the game for the LA Clippers.


The OKC Thunder will have Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey and Lu Dort open the game.

[nuraman00]

Great game to come back to.

[clipsentuboca]

Have been itchin for some real, meaningful sports (attempted to watch some of the Padre/Dodgers spring training today whilst eating lunch and it was a larger with the Duds shellacking the Pads 8-0 zero in first inning je). This looks juicy, hopefully Clippers not too rusty coming back from the break. Thought they did a good job on SGA in the 2nd half last game...or he just had an off night lolz.

Lez Go, Clips!

[nuraman00]

Feb 22, 2024 13:08:18 GMT -8 clipsentuboca said:

Have been itchin for some real, meaningful sports (attempted to watch some of the Padre/Dodgers spring training today whilst eating lunch and it was a larger with the Duds shellacking the Pads 8-0 zero in first inning je). This looks juicy, hopefully Clippers not too rusty coming back from the break. Thought they did a good job on SGA in the 2nd half last game...or he just had an off night lolz.

Lez Go, Clips!

Did you mean "laugher"?

Yikes, what a terrible 1st inning score.

Joe Musgrove faced 4 batters and did not record an out.

I feel like in a real MLB game, something like that still occasionally happens.

But, I think it's rare to get through 5 batters and still not record an out.  I don't have any data.  I'm just speculating that it's much more likely to finally record an out by the 5th batter, if one hadn't done so at the 4th batter.

[clipsentuboca]

Yah, a "laugher" indeed. What you get when you don't proof read. To top it off Joe Buck and the other guy interviewed Tatis who had an annoying crackle is his mic audio feed the entire super long inning. Even though a Padre fan had to chuckle when they asked "are you juiced up for the new season?"...not sure if snuck that in intentionally or was an innocent term. The plan is for him to hit leadoff this year, stay in Right Field. Kim goes to SS, Bogaerts to 2nd. Machado sat this one out but was fired up one the front steps when Cronenworth hit one into the Crone Zone. Lost a lot of pitching, and Soto, so likely going to be an average year but we'll see how it goes as you never know. New Manager won a lot of games with St. Louie...Mike "better not come over here and take a" Shildt (yes, highly uncalled for). Go Pads!

[clipsentuboca]

And welcome to the majors relief pitcher Moises Lugo (six runs on four hits, two walks, and no outs recorded). Needs a cold shower after that barrage.

[jglanton]

I hope the slow-starting Clippers are ready to get hit hard in Q1.

[nuraman00]

Clippers are 11th in 1st quarter scoring margin.

www.teamrankings.com/nba/stat/average-1st-quarter-margin

Their scoring margins by quarter are: +0.8, +2.5, +1.5, +0.8.

[hitnrun24]

This is technically not the type of team ppl are saying we struggle against. Btw, maybe the teams we struggle against are just good teams. But anyways, the Thunder are really good at what they do. Jalen Williams is becoming a star. These guys will spread you out and rain 3s. But at the same time, not too much to worry about in the size dept.

[clipsentuboca]

he didn't want to "lob it to Zu", Zu led him too far and shouldn't have kept backing up. Powell coming back strong after his "injury".

[hitnrun24]

Paul George may need to respect Chet's defense a little more. He keeps trying to score over him. I don't mind him being aggressive, but Chet has too much length for that. You need to either do what Zu does, which is overpower him. Or like Powell, who has either the in between game floater or can draw a foul on him.

[clipsentuboca]

within range, Harden for three netting on their head.

[corkscrew]

Two good teams battling it out. In a 7 game series it would definitely go 7 and the 7th game would be close. So this tie-breaker is very important, as will seed position.

[hitnrun24]

Need a quick hook on Russ tonight. I'd almost pull him out any time he even attempts a contested 3.

[clipsentuboca]

Woof, Shai has turned into quite the force, it's gonna be tough to come back. K-Pop on Crappervision. Will need to dig deep to have a chance on this, hopefully Lue doesn't pull the cord.

Russ with a bunch of misses at the rim. Mann also too tentative. Stick a fork in it seems.