The Oklahoma City Thunder’s spot in the postseason pecking order is secure with 10 games remaining in the regular season. The Memphis Grizzlies, on the other hand, are fighting for playoff positioning.
Thursday night, the teams will square off in Oklahoma City.
The Grizzlies still have a shot at a top-four seed, battling with Denver and the Lakers for third in the Western Conference. They are only 2 1/2 games back of Houston for the No. 2 seed.
But Memphis also needs to turn things back around to avoid falling into one of the play-in spots.
The Grizzlies are coming off Tuesday’s 140-103 win at Utah that snapped a three-game losing streak. But they will be without star Ja Morant for a sixth straight game Thursday as he deals with a hamstring strain.
Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins moved Scotty Pippen Jr. into the starting lineup in Morant’s place for each of the last two games after starting Luke Kennard to pair up with Desmond Bane in the backcourt for the previous two.
Pippen turned in one of his most productive games of the season against the Jazz, going 7-for-8 from the field with 16 points, 10 assists, a steal and zero turnovers.
“Just keeping the energy high, playing hard on both ends of the floor and bringing it every night,” Pippen said in a postgame television broadcast after Tuesday’s win.
Memphis (44-28) is 11-8 when Pippen starts this season. The Grizzlies are 16-13 without Morant in the lineup this season.
The Thunder come into the game on a seven-game winning streak, their fifth winning streak of seven or more games this season.
Oklahoma City (60-12) has sewn up the top spot in the Western Conference and enters Thursday’s action two games ahead of Cleveland for the best overall record in the NBA.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Luguentz Dort are the only players remaining from the Thunder’s 2020 playoff team. The duo played through the team’s rebuild, where they won a combined 46 games over two seasons before making the play-in round in 2023 and now earning the top spot in the conference for the second consecutive season.
“We had a lot of ups and downs and to be at this point now is good,” Dort said. “It just shows how much the work is paying off, the trust we had in this organization, it’s all showing up now so we’ve just got to keep stacking days.”
Oklahoma City is hopeful All-Star Jalen Williams will return soon after missing the last seven games with a hip injury.
Williams was listed as questionable ahead of Tuesday’s 121-105 win at Sacramento before ultimately being ruled out.
Williams is once again listed as questionable, as is Cason Wallace (knee).
Thursday’s game is the last of four between the teams this season. The Thunder have won the previous three.
The game is also the start of a four-game homestand for Oklahoma City. The Thunder are 30-5 at home this season.
For Memphis, the game is the last in a five-game road trip.
–Field Level Media
