A pair of stars are expected to be missing when the Minnesota Timberwolves play host to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday at Minneapolis.

The Timberwolves are working to adjust their game plan for extended life without Karl-Anthony Towns, who came away with a right calf strain in Monday’s loss to the Washington Wizards that will keep him out four-to-six weeks.

Oklahoma City doesn’t figure to be without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for that long, but their leading scorer missed Wednesday’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs after he came away with a left hip contusion in Monday’s road loss to the New Orleans Pelicans.

Without Towns, Minnesota figures to lean heavily on third-year shooting guard Anthony Edwards, who had 29 points, five assists, five steals, three blocks and just one turnover in Wednesday’s 109-101 home win over the Memphis Grizzlies.

“It’s energy. When he plays with great energy, it pulsates through our guys,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said of Edwards. “He makes big plays. He makes plays that can swing a game. He’s always had a great sense of timing.”

Finch said Edwards’ leadership role had been expanding even before Towns’ injury.

“His voice in the locker room is growing and growing, and it’s great to see and much needed for this team. He’s got it in him,” Finch said. “He’s an extremely likable teammate, everything believes that when you have him on the floor, he’s going to do great things, and now he’s learning how to back it up with some words to help his teammates as well.”

While Minnesota has players like Edwards and Rudy Gobert to fill the void with Towns out, the Thunder are not quite as equipped to succeed without Gilgeous-Alexander. The guard is averaging 31.1 points and 6.1 assists per game, while reaching the free-throw line 9.3 times per game – all career highs.

Before missing Wednesday’s game, Gilgeous-Alexander had only missed one game this season – the Thunder’s 116-106 home loss to Minnesota on Oct. 23.

Oklahoma City coach Mark Daigneault said the Thunder are doing the same things structurally with or without Gilgeous-Alexander.

“Systematically it doesn’t change anything,” Daigneault said. “Certainly personnel wise it does, but systematically it doesn’t.”

If Gilgeous-Alexander can’t play, more of the weight for Oklahoma City’s offense falls on the shoulders of Josh Giddey, who moves into the role as the Thunder’s primary ball-handler.

Without Gilgeous-Alexander against the Timberwolves early in the season, Giddey had 10 points, two rebounds, five assists and four turnovers in 22 minutes.

In Wednesday’s win over the Spurs, Giddey was much better. He had 14 points, 13 rebounds, five assists and no turnovers.

Saturday’s game is the third of four between the teams this season. The first two, both wins by the Timberwolves, came in the season’s first week. Minnesota beat the Thunder at Minneapolis 115-108 in the season opener for both teams.

The Timberwolves are likely to be without Taurean Prince, who has missed the last four games with a shoulder injury. Jaden McDaniels, who has missed the last three games with an illness, and Jordan McLaughlin, who has missed five with a calf injury, both practiced Friday.

–Field Level Media

A Saturday matinee between the Sacramento Kings and host Los Angeles Clippers features a stark contrast in styles, that has led to both teams producing records above .500 thus far into the season.

Sacramento has emerged as one of the surprises of the early NBA campaign. However, the Kings are just emerging from a recent three-game losing skid – their first losing streak since dropping the first four games of the season. They ended the mini drought with a 137-114 home rout of the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday.

Seven Kings scored in double figures in the victory, including Malik Monk with 20 points off the bench. Fellow reserve Terence Davis added 15 points, and Domantas Sabonis neared a triple-double against his former team with 11 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. Harrison Barnes led Sacramento with 22 points.

“We needed that win, especially the way we’d been playing the past couple games,” Monk said, according to Sacramento Fox 40. “We lost our pace (during the losing streak). We were able to pick it up today.”

During the Kings’ seven-game winning streak that preceded the three-game swoon, they scored at least 120 points in all but one of the victories. Sacramento ranked second in the NBA in scoring, entering play Friday, with an average of 119.9 points per game.

Successfully pushing the tempo could prove central to Sacramento’s prospects on Saturday against a Clippers team that had the league’s lowest point-per-game average through Dec. 1 at 107.2. Los Angeles ranks among the top defensive teams, however, holding opponents to 107.8 points per game.

The Clippers are returning home Saturday for a one-game layover amid a stretch when they play six of seven games on the road. Los Angeles kicked off the road swing Tuesday with a 118-112 victory at Portland, but dropped the second half of a back-to-back Wednesday in a 125-112 loss at Utah.

The Clippers came into Wednesday’s matchup with the Jazz already down All-Stars Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. George last played Nov. 19 due to a hamstring tendon strain behind his right knee, while Leonard’s return to the lineup has been cut short since Nov. 23 due to an ankle injury.

Norman Powell – who paced the Clippers with 32 points in the win at Portland – sat against Utah due to a groin injury. Powell, George, Leonard and Luke Kennard (calf) are all listed as day-to-day ahead of Saturday’s game.

John Wall came off the bench to lead Los Angeles with 26 points in Wednesday’s loss, while Moussa Diabate and Brandon Boston Jr. added 11 and 10 points respectively. Diabate and Boston, as well as Jason Preston, who scored two points in 3:29 on Wednesday, were call-ups from the Clippers’ G League squad.

The youngsters could continue to provide depth with Los Angeles facing roster uncertainty.

“We have a veteran team and those guys have done a great job in the G League,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “Sometimes you’ve got to reward the young guys for playing well, to let them know that we do see what you’re doing, and we recognize that you are playing in the G League but you’re doing some good things.”

–Field Level Media

With nearly identical records and a similarly up-and-down 10-game stretch in the rearview mirror, the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks will take the court Saturday afternoon with the same goal in mind.

The Knicks will continue to face top-flight competition Saturday when they host NBA leading scorer Luka Doncic and the Mavericks.

Both teams endured six-point defeats in their most recent games. The Knicks fell to the Milwaukee Bucks, 109-103, on Wednesday night, while the visiting Mavericks lost to the Detroit Pistons, 131-125, in overtime on Thursday.

The loss to the Bucks dropped the Knicks to 4-6 in their last 10 games, a span in which they’ve been victimized in defeat by superstars such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Stephen Curry, Ja Morant and Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Gilgeous-Alexander scored 37 points in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 145-135 win on Nov. 13, while Curry had a double-double (24 points, 10 assists) in the Golden State Warriors’ 111-101 win five nights later. Morant posted a triple-double (27 points, 14 assists, 10 rebounds) and scored the game-winning basket off his own blocked shot with 13.9 seconds left in the Memphis Grizzlies’ 127-123 win on Sunday night, three nights before Antetokounmpo finished with 37 points and 13 rebounds for the Bucks.

“Sometimes, it’s a bad bounce,” Knicks guard RJ Barrett said. “The Memphis one, (Morant) got blocked, he got the ball back, he put it in, Something like that — sometimes, it doesn’t go your way.”

The Knicks seemed to get a break when Antetokounmpo fouled out as the Bucks held a 103-102 lead with a minute left, but Grayson Allen sank a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 30.9 seconds left as New York fell to 10-12.

The Mavericks’ current 4-6 stretch includes a 124-115 loss to the Bucks on Sunday in which Allen sank his first seven 3-pointers for Milwaukee.

The Mavericks seemed to get back on the right track by snapping a four-game losing streak on Tuesday. Doncic (41 points, 12 rebounds, 12 assists) had a triple-double in a 116-113 win over the Warriors.

But Dallas frittered away an opportunity Thursday against the Pistons, who are 6-18 and in the thick of the race to finish with the best odds at landing French teenage sensation Victor Wembanyama. The Mavericks forced overtime by erasing an eight-point deficit late in the fourth quarter and led by four early in the extra session before Detroit finished on a 12-2 run.

While the Mavericks have allowed 108.7 points per game, the loss Thursday marked the third time in the last five games they’ve given up at least 124 points. Dallas surrendered more than 124 points just once in its first 16 games.

In addition, the Mavericks were outrebounded 52-30 on Thursday and have been outrebounded nine times in their last 10 games as they’ve fallen to 10-11 overall.

“Our team defense has to be better,” Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd said. “We have to help each other. We’re giving up a lot of rebounds. It comes down to effort and that’s something that we’ll talk about (Friday).”

–Field Level Media