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Scouting Report | Wolves at Thunder

The Game

The Wolves’ four-game road trip will continue on Friday with a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, one of the six Western Conference teams the Wolves have yet to face this season.

The Wolves dropped their first game of the road trip by losing 121-114 to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday and are now 10-10 overall, which is good for seventh place in the West. Like the Wolves, the Thunder are also looking to get back into the win column after losing 107-100 to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday. Wednesday night’s loss dropped the 10th-place Thunder to 8-12.

Friday’s game between the two teams will kick off the second quarter of the Wolves’ 2019-20 season. That’s nuts. Although there’s some space between the Wolves and Thunder in the standings, the two teams had relatively similar first quarters.

The Wolves and Thunder are neck and neck in offensive and defensive rating. The Wolves are ranked 18th in offensive rating (106.8) as of Thursday, and the Thunder come in right behind them with a 19th-place offensive rating of 106.5. Defensively, the Thunder have a slight advantage with a 13th-place rating of 107.7 while the Wolves are 14th with a defensive rating of 107.7. It’s hard to get more similar than that.

Those figures suggest this could be a close game that comes down to the fourth quarter. Advantage Wolves. The Wolves have played 10 games this season that have been considered to be “clutch” games, meaning the Wolves were either ahead of or behind their opponent by five or fewer points in the last five minutes of those games. The Wolves are 6-4 in those clutch games and are averaging a league-low 0.3 turnovers during clutch time. The Thunder are 7-9 in their clutch games and are averaging 0.9 turnovers.

The Wolves were 3-1 against the Thunder last season.

What: Wolves at ThunderWhen: 7 p.m. CT, Friday, Dec. 6Where: Chesapeake Energy ArenaWatch: Fox Sports NorthListen: 830 WCCO

Where’s Westbrook?

The Wolves’ 3-1 2018-19 record against the Thunder shouldn’t be used as a predictor for how Friday night’s game will go because the Wolves will be facing a completely different Thunder team.

This is the first time the Wolves will face a Thunder team that does not list Russell Westbrook on its roster. The Seattle SuperSonics became the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008 after failing to find funding to build a new stadium in Seattle, and the Thunder began their new chapter by drafting Westbrook with the No. 4 pick in the 2008 draft. With the Thunder, Westbrook won eight All-NBA awards, was named the league’s Most Valuable Player in 2017 and helped carry the Thunder to four Western Conference Finals and the 2012 Finals.

Westbrook became the face of the franchise during his 11-season run with the Thunder but was traded to the Houston Rockets this past July. In return, the Thunder received some first-round draft picks and pick swaps along with the rights of another well-known point guard: Chris Paul.

The move has been a bit of an adjustment for Paul, but the Thunder have lucked out with two of their trade returns from a deal that sent Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers: Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gallinari and Gilgeous-Alexander are both averaging 18 points per game and have become fan favorites for this rebuilding Thunder team. It’ll be interesting to see whether the Thunder decided Gallinari and Gilgeous-Alexander are long-term fits for their franchise or whether they’re just pieces that’ll keep the team afloat while they plan for the future.

Connections

Justin Patton, the Chicago Bulls’ 2017 draft pick who was packaged in the deal that brought Jimmy Butler to the Wolves, was signed as a free agent by the Thunder in August after being waived by the Philadelphia Sixers before the 2019 playoffs.

The third-year player who’s already played on three different teams has only played in three Thunder games this season. However, he’s made some progress while playing in the G League with the Oklahoma City Blue. In eight games, Patton is averaging 10.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.0 blocks for the Blue.

Wiggins’ Thunder

Some of Andrew Wiggins' best games of the 2018-19 season came against the Thunder.

Wiggins averaged 28.0 points on 51.4% shooting from the field and 52.6% shooting from beyond the arc, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists in the Wolves’ four games against the Thunder last season.

And who could forget his 40-point performance that led to then-interim coach Ryan Saunders’ first NBA win? That’s got to be up there for top 2019 Wolves moments.

Injury Report:

Wolves: Jake Layman (toe) is out. Naz Reid (shoulder) and Andrew Wiggins (thumb) are questionable. Shabazz Napier (hamstring) and Karl-Anthony Towns (right knee) are probable.

Thunder: Andre Roberson (knee) and Hamidou Diallo (elbow) are both out.

Projected Starters:

Wolves: PG­–Wiggins, SG–Culver, SF–Okogie, PF–Covington, C–Towns

Thunder: PG—Paul, SG—Gilgeous-Alexander, SF—Ferguson, PF—Gallinari, C—Adams