Thunder Gameday: Oklahoma City Preparing for Rematch Versus Lakers

The Oklahoma City Thunder are slated to face the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday night, their first matchup following the Thunder's victory in the teams' initial matchup in late November.

It was a 133-110 home win for Oklahoma City in the matchup opener despite 52 combined points from Anthony Davis and LeBron James, along with Los Angeles competing with a near entirely healthy roster.

Close to a month later, the Thunder will host the Lakers again inside Paycom Center Saturday evening, but Los Angeles could be participating without two key players.

ODDS:

The Thunder enter the day as four-point favorites against the Lakers, and the total over/under is 237.5 points.

KEYS TO THE GAME:

Currently, the Lakers are struggling to the Thunder's advantage.

Four consecutive losses, one coming without the help of James, Los Angeles has lost to the likes of lagging teams such as the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs, landing them at No. 10 in the West.

And it will not have been an easy two-game stretch in three nights for the Lakers, as a loss against the No. 1 team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves, will set them up for another tough outing versus Oklahoma City, the No. 2 team in the conference.

On top of that, both James and Davis are listed as questionable for Saturday night's game, as each deals with lingering ankle issues.

As for the Thunder, the team continues to roll through it's arduous 14-game gauntlet against some high-level competition in the West, which Oklahoma City has now entered the back end of.

This will be a contest where the Thunder cannot get complacent without the possibility of dealing with the James-Davis tandem. Because even if those two don't, the Lakers have the talent to catch Oklahoma City slipping — as shown in Los Angeles' 2-1 matchup advantage a year ago, where James was absent in both wins while Davis was present for only one.

With the possibility of not having Davis' and James' presence, Chet Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will have to attack the paint aggressively and exploit the Lakers' lack of size — which the Thunder exactly did in its first victory to outscore the Lakers 54-38 in the paint.

RECORDS:

Oklahoma City Thunder (18-8) vs. Los Angeles Lakers (15-14)

INJURIES:

Check out our live injury tracker, along with our game day injury report that will release later today.

WHEN:

Saturday, Dec. 23, 2023 at 7 PM CT

LOCATION:

Paycom Center - Oklahoma City, OK

TV/RADIO:

Bally Sports Oklahoma, NBA League Pass, 98.1 FM The Sports Animal

FINAL WORD:

There are two sides of the coin in this matchup — one, struggling to find rhythm and are desperately needing a big-time win against a strong opponent — and the other, a team that is becoming increasingly more proficient as a whole, but could possibly be caught off guard in a tricky matchup.

Either way, this contest should be much more competitive than the first, barring James and Davis becoming unavailable.

Next, Oklahoma City is set to take on the Minnesota Timberwolves in a top-two Western Conference matchup on Tuesday, Dec. 26 inside Paycom Center.

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