OKC Thunder Would Face Knicks in NBA Cup Finals with Win Tonight

Presently, the Oklahoma City Thunder are preparing to face off against the San Antonio Spurs, hoping to pinch their ticket to the NBA Cup finals.

The Thunder and Spurs will play in the late game, but the Eastern side has already wrapped up, with the Knicks downing the Magic, 132-120, to carve their way through.

Orlando put up a tough fight without star forward Franz Wagner, though New York’s starting five would ultimately be too much to overcome. The Knicks’ bench would go for just 11 points in total — quite of the opposite of OKC’s usual production — though their first-five were stellar.

Jalen Brunson, per usual, led the way with a blistering 40 points and eight assists, followed by star center Karl-Anthony Towns with 29. OG Anunoby tacked on 24, Mikal Bridges had 16 and Josh Hart added his usual do-it-all outing with 12 points, six rebounds, six assists and four stocks.

All in all, the Knicks were able to grab a double-digit win and move to 18-7 on the year. Prior to the season, dozens of analysts league-wide would've had the Thunder and Knicks as a potential NBA Finals matchup, with the two teams projected to be respective No. 1 seeds.

Oklahoma City will still need to best Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs before they start looking Eastward, though if recent history tells us anything, the odds are in their favor.

The Thunder are a league-best 24-1 on the season, tying the 2015-16 Warriors 25-game start. Golden State went on to win 73 games that season with unanimous MVP Stephen Curry at the helm. OKC's defense is off to another hot start, and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is seeing his best year yet, despite taking home plenty of hardware last season.

Even more, the Thunder are the healthiest they’ve been all season, getting starting center Isaiah Hartenstein back from injury for San Antonio. It will be the team’s first time with its championship-winning starting lineup this season, with sharpshooter Isaiah Joe as the only rotational level player on the injury report.

San Antonio will still offer steep competition, though, having dispatched the Lakers with its trio of talented handlers in De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper. Wembanyama had previously missed 12-straight games with a calf injury, but will make his return tonight against OKC.

The Thunder and Spurs tip off at 8 p.m. CT tonight. The winner will face New York on Tuesday, Dec. 16, at 7:30 p.m. CT in Las Vegas.