Thunder Looking to Take Season Series Against Grizzlies

It won't erase history, but a win Sunday would go a long way to easing the blow.

As the Thunder head toward a season with a win total in the low 20s the game that will stick out from this season for years to come is clear: That Memphis game.

Dec. 2 the Grizzlies came to Oklahoma City and had a night for the record books at the Paycom Center — setting the NBA record for margin of victory at 73 with a 152-79 win.

But the Thunder were without Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and believed it wasn’t a scoreline indicative of a fully healthy Thunder roster. OKC showed that 18 days later on a trip to Memphis. The Thunder just edged a 102-99 win to bring the season series level with the rubber match to come.

That brings us to Sunday’s game.

Despite the result of its last trip to OKC, Memphis will make the trip to the Sooner state for the second time this season with the Thunder hoping for a drastically different result.

Memphis comes in fighting for the No. 2-seed in the Western Conference, while OKC has its sights set on the upcoming draft. That doesn’t, however, mean pride won’t take over for the guys on the court. Giddey won’t play in this contest either, but Gilgeous-Alexander is playing some of the best basketball of his career and will look to improve on the 23 points he scored in Memphis.

Someone like Aaron Wiggins will look to continue building out his role with the Thunder. The rookie is coming off of a career-high 25 points in Wednesday’s loss to Minnesota and can ride that hot hand with the absence of Giddey and Lu Dort.

Nothing can erase the loss last time Memphis came to town, it’s literally in the record books, but a win Sunday to take the season series will certainly ease the blow.

Thunder fans won’t be rooting too hard for a winning streak to close out the season, but if there’s one game to win down the stretch it might just be this one.

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