What to Watch For in OKC Thunder vs. Golden State Warriors

The Oklahoma City Thunder are once again battling the Golden State Warriors for the second time this season, this time in the Bay Area. In the first matchup, the OKC Thunder kept up their unblemished home record with lopsided beat own of the Warriors to cruise to a win.

Golden State is still trying to figure out who and what they are. The Warriors traded for Jimmy Butler at the deadline a year ago and from that point on played some of the best basketball in the NBA, before seeing an injury to Steph Curry derail their postseason in the second round. Now, the Warriors are just one game above .500 but have dealt with a ton of injuries, most notably to Curry and newly added big man Al Horford.

In this game, the Warriors wll be without Curry and Horford while Butler and Draymond Green are tabbed as questionable and probable respectively.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have dealt with their own injury issues despite being 20-1. The Bricktown Ballers have been without Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Kenrich Williams and Aaron Wiggins for multiple games throughout this season.

Tonight against the Bay Area Ballers, the Thunder will be without Hartenstein, Dort and Caruso, as Mark Daigneault will once again have to navigate a short handed rotation.

What to Watch For

The Oklahoma City Thunder are able to play Chet Holmgren at the five more with Jalen Williams back and now are forced into doing that at a heavy dose due to missing out on Isaiah Hartenstein as he is in street clothes for the next 10 to 14 days. Does this help the Thunder play at a faster pace and spread the floor offensively to give matchups a unique look than the one the Warriors saw earlier this season.

Along those same lines, the OKC Thunder secondary unit has looked clunky on the offensive end. That is too be expected given the players shuffled in and out of the active roster due to injury. In game two of having Ajay Mitchell and the Santa Clara product together, can Oklahoma City find more success?

Does Shai Gilgeous-Alexander outright dominate the Warriors from start to finish again? In the first matchup, Golden State just had no one who could stay in front of the all time great scorer. Is there anything the Warriors can do different in this game to throw him off?

Game Information

Date: Nov. 30
Matchup: OKC Thunder (20-1) vs. Golden State Warriors (11-10)
Time: 10:00 PM CT
Location: Chase Center –– San Fransico, CA
TV: NBC
Radio: WWLS The Sports Animal (98.1 FM)

Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder will see two days off before playing the lowly Dallas Mavericks on Friday night in the Paycom Center, then on Sunday, hit the road again to battle the Utah Jazz. With three off days remaining this week and two of the three games against below .500 squads, this is a lighter week on the Thunder's schedule. It is especially a breath of fresh air before heading into next week as the NBA Cup resumes against the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the knockout stage with a trip to Vegas on the line.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this Oklahoma City Thunder season as the Bricktown Ballers continue to make history this season.