The Oklahoma City Thunder (14-14) head to Madison Square Garden for a Saturday night matchup against the New York Knicks (15-13). This is the second and final head-to-head meeting between the two clubs this season.
Oklahoma City won their second in a row in a thrilling triple-overtime win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday by the score of 119-117. Russell Westbrook recorded yet another triple-double with 27 points (albeit on 10-33 shooting), 18 rebounds, and 15 assists. Carmelo Anthony had one of his better recent shooting nights going 10-17 for 24 points.
The Knicks enter Saturday winners of three straight after Thursday’s 111-104 victory over the Brooklyn Nets. New York was able to prevail despite losing Kristaps Porzingis to a sore knee early in the third quarter. Courtney Lee led the way with a season-high 27 points while Michael Beasley added 15 off the bench.
Likely starting lineups
Thunder: PG - Russell Westbrook, SG - Andre Roberson, SF - Paul George, PF - Carmelo Anthony, C - Steven Adams
Knicks: PG - Jarrett Jack, SG - Courtney Lee, SF - Lance Thomas, PF - Kristaps Porzingis (Michael Beasley if Porzingis is unable to play), C - Enes Kanter
Stat leaders
Thunder: Scoring - Russell Westbrook 22.7, Rebounding - Russell Westbrook 9.7, Assists - Russell Westbrook 10.0
Knicks: Scoring - Kristaps Porzingis 25.5, Rebounding - Enes Kanter 10.3, Assists - Jarrett Jack 6.0
Known injuries
Thunder: none
Knicks: Out - Tim Hardaway Jr.
(leg), Questionable - Kristaps Porzingis (knee)
What to know leading into Saturday’s game
After 7.5 seasons and 412 career regular season games with New York, Carmelo Anthony makes his first return to Madison Square Garden as a visitor after he was traded to the Thunder on September 25. Anthony won a scoring title with the Knicks in the 2012-13 season averaging 28.7 points per game and is seventh in the franchise’s history with 10,186 points with the team.
Now in his 15th season, Anthony’s 18 points per game and 41 percent from the field so far on the season would both be career-lows.
For the third time this season, the Knicks have won three games in a row. They will be looking to get their fourth straight win on Saturday for the first time. Neither of their two previous chances to win four straight were all that close as they lost by 22 to the Houston Rockets and 13 to the Orlando Magic.
One wouldn’t think a team featuring Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, and Paul George would struggle offensively, but that has been the case all season for the Thunder. Not including Friday’s games, Oklahoma City was 29th in field goal percentage, 26th in three-point percentage, and 29th in free throw percentage. Their 101.7 points per game ranked 24th in the league. Oklahoma City did enter Friday allowing the third-least points per game at 99.4.
Thunder/Knicks regular season history
The Thunder and Knicks franchises have met 129 times in the regular season with New York holding a slight 65-64 advantage in the win column. Previously the Seattle SuperSonics, the Thunder have enjoyed much success against the Knicks since moving to Oklahoma City winning 13 of the 18 head-to-head meetings.
Oklahoma City has won four in a row against the Knicks including their early matchup this season which was each team’s regular season opener. The Thunder defeated New York by the score of 105-84 in a game where the Knicks were held to 40.5 percent shooting and turned the ball over 25 times.
