Winners of three straight, the New York Knicks (5-3, 2-1 at home) are looking to extend that streak to four when they take on the Oklahoma City Thunder (3-4, 3-1 at home) on Friday night at Madison Square Garden.

In their most recent outing on Wednesday, Oklahoma City could escape with a 111-110 win over the New Orleans Pelicans. George Hill’s two clutch free throws with 12 seconds remaining proved to be the difference. A large reason for the Thunder’s win was from the three-point territory as they canned 19 treys compared to the Pelicans just connecting on four.

In their past two games, New York has overcome large deficits and ended up on the winning end. On Wednesday, they trailed the Utah Jazz by as much as 18 before prevailing by the score of 112-100. It was yet another magnificent performance by Julius Randle as he finished with 30 points, 16 rebounds, and seven assists. Austin Rivers had an incredible fourth quarter, including 14 straight points at one point down the stretch for the Knicks.

Injury report

  • Thunder: Out - Trevor Ariza (personal), Alejsej Pokusevski (concussion), Questionable - Ty Jerome (ankle)
  • Knicks: Out - Alec Burks (ankle), Frank Ntilikina (knee), Obi Toppin (calf), Questionable - Nerlens Noel (ankle/knee), Probable - Reggie Bullock (knee), Kevin Knox (knee)

Likely starting lineups

  • Thunder: PG - George Hill, SG - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, SF - Luguentz Dort, PF - Darius Bazley, C - Al Horford
  • Knicks: PG - Elfrid Payton, SG - RJ Barrett, SF - Reggie Bullock, PF - Julius Randle, C - Mitchell Robinson

Stat leaders

  • Thunder: Scoring - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 19,0, Rebounding - Darius Bazley 9.0, Assists - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 6.7, Steals - Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 1.1, Blocks - Darius Bazley 1.1
  • Knicks: Scoring - Julius Randle 23.1, Rebounding - Julius Randle 12.0, Assists - Julius Randle 7.4, Steals - Mitchell Robinson 1.5, Blocks - Mitchell Robinson 1.9

Team rankings

  • Thunder: Points for - 102.1 (30th of 30 teams), Points against - 110.7 (15th)
  • Knicks: Points for - 104.4 (28th), Points against - 104.5 (3rd)

Other things to know

  • Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau has seemingly instilled a defensive mindset in the team. They have held their past seven opponents under their normal scoring average.
  • CBS Sports recently took a look at Julius Randle and how he is making a strong early case at Most Improved Player. His improvement is seen with his passing as his 7.4 assist average is more than double his previous career-high of 3.6. His player efficiency rating (PER) of 28.25 is eighth in the NBA according to NBA Team Rankings.
  • Despite ranking 12th in the NBA in pace (101.3 possessions per 48 minutes), the Thunder rank dead last in scoring average.
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