Thunder latest team hoping to run over hapless Knicks
The Oklahoma City Thunder haven't fared as well as they'd like against fellow playoff-bound teams. On Friday night, the Thunder will get another chance to continue building their confidence against teams headed for the lottery when they visit the New York Knicks.
Both teams were off Thursday after playing Wednesday. The Thunder began a three-game road trip with a 114-107 win over the Pistons in Detroit, and the Knicks continued a five-game homestand by trailing from start to finish in a 112-104 loss to the Utah Jazz.
The win by the Thunder snapped a two-game losing streak and was their 15th victory in their last 20 games. But 12 of those victories have come against teams that entered Thursday residing outside of the playoff picture and another win was against the Orlando Magic, who occupy the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference with a 27-35 record.
The Knicks, in the midst of a perpetual rebuild and on pace to miss the playoffs for the seventh straight season, provide another get-right opportunity for the Thunder, who will enter Friday in sixth place in the Western Conference, a half-game ahead of the Dallas Mavericks.
On Wednesday, the Thunder led by double digits for much of the middle two quarters before withstanding a late rally by the Pistons, who went on an 11-0 run in the fourth quarter to take a 103-102 lead with 4:27 left and led with 1:53 to go before Oklahoma City scored the final eight points.
"(Point guard) Chris (Paul) said before the game, 'You've got to come out aggressive,'" Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told reporters Wednesday night. "The past couple of games I thought we went on our heels for the majority of the games. That's why the outcomes were what they were. We just wanted to be aggressive tonight and I think we ought to know that."
The game against the Thunder represents a third straight chance to play spoiler against a Western Conference opponent for the Knicks, who authored one of their most impressive wins of the season by knocking off the Houston Rockets, the current occupiers of the No. 4 seed, 125-123, on Monday night.
The loss to the fifth-seeded Jazz was overshadowed by another incident involving Knicks owner James Dolan and an increasingly frustrated fan base. A group of young fans said they were escorted from Madison Square Garden after chanting "SELL THE TEAM!" in the waning minutes of the defeat.
The loss to the Jazz also came without the usual courtside presence of celebrity superfan Spike Lee, who began boycotting the Knicks after an incident prior to Monday night's game in which he claims he was denied entry at the media/employee entrance he previously used.
"We don't worry about that -- we play basketball," Knicks power forward Bobby Portis said Wednesday night in reference to the Lee boycott. "We pushed that aside and worried about basketball. That didn't affect the loss. We just didn't have it tonight."
--Field Level Media
