Warriors at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder had their most lopsided win of the season against the Golden State Warriors at home late last month. The Thunder seek a repeat performance when they host the depleted Warriors again Saturday night in the opener of a two-game homestand.
Dennis Schroder led five players in double figures with 22 points and Oklahoma City shot 56.4 percent from the floor in a 120-92 win over Golden State on Oct. 27. The Thunder have since gone 2-3 after a 121-112 loss at San Antonio on Thursday, which kept Oklahoma City winless on the road (0-3). It will contend with a Warriors squad that had to go to overtime in Minnesota on Friday night before falling 125-119. D'Angelo Russell scored a career-high 52 points after missing the previous three games with an ankle injury, but his fellow starters had a total of 31 points on 11-of-32 shooting.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), FS Oklahoma
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (2-7): Star forward Draymond Green (finger) missed his fourth straight game Friday night and will not be active for this one. Rookie Eric Paschall averaged 26 points in the first three games starting in place of Green but he was held to 12 points with a season-low one rebound before fouling out at Minnesota. Russell, who had a season-low six points prior to being ejected in the earlier loss to the Thunder, added nine rebounds, five assists, three steals and two blocks to his big scoring effort Friday night.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (3-5): Danilo Gallinari scored a season-high 27 points while making 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the loss to the Spurs, during which Oklahoma City shot 52.5 percent from the field. "We were hanging around there, we just couldn't get enough stops," coach Billy Donovan told reporters after his team allowed San Antonio to hit on 54.3 percent of its shots. Guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander chipped in 21 points and he is averaging 22.7 while shooting 56.5 percent in three games this month.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thunder rookie SF Darius Bazley was held scoreless in 16 minutes Thursday and is 4-for-15 from the floor over the last two games.
2. The Warriors refuted a report Friday that G Steph Curry's broken left hand would keep him out for the season.
3. The teams meet a third time Nov. 25 in Golden State before they wait another four-plus months to conclude the season series at the end of March.