Hawks at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder have clawed their way into the heart of the Western Conference playoff race with a 21-9 record over the past two months. They can now look forward to a favorable stretch of the schedule to try to inch closer to the top of the West, beginning with a visit from the Atlanta Hawks on Friday.
Including Friday's tilt, Oklahoma City plays nine of its next 14 games at home and all but three of those 14 contests are against teams with losing records. The squad enters the stretch with momentum after a 2-0 road trip that was capped by Wednesday's 120-114 victory at Orlando. The Hawks are coming off a 102-95 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, holding an opponent under 100 points for just the fourth time this season and surviving the absence of star guard Trae Young (thigh contusion). John Collins scored 33 points and hauled in 16 rebounds as Atlanta won for the third time in five games following a 4-26 stretch.
TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, FS Oklahoma
ABOUT THE HAWKS (11-34): Collins was 12-of-22 from the floor, grabbed seven of his boards on the offensive end and chipped in three steals and a block in 36 solid minutes. Brandon Goodwin, a two-way player appearing with Atlanta for the 16th time this season, had 19 points off the bench and combined with Collins to score 27 of the team's 33 fourth-quarter points. "He controlled the offense and made big plays," Collins told reporters. "To give us the minutes he did was extremely valuable."
ABOUT THE THUNDER (26-19): Oklahoma City is thriving due to its guard play and that trend was on full display at Orlando, where guards Dennis Schroder, Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander combined for 68 points on 25-of-40 shooting to go along with 18 rebounds, 16 assists and six steals. "We've got three point guards who can make decisions and who are dangerous," Schroder, whose 31 points led the way, told reporters. "Every time we have that lineup, it opens up a lot, whoever's got the ball. I was just aggressive, shooting with confidence, and it went in." Gilgeous-Alexander has three double-doubles and one triple-double over his last six games, a span in which he is averaging 10.5 rebounds.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thunder C Steven Adams (ankle) missed Wednesday's win and is day-to-day.
2. Hawks rookie C Bruno Fernando had a career-high nine rebounds Wednesday.
3. Collins, Young and C Alex Len combined for 74 points as Atlanta won 142-126 at home in the second meeting last season to gain a series split.