Magic at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder seemed ready to climb into playoff position in the Western Conference in mid January after winning four straight, but have dropped four of five games since. The Thunder look to turn things around with seven of the next 10 on their home court, starting with a visit from the struggling Orlando Magic on Monday night. Oklahoma City posted 127 points on Jan. 18 in a victory at the Magic, who have lost a season-high eight straight contests and 14 of their last 16.
Orlando, which has allowed at least 101 points in 12 straight games, may be the perfect medicine for the Thunder. In addition, Magic guard Victor Oladipo’s injury status is unknown after he missed the 108-93 loss to Dallas while Oklahoma City got All Star Kevin Durant back in the 85-74 loss to Memphis on Saturday after he missed two games with a toe injury. The Thunder shot a season-high 57.8 percent from the field against Orlando last month.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Florida (Orlando), FSN Oklahoma (Oklahoma City)
ABOUT THE MAGIC (15-35): Oladipo, who averages 16.6 points, sat out the last game with a strained right Achilles and power forward Kyle O’Quinn was also missing for family reasons. The Magic has plenty offense to fill in if one or both can’t go Monday, but will need to find some answers on the defensive end where they have given up an average of 111.4 points and over 50 percent shooting the last 12 games. Center Nikola Vucevic (19.4 points, 11.4 rebounds) attempts to reach 30 double-doubles on the season.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (23-24): Durant registered only 15 points and Russell Westbrook had 14 – both making 5-of-16 shots from the floor – as Oklahoma City shot 34.6 percent from the field Saturday. The two All-Stars average almost 50 points combined overall and Serge Ibaka has been a dependable third scorer (14.1) while stringing double-doubles together in five straight games. After a fast start with his new team, guard Dion Waiters is averaging 8.3 points and shooting 28.8 percent over the last seven contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Oklahoma City has won six of the last seven against the Magic, including five straight at home.
2. Orlando F Tobias Harris, who is second on the team in scoring (16.9), is averaging only 8.6 and shooting 28.6 percent the last five games.
3. The Thunder had a 54-33 edge on the boards in the game at Orlando last month.