Grizzlies at Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder are suffering through their first four-game losing streak since opening the season 0-4 and falling back to the pack in the Western Conference playoff race. They will try to snap out of the funk against a team they've dominated of late when they host the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Playing its second straight game without leading scorer Paul George (shoulder), Oklahoma City limped out of the gate and never put up much of a fight in a 116-102 loss at San Antonio on Saturday, falling into a tie with Portland for third place in the West. "We shot the ball extremely poorly from behind the line," Thunder coach Billy Donovan told reporters after a 7-for-29 effort from beyond the arc. "We didn't shoot the ball nearly as well as they did, and then couple that with the fact that we didn't defensive rebound." The Grizzlies have won two of their last three after recording an impressive 111-81 victory in Dallas on Saturday, their most lopsided win of the season. Jonas Valanciunas finished with 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting for Memphis, which has lost eight in a row against the Thunder and seven straight in Oklahoma City.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Memphis), FS Oklahoma
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (25-39): Memphis dominated from the perimeter at Dallas by making 14-of-34 3-pointers and limiting the Mavericks to a 7-for-40 showing. "The game plan going in was good," coach J.B. Bickerstaff told reporters. "We knew they were going to shoot a bunch of threes. What we wanted to do is limit the amount of open threes that we gave up." Valanciunas has notched three double-doubles in his last four games and is averaging 19.5 points and 10.3 rebounds during that span.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (38-24): All-Star guard Russell Westbrook has strained to pick up the slack with George on the sidelines, going 2-for-14 from 3-point range in the two games and turning over the ball seven times in Saturday's loss. The former MVP recorded one of his NBA-record 11 straight triple-doubles in a recent 117-95 win over Memphis and has averaged 16 assists and 14.7 rebounds in three matchups last season. Steven Adams posted 17 points -- his highest total since Jan. 24 -- and 13 boards against the Spurs.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Thunder PG Raymond Felton was 6-for-9 on Saturday after missing all five of his shot attempts in 26 scoreless minutes over his previous three contests.
2. Grizzlies SF Justin Holiday (knee) left Saturday's game after just three minutes and is day-to-day.
3. George scored a team-high 27 points at home on Feb. 7 in the first meeting with Memphis.