Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs Prediction: Thunder has been resolute, Spurs improved

We are steadily towards the midseason window of the NBA, as a matter of fact, soon we are going to see a ton of trades while some teams fall off the radar as fatigue kicks on. The midseason is a great opportunity for the Franchises to look at what they are missing and explore the dynamic market. Anyway, that discussion should be left to the likes of Shams Charania and Adrian Wojnarowski for now. Talking about this game, the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to take on the San Antonio Spurs. 

The Thunder enters the affair after suffering a heartbreaking 125:128 Overtime loss against the Pelicans. This was a loss that stalled the three-game winning streak but a five-game losing streak earlier means that the team has won just three of the last nine, three of these losses coming at home. But this isn’t an alarming situation considering most of the losses have been in single digits and the team has accumulated 19 losses and 14 wins for the season.

As it was last season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has carried the burden whereas the second scoring option has been many times interchangeable. The main reason for the current record is that Shai lacks a sustainable scoring option alongside him and it is all about him for the most part. Lu Dort is a terrific defender but his shooting has been way off, Sophomore Josh Giddey has been developing well but has a long way to go as a scorer. The Thunder will need to get more out of their role players.

The Spurs enter the affair after registering a remarkable 126:122 win against the Jazz, which curbed a two-game losing streak. The Spurs hit an 11-game losing streak which derailed their season but have done well to win five of their last nine games, two of these wins coming away from home. The Spurs started the season on a hot note, winning five of their first seven games but then their problems and the lack of depth started to unravel.

The Spurs does have a potent passing attack, thanks to Greg Popovich while they have two of the most efficient long-range shooters, Devin Vassell and Keldon Johnson. The trouble is that apart from these two, the scoring consistency has been off, and defenses have crowded on these two to increase the scoring pressure. Their defense has been in shambles but this was a learning season so.

• Thunder: OUT: Chet Holmgren, Jeremiah Earl-Robinson, Ousmane Dieng;
• Spurs: Nothing to report at the time of writing.

• Expected Leading Scorers: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander(30-37 Points), Devin Vassell(22-25 Points);
• Expected Leading Rebounders: Jakob Poeltl(8-11 Rebounds), Josh Giddey(7-10 Rebounds);
• Expected Leading Playmaker: Tre Jones(6-9 Assists).

The Thunder will enter the game as the favorites but this is a team that has some vulnerabilities and can’t take the improving Spurs’ play lightly. This is a big opportunity for Oklahoma City to improve further and these are the type of games that become must-win for the development to head in the right direction. And I believe they will indeed play an amazing game and I predict a scoreline of 123:114 in favor of Oklahoma.