Wolves-Oklahoma City game preview

December 1, 2017 at 4:07AM

Wolves gameday 7 p.m. at Oklahoma City • FSN, NBA TV, 830-AM

Stars surround Westbrook now, but victories aren't plentiful

Preview: Is the sky falling? Thunder GM Sam Presti went out and acquired superstars Paul George and Carmelo Anthony to accompany league MVP Russell Westbrook, but the Thunder (8-12) has lost three consecutive games and five of its past six. Its only victory in that stretch, oddly, came at home over mighty Golden State. Since then, the Thunder has lost to Detroit and at Dallas and Orlando. Two of the Thunder's 12 losses have come to the Wolves, including a 115-113 decision lost on Andrew Wiggins' long heave at the final buzzer in the season's third game. … The Wolves' 9-6 record in November was the third best for the month in team history. They went 9-4 in 2001-02 and 8-5 in 2004-05. … They're 6-5 on the road overall and didn't win their sixth road game last season until Jan. 19 at the L.A. Clippers. The Wolves also are 10-3 against Western Conference opponents. They went 18-34 against the West in both 2015-16 and 2016-17.

Players to watch: Westbrook recently joined Oscar Robertson and LeBron James as the only men to reach 15,000 points, 5,000 assists and 4,000 rebounds before their 29th birthday. Westbrook turned 29 last month. He is fourth on the NBA's career list for triple-double games with 85, including six this season. Robertson is first with 181, followed by Magic Johnson (138) and Jason Kidd (107). … Anthony is 23rd on the NBA's career scoring list with 24,530 points, 54 behind Vince Carter.

Injuries: Wolves G Jeff Teague (Achilles' soreness) and F Nemanja Bjelica (midfoot sprain) have missed the past four games. Bjelica said before Wednesday's game that he expects to play against the Thunder. The Thunder reports no injuries.

Jerry Zgoda

about the writer

about the writer

More from Wolves

card image
card image