Oklahoma City Thunder vs Los Angeles Clippers: NBA Match Preview, & Prediction

On Friday, the Oklahoma City Thunder will visit the Los Angeles Clippers to tie a team record with 13 consecutive regular-season victories.

As the weekend approaches, the Clippers will hope to halt their losing streak at the Paycom Center and get their first victory of the season. Their previous seven visits to the venue date back to March 2020.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

On Wednesday morning, the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated the start of the new year with a 113-105 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a game played at the Paycom Center.

With three rebounds and two assists, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander maintained his scorching run with 40 points on 65% shooting from the field. This was his third game in a row where he scored 40 points or more.

Isaiah Hartenstein scored 15 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his 13th multi-double of the season, while Gilgeous-Alexander was one of four Oklahoma City starters to score in double figures. Jalen William and Luguentz Dort also contributed 14 points apiece.

With their New Year's Day victory, the Thunder have extended their winning streak to seven games, matching a team record, and have tied the Milwaukee Bucks for the most consecutive regular-season victories with twelve. Their last loss was 97-81 in the 2024 NBA Cup final game on December 18.

Thanks to their recent hot streak, Mark Daigneault's squad is now 27-5 on the season, giving them a commanding lead in the Western Conference standings with a winning percentage of 0.844 after 32 games.

Even though Oklahoma is riding high heading into the new year, they'll have to prove themselves in a short span of nine days against the Los Angeles Clippers, the New York Knicks (at home and road), the Boston Celtics (the defending champs), and the Cleveland Cavaliers (who are riding high).

In contrast, the Los Angeles Clippers dropped another crushing defeat in the early hours of New Year's Day, this time at the hands of the San Antonio Spurs with a score of 122–86.

The Spurs won their 17th game of the season thanks to 27 points, nine rebounds, five assists, and three blocks from Victor Wembanyama. The Clippers shot 30–87 from the field.

The Clippers have lost five games this season by a score of 120-98 or more; the others were a 108-80 home loss to the Timberwolves on December 5 and a 126-94 loss to the Celtics in November.

Before losing on Wednesday morning, Tyronn Lue's squad had swept their last three games, defeating the Memphis Grizzlies, the Warriors, and the Pelicans to finish the year strongly.

With 19 victories out of 33 games played so far this season, the Los Angeles Clippers are in sixth place in the Western Conference, one game ahead of their archrivals and immediate neighbours, the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although the Clippers hope to rebound from their loss to the Spurs and earn their first season victory, they are winless in their past seven road games against the Thunder, dating back to a 109-94 triumph in March 2020.

Oklahoma City Thunder x Los Angeles Clippers Team News

Due to injuries, the Oklahoma City Thunder still misses a triad of key players. Nikola Topic (ACL), Adam Flagler (metacarpal), and Chet Holmgren (hip) are all sidelined for extended periods.

Alex Ducas (still nursing a back ailment) and Alex Caruso (who hurt his hip against the Washington Wizards on Boxing Day) will not be able to play in Friday's match.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, is the league's second-leading scorer. In the seven games following the NBA Cup heartbreak, he has averaged 34.7 points per game, second only to Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has scored 32.6 points per game.

Terance Mann will not be able to play in this weekend's matchup for the Los Angeles Clippers due to a broken left middle finger, which he sustained in Wednesday morning's game against the San Antonio Spurs.

Along with him on the injury table is floor general Kawhi Leonard, who is still out indefinitely due to his lengthy recovery from a serious knee injury he sustained in April.

Our Predictions

Oklahoma City Thunder (-6.5) @ 1.55 on Sky247.ng

The current NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder will be looking to continue their winning streak against a Los Angeles Clippers team that has lost its last three matches.

While Lue's squad will try to recover from their dismal shooting performance against the Spurs, we think the Thunder will prevail and extend their winning streak to two games, as OKC aims to break the franchise record for straight victories.

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