The Oklahoma City Thunder are at home on Sunday as they start their chase for a championship in the first round against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Thunder dominated their way through the regular season and they will now look to do the same as they look to make a run at their first title since relocating to Oklahoma City.
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Oklahoma City enters the playoffs with a ton of momentum as they finished off the regular season winning eight of their last 10 games, including four straight, but they will match up against a solid Grizzlies team.
Oklahoma City Thunder’s Luguentz Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander celebrate after a play.Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
Memphis was able to make it into the playoffs through their Play-In Tournament victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday in a game they dominated.
Despite that, the Thunder enter as the more rested team after having a week off and they will also enter Sunday’s contest with an almost fully healthy roster.
The Thunder have listed only two players on their injury report for Game 1 on Sunday as they have ruled out both Nikola Topic and Ousmane Dieng.
Of course, Topic has missed his entire rookie season due to recovery from knee surgery and he will be out the remainder of the playoffs for the Thunder.
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For Dieng, he missed the final 15 games of the regular season due to a calf injury and he will remain out for the start of the playoffs for Oklahoma City.
Despite this, the Thunder’s main core, led by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, enter the playoffs fully healthy.
On the other side, the Grizzlies have ruled out two players for Sunday’s game along with Jaylen Wells and Brandon Clarke who will miss the rest of the season.
Memphis has ruled out Zyon Pullin who remains sidelined due to a knee injury and G.G. Jackson has also been ruled out due to personal reasons.
This is a massive blow for Memphis as Jackson has been a key player off the bench for them this season.
Fans can catch Sunday’s Game 1 matchup between the Grizzlies and Thunder at 1:00 p.m. EST on ABC.
