OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. –<\/p>\n
With two starters sidelined and multiple rotation players injured, the Thunder enter Tuesday night\u2019s home matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans navigating adversity that many teams face during the grind of an NBA season. For head coach Mark Daigneault, it\u2019s not something to fear, it\u2019s something to attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of headwinds in the NBA… scheduling, injuries, refereeing, shot variance, and everybody deals with it at different times to various degrees,\u201d Daigneault said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just becomes about your ability to see those things as a challenge and attack them. If you do that, then you\u2019ll emerge from that mentally tougher and more connected as a team.\u201dThe Thunder come into the game having dropped back-to-back contests and three of their last five, but the mindset inside the locker room remains steady.<\/p>\n
\n Injuries <\/p>\n
Oklahoma City continues to navigate a long injury list that\u2019s forced constant adjustments:<\/p>\n
Jalen Williams \u2014 out (hamstring)Isaiah Hartenstein \u2014 out (calf)Alex Caruso \u2014 out (adductor strain)Ajay Mitchell \u2014 out (abdominal strain)Cason Wallace \u2014 questionable (hip soreness)<\/p>\n
Despite the absences, the Thunder are still at the top of the Western Conference (37-10) and leaning are into the stretch as part of their development.<\/p>\n
Daigneault pointed to the condensed schedule and January grind as part of what every team must survive.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody looks at the schedule and says, \u2018This is a light one,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cIt puts a premium on recovery, staying healthy and fresh, and then just attacking it as a challenge.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Wiggins: \u201cJanuary is about mental toughness\u201d<\/p>\n
Aaron Wiggins echoed that mindset, pointing to January as a defining stretch for teams.<\/p>\n
\u201cJanuary is a time for us to get better and a time to challenge our mental toughness,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got a group of guys who understand that. We\u2019re trying to take advantage of these days in between and make sure we\u2019re ready when the game is.\u201dAfter close losses, the Thunder aren\u2019t focused on the moment \u2014 they\u2019re focused on the long view.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s 50 games left,\u201d Wiggins said. \u201cYou can\u2019t get caught up in a small sample size. There\u2019s a lot of time to grow, learn, and get better. We can\u2019t take last night\u2019s loss into tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n Pelicans arrive with momentum<\/p>\n
While OKC is fighting through injuries, New Orleans comes to Paycom Center with confidence. The Pelicans have won back-to-back games, including a 104\u201395 road win over San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Reserve center Yves Missi has been a key piece, tying a season high with 14 rebounds against the Spurs and delivering big plays late. With the Thunder limited inside without Hartenstein, his presence could again be a factor.<\/p>\n
New Orleans leads the NBA in points in the paint (58.2 per game), driven by Zion Williamson, who ranks second in the league with 16.1 paint points per game. Oklahoma City, meanwhile, allows an NBA-low 40.4 points in the paint, setting up a strength-on-strength matchup.<\/p>\n
The Thunder have dominated this series in recent years:<\/p>\n
12 straight wins over New OrleansFour-game playoff sweep in 2024Last six wins by an average margin of 21+ points<\/p>\n
\n Where to Watch<\/p>\n
Date: Tuesday, Jan. 27
Time: 7 p.m. CST
Where: Paycom Center \u2014 Oklahoma City
TV: FanDuel Sports Network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – With two starters sidelined and multiple rotation players injured, the Thunder enter Tuesday night\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":433670,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-433669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433669","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=433669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/433669\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/433670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=433669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=433669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=433669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}