The two hottest teams in the NBA will square off Friday night when the New York Knicks visit the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Knicks have won nine straight games, one of the longest winning streaks in team history.
The Thunder have won 13 consecutive contests, their longest run of success since the franchise moved from Seattle in 2008.
A win Friday would tie the longest winning streak in franchise history, set in 1995-96 as the Seattle SuperSonics.
Thunder coach Mark Daigneault isn’t getting too caught up in the achievement, especially with the Knicks and Boston Celtics ahead to close a five-game homestand.
“Anything like that, you stack up to it,” Daigneault said. “It’s possession after possession, day after day, and then sometimes you look up and you’ve won a certain amount of games in a row.”
Friday’s game figures to feature strength vs. strength when New York has the ball.
The Thunder have yielded an NBA-best average of 103.2 points per game, while the Knicks have scored a league fifth-highest 117.9 points per game.
“They’re better than they’ve ever been,” New York’s Karl-Anthony Towns said. “So we gotta be at our best to go out there and compete at a high level.”
The Thunder are coming off a 116-98 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday, a game in which Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander didn’t play in the fourth quarter as his team held a comfortable lead.
That could help keep Gilgeous-Alexander fresh for Friday.
Gilgeous-Alexander has played in the first 33 games. It’s his longest stretch without missing a game to start the season since he played the first 63 in 2019-20, his first season with the Thunder after being traded from the Clippers.
Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31.2 points per game this season.
Friday’s meeting will be the first for Oklahoma City’s Isaiah Hartenstein against the Knicks since the 7-footer signed with the Thunder as a free agent after spending the last two seasons with New York.
New York, meanwhile, again could be without its two top point-guard options.
Both Jalen Brunson (right calf tightness) and Miles McBride (left hamstring tightness) are listed as questionable after both missed Wednesday’s win over Utah.
That 119-103 victory made a statement, the Knicks’ Josh Hart said.
“We have great depth. We’ve got guys that can score the ball,” Hart said. “It just shows the difference between last year and this year.”
If Brunson and McBride are out again, Cameron Payne figures to play a bigger role.
Payne played 35 minutes and had nine assists, both season highs, in the win over the Jazz.
“Everybody just stays ready,” Payne said. “I feel like we’ve got a pretty good bench and everybody is always working on their game. And when their time is called, everybody is ready.”
Friday’s matchup will be the first of two games between the teams this season. The clubs also will meet next Friday in New York.
–Field Level Media
