Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — one of leading MVP candidates in 2023/24 — missed his second game of the season on Wednesday against Houston due to a right quad contusion, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
According to MacMahon, Gilgeous-Alexander has been been dealing with the injury for a while — he was kneed in the quad a week ago.
It’s a big game for both teams, but particularly the Rockets, who are trying to win their 10th straight game and stay on the heels of the Warriors for the final spot in the West’s play-in tournament. Oklahoma City, on the other hand, is trying to secure the No. 1 seed — the Thunder currently trail the Nuggets by a half-game.
Here’s more from the Northwest:
- Third-year wing Aaron Wiggins has been a rotation regular for the Thunder for much of ’23/24, but he was a healthy scratch in Wednesday’s victory in New Orleans. When asked what led to the decision, head coach Mark Daigneault, said it wasn’t in his game plan. “He was live,” Daigneault said, per Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). “I just thought with the start we got off to, with the groups that were out there, I just kind of rolled with them. And it kind of drifted him out of rotation and it wasn’t necessarily pre-planned. In fact, I was planning on using him but we were in such a good rhythm.” OKC holds a $1,988,598 team option on Wiggins for ’24/25.
- The postseason is now out of reach amid a slide down the standings since the All-Star break, but the Jazz are still trying to find ways to motivate themselves as the season winds down, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic. “We might not make a deep run … this year, but everybody has something to play for,” Forward Lauri Markkanen said. “Individually, you’ve got to find it and lean into it. We have to set the standard on how we want to play. We have to come out and play hard and play together, and we have to play with pride. So I think there is always something that you can do to improve, and we have to do a lot of that as a team.”
- Speaking of the Jazz, a big part of their recent struggles has been an inept defense, which now ranks dead last in the NBA. As Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune writes (subscription required), Utah is the worst defensive team in the league by a significant margin over the past 10 games. While the roster may not be built to be stout defensively, Larsen argues the Jazz should at least be “acceptable” on that end, and they haven’t been, especially lately.
- Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has missed the past two games with an ankle injury, and he missed his third straight contest on Wednesday vs. Phoenix. However, the injury designation changed — according to Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter link), Murray is out with right knee inflammation. The 27-year-old “looked pretty good” as he went through a “lengthy shooting routine” before the game, Wind tweets. That suggests Murray’s injuries aren’t particularly serious, which is certainly good news for Denver.
Big win for Rockets …… even though Thunder were missing players. Sengun still out for Rockets. Gm went into OT. Rockets closed it out. Looks like they are growing up.
Rockets are on Warriors rear view mirror.
Too bad Markkanen isn’t more vocal. I like the things he’s saying, “We have to set the standard on how we want to play.”
Then again, when the Jazz Coach and Front Office have a plan, it’s hard to go against it. Play hard all game, keep it close. Then make mistakes at the end or sub out anyone not going along with the plan. =)
Although, the Jazz need more long, athletic, defensive talent on this team. They should use this strategy the next two years as well.