Thunder face the Hornets, look for 5th straight victory

Oklahoma City Thunder (12-1, first in the Western Conference) vs. Charlotte Hornets (4-8, 12th in the Eastern Conference)

Charlotte, North Carolina; Saturday, 7 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: Oklahoma City will attempt to build upon its four-game win streak with a victory against Charlotte.

The Hornets are 3-3 on their home court. Charlotte is seventh in the league averaging 14.8 made 3-pointers per game while shooting 37.1% from deep. Miles Bridges leads the team averaging 3.3 makes while shooting 36.7% from 3-point range.

The Thunder are 6-1 on the road. Oklahoma City is the Western Conference leader with 37.0 defensive rebounds per game led by Isaiah Hartenstein averaging 7.8.

The 118.9 points per game the Hornets average are 11.9 more points than the Thunder allow (107.0). The Thunder’s 47.6% shooting percentage from the field this season is 2.1 percentage points lower than the Hornets have given up to their opponents (49.7%).

TOP PERFORMERS: LaMelo Ball is scoring 22.3 points per game and averaging 7.1 rebounds for the Hornets. Kon Knueppel is averaging 32.0 points and 3.0 rebounds over the last 10 games.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 32.5 points, 5.2 rebounds and 6.6 assists for the Thunder. Isaiah Joe is averaging 21.0 points over the last 10 games.

LAST 10 GAMES: Hornets: 3-7, averaging 117.0 points, 45.7 rebounds, 26.2 assists, 7.0 steals and 5.0 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 121.5 points per game.

Thunder: 9-1, averaging 121.0 points, 46.3 rebounds, 26.4 assists, 11.0 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 48.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 103.2 points.

INJURIES: Hornets: Grant Williams: day to day (acl), Brandon Miller: out (shoulder), Ryan Kalkbrenner: day to day (personal), Josh Green: day to day (shoulder), Liam McNeeley: day to day (illness).

Thunder: Aaron Wiggins: out (thigh), Luguentz Dort: day to day (shoulder), Nikola Topic: out (groin), Jalen Williams: out (wrist), Kenrich Williams: out (knee), Thomas Sorber: out for season (knee).

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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.