The Atlanta Hawks have been awful on the road. That’s perfect for the Oklahoma City Thunder, who will host the Hawks inside Chesapeake Energy Arena on Friday night.
OKC returns home after a two-game road trip in which they beat both the Houston Rockets and the Orlando Magic. The Thunder were buoyed by big second-half performances from Dennis Schröder in both games.
Schröder told Thunder digital reporter Paris Lawson that the team is just keeping it simple and having fun:
We’re just playing. It’s all about having fun, having confidence … everybody’s ready. Everybody’s working each day trying to get better and it doesn’t really matter who’s out there, who’s not. We just try to go out there and compete and that’s what we did [Wednesday night].
Oklahoma City hopes to have big man Steven Adams back in the lineup, who did not play on Wednesday due to a left ankle sprain. Adams suffered the injury just minutes into Monday’s game against the Rockets when he was undercut by Clint Capela while trying to grab an offensive rebound.
Adams left the game and did not return.
Terrance Ferguson and Abdel Nader also missed OKC’s win over the Magic. Ferguson (personal reasons) was out for the second consecutive game. The third-year player also was sidelined against the Trail Blazers on Jan. 18 due to illness, making the Thunder’s Friday night matchup his third straight absence. Nader (ankle sprain), meanwhile, has not played since leaving the first half of OKC’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Jan. 13.
While it’s the Thunder who are known for their second-half comebacks, the Hawks are coming off a massive one against the LA Clippers. Atlanta surged from 21-down to beat Los Angeles 102-95.
Friday’s game is the first of two regular-season matchups. The teams meet again on March 18 when the Thunder will travel to Atlanta.