Thunder Aims To Right The Ship In Charlotte

The Thunder looks to snap a three-game losing skid Saturday against the Hornets. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT.

It will be the second home game of a back-to-back for Charlotte, which is 5-5 over the past 10 games. The Thunder (22-20) will miss Andre Roberson for the seventh-straight game – the team is 3-5 overall without its best defender this season. One of those losses was at home to Charlotte on Dec. 11.

Kemba Walker leads the Hornets (15-24), averaging 21.8 points and 5.8 assists per game. Dwight Howard is averaging 15.6 points and 12.1 rebounds and former OKC reserve Jeremy Lamb is having a career year with 14.4 ppg.

Lamb started last month against the Thunder and scored 14 points on 6 of 17 shooting but it was Marvin Williams and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist who buried OKC with an efficient 35 points on 17 shots combined. The Thunder had their best night from the line – 24 of 25 – that night and it didn’t matter in the 116-103 loss. Russell Westbrook scored 30 and Paul George added 20 in another baffling loss to a sub-500 team.

The Thunder has lost to six of the bottom 10 teams in the NBA.

Still, midway through the season, Oklahoma City is the 6-seed in the West and just 4.5 games behind 4-seed Minnesota.