Thunder In Denver As Westbrook Looks To Pass Robertson

<p>Following an upset loss to the Suns on Friday, the Thunder looks to bounce back against the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon in Denver.</p>

Sunday, April 9th 2017, 1:25 pm

By: Brett Coppenbarger

Thunder In Denver As Westbrook Looks To Pass Robertson

Following an upset loss to the Suns on Friday, the Thunder looks to bounce back against the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon in Denver.

Here are a few things to know about the matchup:

Nuggets Fighting For Spot In Playoffs

With three games left in the season, the Nuggets sit at the ninth spot in the Western Conference standings and are 1.5 games back from the Trailblazers for the eighth and final playoff spot. While the Blazers have been red-hot as of late, Denver is only one game back in the loss column while Portland still has a matchup looming against the Spurs.

Just like the Blazers, the Nuggets are playing pretty good basketball as of late. Led by Nikola Jokic, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler and rookie Jamal Murray, the Nuggets have won three of their last four games with the only loss coming on the road to the Houston Rockets.

This will be the first of two times the Thunder and Nuggets will square off in the next four days, so OKC will need to be prepared to battle it out with a team fighting to keep their season alive.

Thunder Will Be Shorthanded

Along with sharp shooter Alex Abrines, the Thunder may be without defensive stopper Andre Roberson for the second straight game on Sunday afternoon. Roberson didn’t play in the second half of Wednesday’s win over Memphis with left knee soreness and sat out of Friday’s loss to Phoenix.

Roberson is questionable to play against the Nuggets, but Abrines still isn’t with the Thunder on its current road trip after hurting his knee in Tuesday’s win over the Bucks, a game in which he appeared to finding his shooting stroke after a mini slump.

Will Westbrook Get No. 42?

Russell Westbrook tied Oscar Robertson’s single-season NBA record for triple-doubles last week against Milwaukee, but has failed to break the record in the two games he’s played since. Westbrook fell one rebound shy of the record against Memphis and two assists shy against the Suns.

Putting together a Thunder report for tonight and a car rolls up and says "I am ready to watch history tomorrow." pic.twitter.com/4NTabHbt7f
— Steve McGehee (@SteveMcGehee) April 9, 2017

Westbrook was able to clinch a triple-double average for the season against Phoenix, but still needs to tally one more in order to claim the best triple-double season of all time.

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Following an upset loss to the Suns on Friday, the Thunder looks to bounce back against the Nuggets on Sunday afternoon in Denver.

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