The Oklahoma City Thunder and Denver Nuggets are set to clash in Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals on tonight, with tipoff scheduled for 9:30 p.m. ET.
Both teams enter the series with minimal injury concerns, though the core rotations for each remain mostly intact.
According to the NBA’s official injury report, the Thunder will be without rookie guard Nikola Topic, who continues to recover from left knee surgery and has not appeared in the postseason.
Denver will miss backup center DaRon Holmes II, who remains sidelined following right Achilles tendon repair surgery and has yet to debut in the NBA.
The series opener in Oklahoma City marks a rematch of a regular-season split, where both franchises took two games apiece.
In four head-to-head meetings this year, the Thunder won Games 1 and 3 convincingly, while the Nuggets responded with narrow victories in Games 2 and 4.
The Nuggets secured their spot in the second round after eliminating the Clippers in a dominant Game 7 performance, led by Aaron Gordon and a balanced bench unit.
Meanwhile, the top-seeded Thunder advanced with a first-round sweep of the Grizzlies, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaging 27.8 points across the series.
Oklahoma City finished the regular season with the NBA’s best record at 68-14, while Denver concluded at 50-32 and secured the fourth seed.
