Thunder Open As Favorites Against Host Team Jazz In Thursday Clash

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will need to step up if they want to secure a win over the Utah Jazz. Christian Petersen/Getty Images

KEY POINTS

The Jazz and Thunder will try to snap their respective losing skids
The Thunder will be looking to cement their spot in the play-in tournament
The Jazz will be aiming to end their four-game losing streak at home

The Oklahoma City Thunder have one foot in the NBA play-in tournament and can further shut the door if they pull off a win against the Utah Jazz on Thursday, April 6 at the Vivint Arena.

Aside from that, the Thunder can close out its regular-season series with Utah with a win on Thursday.

The Thunder are -4 favorites to win over the Jazz per USA Today, while the moneyline set for this clash is -200 for Oklahoma City and +170 for Utah.

But most of all, these two teams want to snap their losing spell. Oklahoma City has lost three games in a row, while Utah has dropped its last three games as well.

The latest loss of the Thunder came at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, 125-136, despite the 32-point effort of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

Gilgeous-Alexander also had seven assists and five rebounds across his name in that loss to the Warriors.

Backing him up was Jalen Williams, who had 19 points and four rebounds, whereas Luguentz Dort contributed 17 markers.

The Thunder actually kept the Dubs at bay before Steph Curry and Jordan Poole got their act together to frustrate OKC.

That game also saw the return of Andrew Wiggins to competitive duty.

The Thunder are hoping to get another win to further dampen any hope that the Dallas Mavericks have of advancing to the play-in tournament.

Oklahoma totes a 38-42 win-loss record and is just half a game ahead of the Mavs, who are at 37-42.

As for the Jazz, they are still smarting from a close 133-135 overtime loss to the surging Los Angeles Lakers, no thanks to LeBron James who hit the deciding basket with about 27 seconds left in the contest.

"Our team did a good job of continuing the pace," Jazz coach Will Hardy stated in a report by ESPN. "We had the freedom down 10 to just like keep our foot on the gas."

Talen Horton-Tucker and Kelly Olynyk led the losing effort of the Jazz with 23 points each. Both players also issued seven assists each. Olynyk added seven rebounds to his credit.

Heading into Thursday's matchup, the Jazz are hoping to also snap a four-game losing streak at home.

The game will be telecast over Bally Sports at 9:00 PM ET with live streaming also available via the NBA League Pass.