Minnesota @ Oklahoma City preview

Last Meeting ( Apr 11, 2017 ) Oklahoma City 100, Minnesota 98

Russell Westbrook will try to rebound from a rare offensive clunker when he leads the Oklahoma City Thunder into a home matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday. After posting a triple-double in a season-opening win over New York, Westbrook was held to six points on 2-of-11 shooting in 36 minutes of a 96-87 loss at Utah on Saturday.

It marked the third time in his 10-year career the reigning MVP has been held to six or fewer points while playing at least 30 minutes, although he did finish with 13 rebounds and nine assists. The Timberwolves have lost 14 of their last 15 in Oklahoma City but enter this meeting on a high note after knocking off Utah 100-97 in their home opener on Friday. Jamal Crawford scored all 17 of his points in the fourth quarter, including a big 3-pointer in the final minute, to lift Minnesota to its first win of the season. Sunday's meeting is the first of two between the teams in a six-day span, with the Thunder visiting Minneapolis on Friday.

TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN North (Minnesota), FSN Oklahoma

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (1-1): Minnesota still is waiting for its three new starters - Jimmy Butler, Jeff Teague and Taj Gibson - to make a big splash on the stat sheet. While starters Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins both topped the 20-point mark in the win over Utah, Butler, Teague and Gibson combined to produce a total of 27 points on 10-of-29 shooting. That follows a season opener in which the trio was 11-of-29 from the floor in a loss to San Antonio.

ABOUT THE THUNDER (1-1): One of the big questions in the NBA entering the season was how Westbrook would share offensive duties with newcomers Carmelo Anthony and Paul George, who both have opened the season with consecutive games of at least 20 points. Anthony is averaging 23 shots and George is at 21 through the first two contests, compared to 11.5 for Westbrook. Aside from Anthony and George, no Oklahoma City player scored in double figures against the Jazz.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Westbrook is shooting 40.4 percent from 3-point range in 31 career games against the Timberwolves, which is his highest mark versus all but two other NBA teams.

2. Crawford is averaging 13.5 points in 21.5 minutes off the bench through the first two games.

3. Towns averaged 28.5 points and 10.8 rebounds in four contests against Oklahoma City last season.

PREDICTION: Thunder 108, Timberwolves 104