NBA Betting – Portland Trail Blazers at OKC Thunder

Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder (-8.5, 214 o/u)

The race for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference is coming down to the wire. The Oklahoma City Thunder (43-37, 28-12 Home) are currently tied with New Orleans for the last berth, but the Pelicans own the tiebreaker thanks to a better head-to-head record.

With the Pelicans hosting the lowly Timberwolves tonight, the Thunder likely need a win over the Portland Trail Blazers (51-29, 19-20 Away) this evening in order to keep pace (8:00 PM Eastern at Chesapeake Energy Arena).

The Thunder are just 3-7 in their last ten, and fall 116-104 to the Pacers on the weekend, despite a 54-point performance from MVP candidate Russell Westbrook.

The Thunder were perilously close to losing star point guard Russell Westbrook for tonight’s game; Westbrook picked up his 16th technical foul of the season against Indiana, which would have led to an automatic one-game suspension, but the tech was rescinded after the game.

“Every night I go out and compete harder than anybody else in this league,” Westbrook said when asked about the TF. “As long as my teammates don’t have a problem with it, I’m good with it.”

Portland, meanwhile, has secured a top-four seed in the West after clinching the Northwest Division. But the team has struggled heading into the playoffs, losing three of four, including a 116-105 setback to the Jazz last time out.

Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge didn’t suit up due to a foot sprain and he remains questionable for tonight’s tilt.

In the trends, these two teams have split the last ten games.  Seven of those ten have ended UNDER the game total. Aldridge is laboring but the Blazers are a solid team getting a boat-load of points (+8.5) against a struggling Thunder squad. Portland plus the points looks like the better play.

(Photo credit: Keith Allison (flickr) [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/legalcode]. Photo has been cropped.)