NBA Betting – Can Curry Crush OKC’s Soul Again?
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:39 am ESTPublished:
Oklahoma City Thunder at Golden State Warriors (-8, 230 o/u)
It’s been a tough week for the Oklahoma City Thunder (42-19, 17-11 Away), but they will have a chance for redemption tonight when visiting the Golden State Warriors (54-5, 25-0 Home) at ORACLE Arena in Oakland (10:30 PM Eastern).
On Saturday night, OKC let a huge opportunity slip away against the Warriors, watching a nine-point lead evaporate in the final minutes and eventually falling 118-115 in OT. Steph Curry’s well-documented greatness got all the headlines after the game, but Curry would never have had a chance to light up the OT period had Durant and the Thunder not mismanaged the clock and committed ill-timed fouls late in the game.
Things got even worse for OKC last night at the Staples Center. Leading the Clippers by 17 entering the fourth quarter, the Thunder played arguably their worst quarter of the season and wound up on the losing end of a 103-98 scoreline.
“We just let up and got comfortable with the lead,” said point guard Russell Westbrook. “[Y]ou can’t let up against good teams, especially on the road.”
Durant led the team with 30 points and Westbrook had 24 points and 12 assists; but the entire team managed just 13 points in the final frame, sending OKC to its fifth loss in the last seven games.
The Warriors, meanwhile, stayed hot in their last outing, downing Atlanta 109-105 in OT. Golden State was forced to play without Curry, who sat to rest his injured ankle, but got a huge night from Draymond Green (15 points, 13 rebounds, nine assists, four steals) including a game-sealing three with under a minute to go.
Curry is listed as questionable for tonight’s game, as is Andre Iguodala. The health of the reigning MVP will be paramount for bettors. If he can’t go – or is severely limited – the Thunder are good value at +8, especially considering they’re 9-5-2 in the last 16 against the Warriors.
Pick: OKC +8.
(Photo Credit: Keith Allison (Originally uploaded to Flickr)[https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/])
Sports Writer
Zack is a tour guide whose favorite sports are football, baseball, and golf. He enjoys giving obnoxious commentary during games and hopes to some day write a book about sports. His favorite underdog victory was the Diamondbacks beating the Yankees in game 7 of the World Series.
