NBA Betting – Oklahoma City Thunder at Portland Trail Blazers
By Zack Garrison in News
Updated: January 17, 2018 at 9:40 am ESTPublished:
Oklahoma City Thunder at Portland Trail Blazers (-4.5, 207 o/u)
The Portland Trail Blazers (37-19, 24-6 home) broke their post All-Star game slump with a 111-95 home win over the Spurs on Wednesday. This evening, they welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder (32-26, 13-18 road) – minus reigning NBA MVP Kevin Durant – to the Moda Center (10:30 p.m. Eastern).
The Thunder got off to an understandably slow start to the year, as both Durant and point guard Russell Westbrook were on the shelf with injuries. However, as the team has gotten healthier, its record has improved in turn, and the Thunder are now just six games back of Portland for first in the Northwest Division.
The Thunder haven’t done themselves any favors in the race for the division title this year, though, dropping both games to Portland, so far.
Last time these teams (December 23), the Blazers emerged victorious in OT (115-111) on the strength of clutch shooting from point guard Damian Lillard. (Lillard scored 40 points that night, including a game-tying three-pointer with three seconds left in regulation.)
Look for rebounding to be a key factor in tonight’s game. The Thunder are the best team in the league on the glass, averaging 47.4 rebounds per game; meanwhile, the Blazers are third with 45.8.
The health of Portland forward LaMarcus Aldridge – who leads the team with 10.3 RPG and 23.1 PPG –  will be crucial. Aldridge has an injured hand and is listed as day-to-day. He managed to play 34 minutes in the win over San Antonio, grabbing 13 boards; but he also scored just 11 points on 26-percent shooting.
The Blazers are 4.5-point favorites for tonight’s game and the total is at 207.5.
Looking at the trends, the Thunder are 6-4 SU and 5-4-1 ATS in their last ten against Portland.  The total has stayed under in eight of those ten.
(Photo credit:Â nikk_la (Flickr: K26A0442) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons. Photo has been cropped.)
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.
