NBA Betting – Thunder Need Statement W vs LAC

Los Angeles Clippers at Oklahoma City Thunder (-5.5, 215 o/u)

The last time the Los Angeles Clippers (41-21, 20-10 Away) and the Oklahoma City Thunder (43-20, 25-8 Home) shared the floor, the Clippers came back from 17 down in the fourth quarter to get an improbable win and move a game closer to the Thunder for third-place in the Western Conference. The teams will tangle again tonight at Chesapeake Energy Arena (8:30 PM Eastern) with just a game and half separating them in the standings.

The Clippers ended the last matchup on a 26-2 run and walked away with a 103-98 home win. They continued to close the gap on the Thunder in the standings on Monday by dominating the Mavericks, 109-90, in Dallas. Center DeAndre Jordan led the way with 23 points and 16 assists; Chris Paul and JJ Redick added 27 and 22 points, respectively, as the Clippers picked up their fourth win in the last five games.

Oklahoma City has been trending in the opposite direction, winning just two of its last six and three of eight. To be fair, they have faced championship caliber opponents in Cleveland, Los Angeles, and Golden State (twice). But if Kevin Durant and company hope to challenge for a Western Conference title, they’ll need to find ways to get the job done against the NBA’s elite.

In particular, they’ll need to learn to close out games. They held late fourth-quarter leads against each of the Clippers, Warriors, and Pelicans recently, but wound up losing all three.

This is the third matchup of the season for the Thunder and Clippers; each team won on its home floor.  Apart from a complete fourth-quarter breakdown in the last meeting, the Thunder have looked like the better team in both games. Take OKC to make a statement and cover the 5.5-point spread.

Pick: OKC -5.5.

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