NBA - 715 Oklahoma City Thunder @ 716 Houston Rockets
Projected Line: 224 points | PK Line
This will be the final game of the regular season between these two teams. Not only Oklahoma City won the first two games against Houston, as they simply dominated both contests by winning them by 22 points at home and 30 points at Houston! I simply can't imagine the Thunder crushing Houston once again today, given the Rockets's current form on offense, however the All Star Break might not have been great for them, as it is possible that it broke their offensive rhythm. Oklahoma City had their revenge game at home against Miami before the All Star Game, but they got completely outplayed by the Heat, after having lost at Utah as well. This will be the second spot this season that Oklahoma City is playing a game after having lost twice in a row and in the first time, they struggled to beat Dallas at home and they only did it on overtime.
The first two games between these two teams this season hide something that it is vital to analyze in tonight's game. In both contests, Houston was on a terrible physical spot. We know that the Rockets have no depth on their roster and due to the frenetic pace they use on their games, they need their starters to perform well and that didn't happen in the two games against Oklahoma City. In the first game, the Rockets was playing a back to back game after having defeated Toronto at home. Besides that, they went to Coach McHale's daughter funeral earlier on that day and they were really on a poor spot. In the second game, Houston was on their worst spot of the season by playing their fourth game in five nights, while being also on a back to back spot. The first three games on this span had been on the road, so the spot was really super tough. So, no wonder the Rockets got crushed in both games. For tonight, Houston will be rested, so things should be a bit different. The All Star Weekend was also played in Houston, so their players didn't have to travel as well.
In the two previous meetings, Houston struggled offensively with just 40.6% FG, 31.4% 3pts and 20 turnovers per game. This is explained due to their poor spots, so I expect the Rockets to have a much better offensive performance this time. Not only they will be on a better spot and they aren't very dependent from James Harden anymore, like they were at the start of the season. On the other hand, Kendrick Perkins will be out of tonight's game and this means that Kevin Durant will play heavy minutes at the PF position tonight, something that will make the Thunder use a small lineup tonight. Houston's defense is very far from being a quality unit and so, Oklahoma City will show tonight why they are #2 in the league in overall offense. I expect a super high scoring in here, therefore I'll be taking the Over. As I expect Houston to be super competitive in here due to their red hot offense, I'll be taking the Rockets plus the points in here as well.
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 715/716 Over 220,5 @ -110 / 1.91 on Bookmaker
Pick: 3 units (Single Dime Play) on 716 Houston Rockets (+3,5) @ -110 / 1.91 on Bovada
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