NBA Betting Free Picks: Oklahoma City @ LA Lakers
Added on Apr 19, 2010 by Jack Thurman in
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Sportsbooks have been featuring the start of NBA betting action on postseason play this weekend, and we’ll take a look at a Western Conference opening round sports betting matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Lakers. Lakers won the conference title, while the Thunder finished 8th behind a monster year from Kevin Durant who won the NBA’s scoring crown.
Oklahoma City Thunder at Los Angeles Lakers
April 18, 12:00 PM Pacific
The Lakers have obvious not been playing their best down the stretch, with Andrew Bynum recovering from a strained Achilles’ Tendon and the team as a whole looking ahead to the postseason. The Lakers won only 4 of their last 11 games straight up, covering only 5 of their final 15 games. While the tendency to take it easy down the stretch isn’t uncommon for teams in the late part of the regular season, we’re concerned about L.A’s ability to quickly get back to top form to cover a margin here. Oklahoma City is best known for budding superstar Kevin Durant, but the Thunder have become a solid defensive team as well finishing 11th in the league in per game scoring defense.
Despite the fact that the Lakers have dominated this series straight up, winning 10 of 11 overall and 5 straight at home, the Thunder have been very competitive against the pointspread. The Thunder are 6-5 ATS overall in these meetings and 3-2 in L.A and covered 3 of 4 meetings this season. Phil Jackson caught a lot of heat for comments that Kevin Durant receives preferential treatment from officials, and while that might not change the way referees call the games it could light a fire under OKC. Look for a good effort by the road team here against a Lakers’ team that might have some ‘rust’ to work off.
Bet Oklahoma City +7′ over Los Angeles Lakers
