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Oklahoma City at Minnesota NBA Betting Prediction & Preview
When: Tuesday, April 11, 8 PM ET Where: Target Center, Minneapolis TV: NBA TV Stream: NBA.tv Radio: Oklahoma City / Minnesota NBA Odds: TBA
Why Bet On Oklahoma City?
The Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 106-105 on Sunday on Russell Westbrook’s 36-foot 3-pointer – the first career buzzer-beating game winner of his career. Westbrook also set the NBA record with his 42 nd triple-double of the season. He had 50 points, 16 rebounds and 10 assists. Oscar Robertson recorded 41 triple-doubles in 1961-62, when he averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists per game. That made him the only player in NBA history to average a triple-double until Westbrook accomplished the feat this season.While it was the first game-winning buzzer-beater of his career, Westbrook leads the league with four go-ahead field goals in the final 10 seconds of games this season. Westbrook’s 247 points in the clutch – final five minutes, score within five points – are four shy of 2007-08 LeBron James for the most in a season by any player over the last 20 years. His clutch plus-minus (plus-85) ranks third in the NBA. Westbrook is going to win his second scoring title as well. Oklahoma City is an outstanding team when Westbrook gets a triple-double, going 33-9 in those games. The Thunder are 13-25 when he doesn’t.
It was Westbrook’s third 50-plus- point triple-double, all of them this season and more than any player in NBA history has in his career. Westbrook has scored at least 40 points in eight triple-doubles this season. I wonder if Westbrook decides to sit out the final two games and rest up for the playoffs. OKC will face Houston and James Harden in the first round. Most believe Westbrook will be named NBA MVP with Harden second. Coach Billy Donovan said he will let Westbrook decide if he plays or not.
Kyle Singler was busy on Sunday, playing 34 minutes off the bench to finish with eight points on 4-of- 8 shooting, four boards, three assists, three steals and one block. Doug McDermott (knee) and Alex Abrines (knee) were both on the sidelines, while Andre Roberson (knee) was on a minute-limit, which thrust Singler into an unusually large role.
In the Thunder’s 46 wins this season, the Thunder are outscoring the opposition by a 111.0 to 100.0 margin. In those games, OKC is limiting the opposition to just 43.0% shooting. The Thunder are 22-3 this season when holding the opponent to fewer than 100 points.
Why Bet On Minnesota?
The Wolves have been a disappointment this season but they are going to be quite good pretty soon with building blocks like Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns, the past two NBA Rookies of the Year. This is Minnesota’s final home game.In Sunday’s 110-109 loss at the Lakers, Wiggins poured in 41 points on 13-of- 26 shooting. Towns was a very efficient 17-of- 22 from the field, finishing with 40 points, 21 rebounds, four assists, a steal and a blocked shot. Towns and Wiggins each eclipsed the 40-point mark to become the first duo in franchise history to hit the number in the same game. Ricky Rubio misfired on nine of his 10 field-goal attempts in Sunday’s loss, finishing with just two points. It was Minnesota’s first loss in a one-point decision since November 2014, ending its NBA-record- tying string of 10 wins in such games.
Minnesota snapped a five-game home losing streak vs. Oklahoma City with a Jan. 13 96-86 victory. Towns collected 29 points and 17 rebounds. Rubio finished with 14 points and 14 assists for Minnesota, while Westbrook contributed 21 points, 11 rebounds and 12 assists for the Thunder. The Thunder have won 26 of the last 31 overall in the series.
Towns enters tonight’s contest needing four points to break Kevin Love’s club single-season scoring record and 26 rebounds in the Wolves’ final two games to become the youngest player in NBA annals (15th overall, first since Tim Duncan in 2001-02) to collect 2000+ points and 1000+ rebounds in a season.
