NBA Betting Favorites & Potential Surprises for 2018 Championship

NBA Game 3 Expert Predictions For Houston Vs Oklahoma City

Written by on April 20, 2017

After ending up on the wrong end of Wednesday night’s 115-111 loss, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder will look to avoid falling into an 0-3 hole when they host James Harden and the Houston Rockets in Game 3 on Friday night. Now, let’s find out if the electrifying Westbrook and the desperate Thunder can get the outright win at home or ATS cover, as well as checking the updated NBA betting spreads here.

In Depth Analysis On The NBA Game 3 Expert Predictions For Rockets Vs Thunder

When: Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:30 PM ET Where: Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma TV: ESPN Live Stream: Watch ESPN NBA Odds: Oklahoma City -3 / Total: 224.5

The Thunder are slight 3-point home favorites when they host Houston on Friday, April 21, 2017 at 9:30 PM ET, live from Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. This game airs live on ESPN.

Why Bet The Houston Rockets Odds at +3

The best reason to bet on Houston in Game 3 is that the Rockets clearly have more talent and offensive firepower than Oklahoma City. This fact was painfully evident for the Thunder and their fan base on Wednesday night as the Rockets stormed back from a 15-point deficit to get the win in Game 2 as Eric Gordon scored 22 points and Lou Williams added 21 points off the bench.

“They had a great start and it was great composure on our part to stay within the game,” Gordon said after Game 2. “We lit a fire off the bench and in the second half we just played better overall defense. It was good that we kept the pace going. In the second half, we had a great collective effort.”

Gordon and Williams shot a combined 16-for-28 from the field and 6-for-10 from beyond the arc and oh, James Harden ‘added’ 35 points in the win. Underrated point guard Patrick Beverly had another fantatstic game by chipping in 15 points while harassing Westbrook into a 4-for-18 shooting effort in the fourth quarter.

Why Bet The Oklahoma City Thunder Odds at -3

The best reason to bet on the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 3 is that they’re going to be completely and utterly desperate to avoid fallinginto an insurmountable 0-3 hole and have one of the best players on the planet in Rusell Westbrook.

Just one game after getting harased into a dismal 6-for-23 shooting night from the field while committing a whopping nine turnovers in Game 1, Westbrook had a record-setting night in putting up 51 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds to produce the first 50-point triple-double in playoff history. For his part, Westbrook wasn’t concerned about his record-setting night after struggling mightily in the fourth quarter when the Thunder needed him most.

“I don’t give a (expletive) about the line,” Westbrook said. “We lost.” “From my perspective, I got to look at the fact that he did play the whole fourth quarter, and you know he was tired coming down the stretch to a certain extent,” Thunder coach Billy Donovan said. “And I don’t want to talk for him because I didn’t ask him that, but that’s certainly something that’s crossed my mind.” Oklahoma City got 12 point from Andre Roberson in Game 3 and 11 points from Victor Oladipo and Doug McDermott in the loss.

Expert Pick & Final Score Prediction

While I don’t see any way Oklahoma City wins this first round series over a Houston team that simply has too much offensive firepower for the Thunder to keep up with, I am going to advise you to back the Thunder in Game 3 out of sheer desperation if nothing else.

First and foremost, while Houston has gone 5-0 ATS in their last five road games against the Thunder, the Rockets are also an uninspiring 1-10 ATS in their last 11 games and a winless 0-5 ATS in their last five road games.

Combine all of that with the fact that Oklahoma City has gone 17-7 ATS in their last 24 home games and 7-3-1 ATS in their last 11 home games against a team with a winning road record and it’s not hard to see why the Thunder will get the win and super narrow ATS cover.

My final score prediction is Oklahoma City 112 Houston 106