Basketball. NBA. Regular season
Oklahoma City Thunder vs San Antonio Spurs
Stadium: AT&T Center (San Antonio)
Oklahoma outscored the Lakers for the second time this season and will now take on San Antonio. Interestingly, other than the two wins over LAL, the Thunder have no more wins. Can Mark Daigneault's team beat the Spurs? Let's pick a few options to bet on at once.
Claim Your Welcome Bonus!Oklahoma are already tough to beat
Clearly, this season is a preview season for the Thunder. The long-term contract with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is signed, so the main star is known. Now they need to shape the roster. That's what general manager Sam Presti is doing. Right now, the Thunder's payroll is mostly expiring contracts, which means who stays and who goes is determined here and now.
Despite the diversity of the roster, Oklahoma are showing that they can be competitive even in some games. In fact, the two wins over the Lakers are far from the only achievements. The Thunder looked great against the Clippers, losing by only five points. What's more, they were great against Golden State at home, losing by only 8. All in all, Shai and others are good and will stand out again and again during the season.
San Antonio shouldn't stumble in games like this
With Demar DeRozan, Patty Mills, and Rudy Gay gone, the Spurs have almost entirely young guys at their disposal. However, that doesn't stop fans of the legendary organization from counting on making the playoffs. Fortunately now, even the 10th team in the conference in the regular season has a chance to get into the postseason.
In order to enter in the top-10, there's no way for the Spurs to lose to the underdogs. That makes their second win of the season over the Orlando Magic before facing Oklahoma City all the more valuable. The new faces, Dejounte Murray and Keldon Johnson, each scored 20 points in a 102-89 win.
Injuries
- Oklahoma: Gabriel Deck – out;
- San Antonio: Devontae Cacok, Jakob Poeltl, Zach Collins – out.
Head-to-head encounters
The last season saw Oklahoma beat San Antonio in 2 of 3 matches.
Expert Betting Tips
Oklahoma is not a contender for anything this season, and the Spurs, knowing Gregg Popovich, will fight to the very last for at least the wild card. In order to solve this problem, San Antonio, whose personnel resources are extremely limited, needs to take 100% of the games, like the recent confrontation with Orlando and the upcoming game in Oklahoma City.
Prediction: San Antonio will win.
Betting options:
- Handicap San Antonio (-3.5) for 1.79;
- San Antonio To Win + Total Over (211.5) for 3.00;
- San Antonio To Win by 6-10 points for 5.50.