Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Houston Rockets Preview
Where: Toyota Center — Houston, TX
When: Sunday, March 26, 2017, 3:30 PM ET
Line: Oklahoma City Thunder (+6) vs. Houston Rockets (-6); total: 232.0 – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: ABC
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Betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder (41-30)
Point Spread: +6
Russell Westbrook secured his league-leading 35th triple-double of the season (18 points, 11 rebounds, 14 assists) in a 122-97 rout over the Sixers last week. But this one was special compared to the previous ones, as he did so without any misses from the field (6-for-6) and from the free-throw line (6-for-6), making him the first player to register a perfect shooting triple-double in NBA history, per Elias Sports.
The win was also the Thunder’s sixth in seven games (6-1 ATS), with the lone loss against the Warriors at home (111-95). Up next is this regular-season finale with the Rockets, who have won the last two meetings in the series.
Westbrook is averaging 35.3 points in three meetings with Houston this season, but the results haven’t favored OKC due to the lack of production from his teammates. However, that might not be the case this time around with Victor Oladipo, Enes Kanter and Steven Adams all playing well as of the moment.
Oladipo, in particular, is putting up 18.3 points, while shooting 60.6 percent from beyond the arc in eight games since returning from his back injury.
Betting on the Houston Rockets (50-22)
Point Spread: -6
Houston has its own MVP candidate and triple-double machine in the form of James Harden. He has four triple-doubles and three double-doubles over his last seven games—a stretch in which the Rockets have gone 6-1 SU and 4-3 ATS.
Aside from getting victories, Harden’s currently been making history with four-straight games with at least 30 points and 10 assists, the longest streak since the Michael Jordan in the 1988-89 season. Harden, however, has had his shooting woes versus OKC this season, converting just 29.1 percent of his field goals while collecting just 20.0 points per game.
Despite those struggles, he’s still managing to find his teammates with 12.3 assists per contest. Eric Gordon, Lou Williams and Trevor Ariza will have to continue knocking down open threes and create their own shots, too, to take some of the scoring load of off Harden.
Writer’s Prediction
Houston (-6) wins and covers.
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