Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Toronto Raptors Preview
Where: Air Canada Centre — Toronto, Ontario
When: Thursday, March 16, 2017, 7:00 PM ET
Line: Oklahoma City Thunder (+2.5) vs. Toronto Raptors (-2.5); total: 208.5 – view all NBA lines
TV Broadcast: SN1 / FSOK
NBA News & Predictions
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Betting on the Oklahoma City Thunder (38-29)
Point Spread: +2.5
Three-straight triple-doubles from Russell Westbrook led to three wins in a row for his Oklahoma City Thunder, who hope to continue rolling in this regular-season finale against the Raptors.
Westbrook registered his 33rd triple-double of the season in Tuesday night’s wire-to-wire win at Brooklyn, finishing with 25 points, 12 rebounds and 19 assists. The Thunder also received some solid games from the pair of Victor Oladipo and Taj Gibson, who collected 21 and 17 points, respectively.
Gibson added eight rebounds and drained almost 50 percent of his field goal attempts, which was his best game for Oklahoma City thus far. And with him now more adjusted to the team’s system, Westbrook and the rest of the Thunder seem on course for a strong final push for the playoffs.
OKC is 4-2 SU and 3-3 ATS in its last six visits to the Air Canada Centre.
Betting on the Toronto Raptors (39-28)
Point Spread: -2.5
Toronto snapped a two-game slide on Monday night, blowing out the visiting Mavs, 100-78, behind a 25-point performance from its All-Star wingman DeMar DeRozan.
The USC product is averaging 24.3 points and 6.0 rebounds in the last three games, while the team’s offense continues to miss the services of its other All-Star in Kyle Lowry, who continues to recover from wrist surgery.
However, Serge Ibaka is still struggling to fit in with his new team. The former Magic big man is putting 14.2 and 6.8 rebounds in 10 games with Toronto, but has been held below 10 points in his previous two, including a scoreless night versus Dallas.
The Raps really need him to be an impact on a consistent basis especially with the playoffs approaching closer each day. If not, that means more pressure (and contested shots) falls on DeRozan to lead his team to victories—just like when he erupted for 37 points on 13-of-22 shooting in the first regular-season meeting with OKC last November.
Toronto is 7-3 SU and 5-5 ATS in its past 10 home games.
Writer’s Prediction
OKC (+2.5) wins, 109-105.
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