Thunder vs. Heat Betting Line, Spurs vs. Nuggets Betting Line
The Thunder vs. Heat betting line and Spurs vs. Nuggets betting line appear below. All odds courtesy of Sportsbook.ag. Place your 1st bet, get your 2nd bet FREE here.
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER (20-20) at MIAMI HEAT (18-22)
Sportsbook.ag Line: Oklahoma City -8, Total: 199.5
The Thunder are looking for a third straight victory when they head to South Beach on Tuesday to face the Heat.
Oklahoma City needs to win in bunches in order to sneak its way back into the Western Conference playoffs. They Thunder have now won-and-covered in two straight games after an easy 127-99 road victory over the Magic on Sunday. Miami, meanwhile, beat the Kings 95-83 as a 3.5-point underdog in Sacramento on Friday, giving the club three wins in its past four games (all on the road), and going 2-1-1 ATS in those contests.
These teams last met on Feb. 20 of last season, when the Heat rolled to a 103-81 win as 3-point road underdogs. Over the past three seasons, Miami is 3-1 (SU and ATS) in this series, and prior to an Oklahoma City 112-95 win-and-cover in South Beach on Jan. 29, 2014, the Heat had won-and-covered in five straight games against the Thunder in American Airlines Arena. Yet the Heat had a very different looking roster during those years with LeBron James in the mix and will be in tough tonight.
Over the past three seasons, Oklahoma City is 6-1 ATS after two straight games with 26 or more assists, and is also 6-1 ATS this season after scoring 110 points or more. The club is also fortunate enough to be up against a Miami team that is 0-8 ATS off an upset win as an underdog this season, but the Heat benefit from the Thunder being 6-14 ATS on the road this season and 2-12 ATS in the past two seasons in road games when playing 4 or less games in 10 days. With SG Dwyane Wade (hamstring), SF Luol Deng (illness) and PF Chris Andersen (flu) all probable for this one, there are no significant absences for either team.
The Thunder are playing much better lately and they’ll now look to pick up a huge victory in Miami. SF Kevin Durant (25.4 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.7 APG) had some trouble adjusting when he returned from his foot injury earlier in the season, but he is now looking like a superstar once again. Durant had 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists in 28 minutes in Sunday's victory over the Magic. He has a tough matchup with Luol Deng guarding him, but he’ll need to find a way to remain effective for his team to gut out a highly productive game.
PG Russell Westbrook (25.1 PPG, 7.5 APG, 5.8 RPG) should be able to really dominate this Miami team. The Heat are weak at the point guard position and don’t have anybody with the capability of matching Westbrook’s athleticism. Over the past two games, the point guard is distributing the ball very effectively with 11.5 APG, and will continue to find his teammates for open shots in this matchup. PF Serge Ibaka (14.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 2.3 BPG) will likely be guarding Chris Bosh a lot in this one. He’ll need to make Bosh uncomfortable and attempt to keep him away from the basket.
SG Dion Waiters (11.0 PPG, 1.4 SPG) has been excellent since being traded to the Thunder, averaging 17.7 PPG over the past three games. He’ll need to continue to score off the bench for a team that doesn't have great scoring depth.
Miami has won three of its past four games and SF Luol Deng (14.2 PPG, 4.9 RPG) has really stepped up his play. Deng had 25 points, six rebounds, four assists, two steals and two blocks in Friday's victory over the Kings. He is getting it done on both ends of the floor, and will need to do a solid job defensively on Kevin Durant tonight.
SG Dwyane Wade (22.1 PPG, 5.6 APG, 4.0 RPG) appears to be set to return for Miami after a two-game absence due to a hamstring injury. Wade is this team’s most dynamic scorer and will be a huge boost for the Heat if he is healthy. His ability to get to the basket should free up things for the rest of the Heat’s players and they’ll need him to do a good job on Dion Waiters on defense.
PF Chris Bosh (21.6 PPG, 7.7 RPG) has been dominant with Wade out of the lineup. Bosh is averaging 28.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG and 1.5 SPG over the past two contests, and the Heat will need him to stay aggressive even with Wade on the floor. C Hassan Whiteside (7.2 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 2.1 BPG) struggled against Sacramento, finishing with just four points and one rebound in 15 minutes. Whiteside got into foul trouble early and will need to remain disciplined in order to help Miami pick up this victory. When on the court, Whiteside is a relentless rim protector and is averaging 12.4 PPG, 9.2 RPG and 3.2 BPG over the past five games.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS (26-16) at DENVER NUGGETS (18-23)
Sportsbook.ag Line: San Antonio -8.5, Total: 203.5
The red-hot Spurs look for a fourth straight victory when they begin a quick two-game road trip Tuesday night versus the Nuggets.
San Antonio has not had its typical season as it deals with its aging superstars and injuries, but the team has gotten back to near full strength and has come away with SU victories in eight of the past 11 games (6-4-1 ATS). In that time the defense has stepped up the most by holding opponents to 94.4 PPG with four teams shooting worse than 40% from the field. The Spurs were really impressive in their most recent contest on Sunday, as they crushed the Jazz by a score of 89-69 as big 12-point favorites. They held Utah to just 33.3% shooting and despite hitting only 31-of-80 shots (38.8%) themselves, were able to get plenty of points from the free-throw line (19).
Denver has had its issues with consistency this season, and after rattling off five consecutive SU wins (4-1 ATS) at the start of January, it has lost its past three contests (0-2-1 ATS). The first of the three losses came as no surprise when the 8-point underdog Nuggets visited the Mavs Friday and lost 97-89, making a mere 41% of their shots in the process. The next night, they suffered a very tough 113-105 defeat as 11.5-point home favorites against Minnesota and allowed the Timberwolves to hit 43-of-80 FG (53.7%), and on Monday, Denver suffered an embarrassing 122-79 loss on the road against the Warriors where it was outshot 54.3% FG to 34.5% FG.
Road games have not come easy for the Spurs, as they are 11-10 (both SU and ATS) this year and will have the ever-daunting task of taking on the Nuggets in the high altitude where they are 12-9 SU (9-10-2 ATS). It has been all San Antonio in the series between these two clubs, going 6-2 SU (4-4 ATS) since the start of the 2012 campaign and putting up an average of 107.5 PPG in that time. The teams already met once this year when Denver fell 99-91 as a 5-point home underdog, due to 41.0% FG and 21 turnovers.
Some trends to keep an eye on include that San Antonio is 22-9 ATS (71%) over the past two seasons after three straight games committing 14 or less turnovers, while Denver is 32-26 ATS (55%) when revenging a same-season loss versus an opponent in the past three seasons. On the injury front, the Spurs will likely have the services of SF Kawhi Leonard (hand), but will continue to play without SG Marco Belinelli (groin) for the foreseeable future. The Nuggets will once again be without SF Danilo Gallinari (knee) and C JaVale McGee (leg) for this matchup.
The Spurs offense has been able to put up 101.8 PPG this season (11th in NBA) behind 46.2% shooting from the floor (8th in league) as they rank sixth in the NBA with 24.6 APG. On the other end of the court, they are allowing opponents to score 97.6 PPG (7th in NBA) on 44.2% shooting.
PF Tim Duncan (14.9 PPG, 10.2 RPG, 2.0 BPG) continues to be a force despite being 38 years old, and has a double-double in three of his past four games, but is coming off a poor game against the Jazz (11 points, 6 rebounds). He hit just 5-of-14 FG attempts for 15 points and added nine rebounds with three blocks in the first go-around against Denver this season.
SF Kawhi Leonard (15.3 PPG, 7.5 RPG, 2.0 SPG) has looked like his old self in the two games since returning from a 15-game absence due to a hand injury, averaging 16.0 PPG, 6.5 RPG and 2.5 SPG. His performance against the Nuggets on Dec. 14 was one of his best on the season as he netted 18 points to go with eight rebounds, four assists, six blocks and five steals. PG Tony Parker (14.5 PPG, 4.7 APG) has also recently returned from a trip to the injured list, but has been ineffective over seven contests in January with just 9.6 PPG and 3.0 RPG. He was unable to go when these teams last met, but has averaged 16.2 PPG (49% FG) and 5.9 APG over 40 career games (39 starts) in this series.
Denver’s offense hasn’t been as prolific this year as in seasons past, but the club is still netting 101.7 PPG behind a combined 43.6% FG (5th-worst in league). It has been the defense that has been most problematic though, as it allows 104.2 PPG (5th-worst in NBA) on 44.9% shooting.
PG Ty Lawson (17.0 PPG, 10.1 APG, 1.3 SPG) has been the only consistent player this season, and he has been able to score 20.6 PPG over his past five games. He will look to do much better against this Spurs team this time around, as Lawson shot horribly in the Dec. 14 loss with six points on 2-of-10 FG, but did have 10 assists.
PF Kenneth Faried (11.7 PPG, 8.8 RPG) has cooled off lately and has failed to put up double-digit points or rebounds in each of his past two contests. He was unable to be on the court against San Antonio in their last meeting, but looks to improve on his tremendous stats from three meetings last season when he averaged a double-double (19.0 PPG, 10.3 RPG). SF Wilson Chandler (14.1 PPG, 5.8 RPG) has made a mere 39% of his shots in his past four games and could not find his rhythm against the Warriors Monday with just seven points and six rebounds. He scored 14 points on 6-of-10 shooting over 36 injury-riddled minutes the last time he met the Spurs.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
