Lakers vs. Thunder Line at OKC -8: NBA Playoffs Game 2
Carrie Stroup here with your Lakers vs. Thunder line, which was coming in at Oklahoma City -8 for Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs. You can bet all NBA games here at Sportsbook and qualify for up to $250 in FREE CASH upon joining.
Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Oklahoma City -8 & 196
Opening Line & Total: Thunder -7.5 & 195.5
The Thunder demolished the Lakers in Game 1, and will look to repeat the feat on Wednesday night.
Oklahoma City led 98-68 after three quarters and cruised to a 119-90 win. The Lakers, which shot better from three-point land (44%) than from inside the arc (43%), were certainly tired. They were playing this game less than 48 hours after finishing off a grueling, seven-game series with Denver, but they still have two trends working against them for Wednesday’s game. 1) They are 12-24-1 ATS (33%) on the road, including three losses of 15-plus points in four postseason road games. 2) L.A. is a miserable 15-28-1 ATS (35%) with one day of rest this season. Also, the Thunder are 10-3 ATS when playing only their second game in five days this season, and the Lakers are now 1-6-1 ATS in their past eight trips to Chesapeake Energy Arena.
The Thunder had 13 steals and four turnovers in Game 1, while the Lakers had just one steal and 15 miscues. Offensively, L.A. wasn’t horrible on Monday. SG Kobe Bryant and C Andrew Bynum each scored 20 points and the team tallied at least 21 points in each quarter. Bryant (7-of-18 FG) didn’t have a great game though with just three rebounds, two assists and three turnovers. Bynum made 7-of-12 shots and 6-of-6 free throws, while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds. But no other Lakers player performed up to his capabilities. PF Pau Gasol had a pedestrian 10 points, seven rebounds and game-worst minus-29 rating. SF Metta World Peace scored 12 points, but had just two rebounds in his 32 minutes of action. PG Ramon Sessions was downright horrible with two points on 1-of-7 shooting and just three assists in 26 minutes. And after shining with 19 points (5-of-6 threes) in Game 7 versus Denver, backup PG Steve Blake had zero points (0-for-1 FG) and a minus-11 rating on Monday, but he did tally a team-high four assists.
Oklahoma City is 29-7 (18-18 ATS) at home and 28-11 (20-19 ATS) with one day of rest. L.A. had no answer for either PG Russell Westbrook (27 points, nine assists, seven rebounds) or SF Kevin Durant (25 points, eight rebounds, four assists), who both posted ratings of +27 in Game 1. No Thunder player logged 30 minutes and seven of their players tallied a rating of +13 or better. The team shot a blistering 53% FG, 41% threes and 83% from the line. SG James Harden pumped in 17 points in just 24 minutes off the bench despite missing all four of his three-point tries. No other Thunder player had more than eight points, but nine others made at least one field goal. The big-men duo of C Kendrick Perkins and PF Serge Ibaka combined for a meager 10 points and five rebounds in 37 minutes, but each blocked two shots. This duo had combined for 21.0 RPG and 6.3 BPG during the regular season versus the Lakers. PG Derek Fisher was the one Thunder player with a bad shooting night (2-for-8 FG), but he averaged 11.0 PPG on 14-of-21 FG (5-of-9 threes) in the final three games of the first-round series versus Dallas.
Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
