Tuesday NBA: L.A. Lakers at Oklahoma City Thunder
If you haven’t seen the Oklahoma City Thunder yet this season, I recommend you check them out Tuesday night against the Lakers, who are 7.5-point betting favorites on WagerWeb.com.
The Thunder, behind Kevin Durant, are one of the most fun teams to watch in the league, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them sneak into the playoffs this season.
However, OKC comes off an ugly loss to Portland on Sunday, and Durant is 0-7 in his career versus the Lakers – although he did average 29.0 points and 8.7 boards against them in 2008-09. Overall, L.A. has won nine in a row in this series.
Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook looks to bounce back from a career-high nine-turnover game against Portland. His 274 turnovers last season were the most in the league, and he had four in each of the three games versus the Lakers.
This season, Durant is averaging 22 points per game, and Westbrook is averaging 15.7 points and 8.3 assists, seventh-best in the NBA.
Los Angeles will continue to be without Pau Gasol. He originally was diagnosed with a strained hamstring but it might be a small tear. He tried to practice two weeks ago, but said he aggravated it. Gasol has been shut down for three weeks, missing the first three regular-season games and the last six exhibition games.
This will be the Lakers’ first road game this season, and their first of 20 sets of back-to-back games. The Lakers have won their last four road openers and since moving to Los Angeles are 33-16 all-time in their first road game of the season.
Kobe Bryant, fresh off a season-high 41 points at Atlanta on Sunday, ranks third in the league in scoring at 26.8 points. Thabo Sefolosha will get the main defensive call on Bryant. In the first three games this year, Sefolosha has helped limit Sacramento’s Kevin Martin to 5-for-19 shooting, Detroit’s Ben Gordon to 8-for-20 shooting and Portland’s Brandon Roy to a 5-for-17 clip.
NBATV gave fans their choice of which game they wanted to be shown on national TV tonight. Lakers-Thunder won the polling. “We’ve got to come to play,” said Durant. “We’ve all played on national TV before but it should be fun.”
NBA Betting at WagerWeb.com
(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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