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The Oklahoma City Thunder was expected to be one of the better teams in the Western Conference this year, and they are slowly but surely climbing up the standings. The Thunder is now fifth in the West and hoping to at least end up in fourth to get home court advantage in the first round of the postseason.
Oklahoma City has a golden chance to win a road game this week when they travel to face the Los Angeles Clippers. Los Angeles is fighting to make the postseason and has played well of late, so this is an interesting matchup.
Oklahoma City has a lost a couple recently but overall seems to be jelling after the acquisitions of Carmelo Anthony and Paul George in the offseason. Los Angeles is not as talented as it once was but has started playing much better and will try to take care of business at home.
The Thunder may be slight favorites but it seems like this one should be competitive.
This war on the floor will go down Thursday, January 4, 2018, at 10:30 p.m. ET at the Staples Center. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the NBA Thursday schedule.
Odds Analysis
Oklahoma City is 20-17 straight up and 14-23 against the spread as the oddsmakers expected better results this season. The Thunder has covered only five times in 17 attempts on the road and will aim to improve on that.
The Clippers are 16-19 straight up and 19-16 against the spread. They are 9-7 against the spread at home this year.
Last Meeting
Behind 42 points from George, the Thunder defeated the Clippers 120 - 111 the first time these two teams met on November 10th. George also had nine rebounds and seven assists in the win and that performance remains among his best showings of the season.
The Thunder led for most of the game before the Clippers tied it up on a three-point shot by Austin Rivers with 5:37 to go. Los Angeles could not keep pace with the Thunder in the final minutes, however.
Russell Westbrook finished with 22 points and eight assists for the Thunder. Lou Williams had a team-high 35 points off the bench and Rivers and Blake Griffin each finished with 17 points.
Player to Watch
Williams —The Clippers’ shooting guard remains a strong force off the bench for Los Angeles and has a huge hand in his team’s recent success. Williams had 40 points and eight assists in the Clippers’ win over the Hornets on Sunday, his second 40-plus-point game of the season.
The 31-year-old has been playing extremely well lately and averaged 30.4 points a game over the last five contests with the Clippers going 4-1 in that span. He has emerged as a legitimate scoring option for Los Angeles and also averaged 5.8 assist throughout the month of December.
The team leaned on Williams more the past two weeks while Griffin was sidelined with a knee injury, and he rose to the occasion. Even with Griffin back, Williams should still see significant time and could be a factor once again in this matchup.
Free NBA ATS Picks
The Clippers had to rework their offense after Chris Paul was traded to the Rockets in the offseason, and the absence of Griffin was another blow. But the ascension of Williams has been big and Los Angeles has found a groove.
This isn’t as easy of a game as it looked like a couple weeks ago. The Clippers should be able to hang around, but look for Westbrook to take over late and lead the Thunder to the victory. Keep an eye on the spread when determining which team to cover.
NBA Odds: Thunder 101, Clippers 98
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