The Warriors must go on the road, a place where they won comfortably in an earlier-season matchup between these teams. However, Durant’s absence is critical, and Oklahoma City should only be slight underdogs in this rematch.
The Thunder play well at home and star point guard Russell Westbrook would love to lead an upset after Durant left the team after last season. Golden State’s lead atop the Western Conference has evaporated so every game down the stretch is critical as it tries to lock up home court advantage through the entirety of the postseason.
This war on the floor will go down Monday, March 20, 2017, at 8 p.m. ET at Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The game will be televised live on TNT.
We'll have NBA odds available for this and every game on the NBA Monday schedule.
Odds Analysis
The Warriors are 53-14 straight up and 29-36-2 against the spread. Golden State has played in 36 road games on the season and has gone 14-21-1 against the spread. The Warriors are 29-35-2 against the spread as the favorite on the year. They have only been the underdog once this season, and that only came recently against the Spurs because Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala all sat out to rest.
The Thunder is 38-29 straight up and 37-30 against the spread. Oklahoma City has played 34 games at home and has done really well, covering in 23 of them. The Thunder has gone 27-14 against the spread as the favorite on the year but has only covered in 10 of 26 attempts as the underdog.
Player to Watch
Stephen Curry - The unanimous MVP a season ago, the Golden State point guard has not been nearly as good this season and has really struggled of late. Curry dominates when he is shooting well, but has been missing his stroke since Durant went down.
Curry is averaging 25.0 points, 6.3 assists and 4.5 rebounds per contest. He is shooting 45.9 percent from the field and 39.3 percent from three-point range. Curry is averaging 25.5 points and 6.8 assists in the team’s last five games but he is shooting only 39.5 percent from the field and 31.1 percent from three-point range.
The Warriors have lost three of their past four games, and Curry needs to play well to help his team get back on track.
Key Stat
16. That’s the number of games over .500 the Warriors are on the road, and also what the Thunder is at home. WIth the game in Oklahoma City, this should be an interesting matchup. Even without Durant in the fold Golden State would have been a heavy favorite at home, but playing it in Oklahoma makes it much closer.
The Warriors don’t seem likely to be the underdogs despite their recent skid, but the spread could be closer than past games because of the issues.
Free NBA ATS Pick
This is an interesting game. The Warriors were at their peak earlier in the season when these teams played and Durant led the way in a rout. Westbrook would love to get some revenge in this one, and the absence of Durant is huge.
Golden State isn’t as deep as last year but still boasts Curry, Thompson and Green. The Warriors are deeper, but Westbrook is one of the front-runners for MVP and has shown the ability to put his team on his back.
While the Warriors have struggled recently, they can’t stay down for long. The team is too talented and the shots are going to drop eventually. Expect Curry to have a big game and help lead Golden State to a much-needed road victory over Oklahoma City.
NBA Odds: Warriors 111, Thunder 107
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