James Harden and Russell Westbrook have been in the news a lot lately as fans argue over who should be the Most Valuable Player of the regular season. At this point, they are more interested in keeping their seasons alive. Harden’s Houston Rockets will host Westbrook and the Oklahoma City in the first round of what could be a very entertaining playoff series.
Houston is the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference, and since it had a better record during the season and gets the home court advantage, it will be favored. However, the sixth-seeded Thunder have Westbrook, who is liable to put the team on his back at any time.
While Oklahoma City aims to keep this one competitive, Harden and Houston should be able to come away victorious in the critical first game of their series.
This war on the floor will go down Sunday, April 16, 2017, at 9 p.m. ET at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. 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 Sunday schedule.
NBA Odds
Houston is listed as the seven-point favorite and is -320 on the moneyline. The Thunder is +260 to pull the upset and thus far the money is heavy on Oklahoma City at those odds. The scoring total is set at 228 points, which may be a tough high since the Thunder can slow games down when it chooses.
The Rockets finished the regular season with a record of 55-27 straight up and 43-48-1 against the spread. Houston was not great at home, covering in 19 of its 41 attempts. The Rockets finished 33-33 against the spread as the favorite and will again be giving points in this contest.
The Thunder went 47-35 straight up and 45-37 against the spread on the year. Oklahoma City was a much better home than road team, going 26-15 against the spread on its home court but covering in only 19 of 22 attempts away from Oklahoma. The Thunder hopes to turn that around. It went 13-19 against the spread as the underdog.
Players to Watch
Harden and Westbrook -- Both players have great cases to be named the regular season MVP. Harden finished with averages of 29.1 points, 11.2 assists and 8.2 rebounds on the season, all of which led the team. He shot 43.8 percent from the field and got to the free throw line nearly 11 times per game.
Harden had 22 triple-doubles in the regular season and became the first player in NBA history to accumulate more than 2,000 points, 900 assists and 600 rebounds in the same season.
Westbrook averaged 31.9 points, 10.7 rebounds and 10.4 assists per game, becoming only the second player in NBA history to average a triple-double on the season, alongside Oscar Robertson.
Harden’s team finished with the better record, but Westbrook has less to work with around him. Both had unbelievably terrific seasons and it will be a treat to see them face off in this best-of-seven showdown.
Season Series
These two teams played in some highly entertaining games during the regular season, with three of the four coming down to the last minute of regulation.
In the first matchup, the Thunder rallied for a 105-103 victory when Westbrook had a dunk to put the game away in the closing seconds. In the second, the Rockets again allowed the Thunder to rally but held on that time for a 102-99.
The third time around was another barnburner, with the Rockets blowing an 18-point lead before Nene hit a pair of free throws with 0.7 seconds left to secure the two-point win. Houston finally had an easy victory in the most recent matchup, dominating the first three quarters and cruising to a 137-125 win.
Oklahoma City only won one of the four regular season matchups, but made strong runs in the fourth quarter of every game, and three came down to the final seconds.
Free NBA ATS Pick
The Rockets proved to be the superior team in the regular season, and now must prove it can both get an early lead and then hold onto it when the Thunder makes its push. While Westbrook should have several triple-doubles in this series, Harden might, too.
While the individual matchup will get all the attention, the players want the victories. It’s going to be Houston which comes away with this one behind Harden. The Rockets have the superior offense and that will prove to be too much for Oklahoma City.
NBA Odds: Rockets 117, Thunder 110
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