Russell Westbrook did it again, averaging a triple-double for the third straight season. However, all those stats produced zero playoff series wins the last two years with the Oklahoma City Thunder getting bounced by Houston and Utah. Russ will attempt to correct that and it begins on Sunday with a tilt against Northwest Division rival Portland Trail Blazers. OKC swept the regular season series and will look to continue its winning ways on the road in Game 1.
NBA Playoffs Betting at BookMaker.eu
Oklahoma City Thunder at Portland Trail Blazers
Date and Time: Sunday, April 14, 2019, 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Moda Center, Portland, OR
NBA Betting Odds at Bookmaker.eu: Portland -4.5, O/U 224
Oklahoma City at Portland TV Coverage: ABC
Live Betting Odds Analysis
For a while there it looked like the Thunder were going to contend for the No. 1 seed in the West. Leading up the All-Star break they won 11 of 12 games and were a comfortable 17 games over .500. Right after the break they proceeded to lose 10 of 14 and were scrambling to avoid the eighth seed in the final weeks of the season. But OKC closed the year as the hottest team in the league by winning its last five outings, regaining their offensive efficiency that made them so dangerous in the middle of the season.
A soft spot in the schedule allowed the Blazers to close the season with eight wins in 10 games to secure the No. 3 seed and homecourt for the first round. They reached the 50-win mark for the first time in four seasons, one of five Western Conference clubs to hit the half century plateau. As a No. 3 seed last season, the Blazers were swept by New Orleans in the first round, and they’ll look to avoid that this year, but they’ll have to do it without third-leading scorer Jusuf Nurkic, who was shelved last month with a gruesome leg injury.
Injury Report
It’s been a rough go for Nurkic around playoff time. Recall two years ago he missed all but one game of the Blazers’ first round loss to the Warriors trying to rebound from an injury. Last season he struggled against Anthony Davis and Portland was swept by the Pelicans. And now this. Nurk was enjoying the best season of his career and the best game of his life when an awkward fall changed everything.
Nurkic scored 32 points with 16 boards when he was hurt in the second overtime of a win over Brooklyn. Portland got through the rest of the season with Enes Kanter and Zach Collins eating up minutes. However, the ability of Nurkic to play the pick-and-roll with Damian Lillard is something that can’t be overlooked. He’s an active big that opens the floor for Dame and CJ McCollum and the offense will be impacted by the loss of 15.6 points a game.
OKC is quite familiar with Kanter from his days on the team. And Steven Adams could have a big game and series going against his former understudy. There’s a reason why Kanter couldn’t supplant Adams and why he is no longer a member of the Thunder.
Key Stat
Westbrook’s struggles shooting the basketball were well documented during the season. And somehow Russ was able to score 23 points per game. Well, I guess if you shoot the rock over 20 times a game you’ll get some of them to drop and, voila, you have a 20-point per game scorer. Westbrook hit less than 43 percent of his field goals and was an awful 29 percent from deep on the year.
He saved his best for the Blazers, though, making 35 percent of his triples in four games with a true shooting percentage of .530. A number that was far superior to his overall true shooting percentage of .500.
Thunder at Trail Blazers Live Betting
The focus will be on Russ and Dame in this game and series, and it should be. They are trying to get their clubs off to a good start after both were bounced in the first round of the last two postseasons. Lillard will have to do most of the heavy lifting for Portland with Nurkic out and CJ McCollum getting his legs back after a lengthy injury break. That makes Dame a player on the live betting lines and a likely candidate to reach his point total on a prop bet at BookMaker.eu. Lillard will need some help and I don’t know where it will come from.
NBA Playoff Score Prediction: Thunder 115, Trail Blazers 108
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