{"id":14472,"date":"2011-03-27T12:55:02","date_gmt":"2011-03-27T17:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=14472"},"modified":"2011-03-27T12:55:02","modified_gmt":"2011-03-27T17:55:02","slug":"playoff-clinch-portland-trail-blazers-at-oklahoma-city-thunder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/playoff-clinch-portland-trail-blazers-at-oklahoma-city-thunder-14472\/","title":{"rendered":"Playoff Clinch? – Portland Trail Blazers at Oklahoma City Thunder"},"content":{"rendered":"

Portland Trail Blazers AT Oklahoma City Thunder<\/strong>
\nMar 27, 2011 at 8 PM EST<\/strong>
\nOpening Line:\u00a0 OKC -5<\/strong>
\nCurrent Line:\u00a0 OKC -4<\/strong>
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 192.5<\/strong>
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 191<\/strong>
\nOpening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -200 \/ Por +170<\/strong>
\nCurrent Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -175 \/ Por +155<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
No one expected Westbrook to be this good, this fast<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Things are starting to come together at the right time for Oklahoma City.\u00a0\u00a0 They’ve won 8 of 9 and 11 of their last 13 and can clinch a playoff berth tonight with a victory over visiting Portland.\u00a0 The Thunder have been getting contributions from everyone and Kendrick Perkins, an NBA champ with Boston, understands the importance of getting a team effort, especially in the playoffs:<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into the playoffs, I think we\u2019re going to need everybody,\u201d center Kendrick Perkins(notes) said. \u201cEvery night in the playoffs, there\u2019s a certain guy that wins a game for you, that has a big night.\u00a0 Whether it\u2019s the first through the 10th man, everybody\u2019s got to be ready because there\u2019s just that one shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Besides just clinching the playoff berth, the Thunder are also hoping to secure a divsion crown in the Northwest Division.\u00a0 They haven’t won a division title since 2004-05, when the franchise was still known as the Seattle Supersonics.\u00a0 Winning the division is important since it guarantees homecourt in the first round of the playoffs, and it is also important for bragging rights, though few players would outright admit that.<\/p>\n

Some betting trends:<\/p>\n

Portland is 5-1 SU in their last 6 games and they are 7-3 SU in their last 10 on the road.\u00a0 Portland is 6-3 SU in their last 9 games against Oklahoma City.\u00a0 The total has gone UNDER in 10 of Portland’s last 14 games against Oklahoma City and the total has also gone UNDER in 7 of the last 8 road games in Oklahoma\u00a0 City.\u00a0 Portland is 5-10 SU In their last 15 road games against the Thunder.<\/p>\n

The total has gone UNDER in 7 of Oklahoma City’s last 8 games and they are 8-1 SU in their last 9 games.\u00a0 Oklahoma City is 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games and the total has gone UNDER in 4 of their last 5 home games.\u00a0 Oklahoma City is 6-1 SU in their last 7 at home and they are 2-3-1 ATS in their last 6 at home.\u00a0 Oklahoma City is 2-7 ATS in their last 9 games against the Blazers and the total has gone UNDER in 10 of their last 14 games against the Blazers.\u00a0 OKC is 3-6 SU in their last 9 against Portland and they are 10-5 SU in their last 15 home games against the Blazers.\u00a0 Oklahoma City is 1-4 ATS in their last 5 home games against Portland and the total has gone UNDER in 7 of the last 8 games at home against the Blazers.<\/p>\n

Key Matchups:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nicolas Batum vs. Kevin Durant<\/strong><\/p>\n

For as good of a defender as Batum supposedly is, it didn’t make much of a difference last time the teams met.\u00a0 Durant torched Batum for 34 points in 40 minutes, shooting 13 of 21 from the floor.\u00a0 And in the first meeting, the game before that, Durant went for 28 points in a one point overtime victory, as he shot 11 of 24 from the floor.\u00a0 Batum, for all the talk of being a lockdown defender, should be able to hold Durant under 30, but he probably won’t.\u00a0 There really aren’t any true lockdown defenders with the leagues rules as they are in today’s game and Durant has too many weapons at his disposal that make him a tough cover for even the best defenders.\u00a0 Batum won’t provide a lot of resistance on the other end, though he is a decent scorer.\u00a0 He shoots 45% from the floor and averages 12 points a game.\u00a0 It’s pedestrian, but his primary role on Portland is not to be a scorer, but rather to stop other scorers.<\/p>\n

Andre Miller vs. Russell Westbrook<\/strong><\/p>\n

Westbrook went absolutely nuts the last time these teams met, going for 36 points, 7 assists, and 7 rebounds.\u00a0 His size, strength, and athleticism make him an extremely tough cover for Miller, who never has been all that quick and at age 35 is nearing the end of his NBA career.\u00a0 Miller is still effective on offense, though, and he knows how to run a team.\u00a0 He’s still averaging right on his career average for assists, 7.2 per game, and is capable on occasion of having a huge game (he scored 52 in a 2 point victory over Dallas on January 30th of LAST season).\u00a0 Westbrook is clearly the future of point guards in the NBA, but can still learn a few things from Miller.\u00a0 Expect Westbrook to get the best of this matchup, and it will probably be the difference maker in the game.<\/p>\n

Oklahoma City is a superior team in terms of talent to the Blazers.\u00a0 Portland has dealt with injuries and set backs all season and emerged as a battle tested team, but they simply don’t have an answer for Durant or Westbrook.\u00a0 Most teams don’t.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Portland Trail Blazers AT Oklahoma City Thunder Mar 27, 2011 at 8 PM EST Opening Line:\u00a0 OKC -5 Current Line:\u00a0 OKC -4 Opening Total:\u00a0 192.5 Current Total:\u00a0 191 Opening Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -200 \/ Por +170 Current Moneyline:\u00a0 OKC -175 \/ Por +155 Things are starting to come together at the right time for Oklahoma City.\u00a0\u00a0 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40250,"featured_media":9294,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1444,133],"tags":[399,830],"class_list":["post-14472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","category-nba-handicapping","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-portland-trail-blazers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40250"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14472"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14472\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14473,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14472\/revisions\/14473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}