NBA Picks & Predictions for Saturday, April 2, 2011
By Nate Steele
(The Spread) – A rough second half Friday night at Portland put the Oklahoma City Thunder into the loss column, while on Saturday night they will have the chance to turn things around at the Los Angeles Clippers.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sportsbook.com have made the Thunder a 4.5-point favorite and the over-under has been listed at 206.5.
Oklahoma City begins play at 50-25 overall and 22-15 in road games, while the Clippers are 29-47 overall and 21-18 at home. According to the latest NBA trends, the Clippers are 5-4 against the spread versus Oklahoma City over the last three seasons. Five of the nine games in this series have gone over the total during the last three seasons.
Oklahoma City is 8-2 in its past 10 games, while the Clippers have only won four of their previous 10 contests.
NBA Free Pick: Both teams are traveling from elsewhere after losses to play this game, meaning there could be some tired legs. From the Thunder perspective, while there is still a chance to slide up or down the playoff totem pole its slot as the fourth seed looks very likely at this point. In the midst of a road trip, now might be a good team to reduce the minutes of some of the starters to freshen up before the playoffs. Oklahoma City is a good road team and its performance Friday at Portland is atypical, but the Thunder did look a little weary in blowing a halftime lead with an 11-point third quarter. Los Angeles might be having a dreadful season, yet its home record of 21-18 doesn't show that. Blake Griffin and company compete hard at the Staples Center, so I am taking the underdogs here at +4.5.
SATURDAY NBA FREE PICK: LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS +4.5