The Spurs were in a bad way coming into Wednesday’s game with the Pistons, having lost 7 of 8 and in danger of falling out of the postseason race. All 8 of those games were away from San Antonio however and the team abruptly responded to being at home with a 12 point win over Detroit. San Antonio is favored by -4.5 vs. Oklahoma City in the March 2nd NBA free pick. That seems like a lot of points or maybe even the wrong team is favored, does that actually mean the Spurs dominate again?
Thunder Slumping a Bit Lately
Oklahoma City comes into the March 2nd NBA free pick needing a win. The Thunder have dropped 4 of their last 5 although they are still sitting pretty as the #3 seed in the West. OKC is just 0.5 up on Portland for the 4 seed and Houston is 1.5 GB which would drop the Thunder out of home court for the first round of the playoffs. So what’s the reason for their recent skid? Paul George having a rotator cuff injury and missing Saturday night’s contest with the Spurs defnitely doesn’t help. Without George on Thursday, Oklahoma City dropped a 104-108 home contest to the Sixers despite a 23/11/11 triple double from Russell Westbrook.
OKC has been a bit rough on defense lately, giving up 119+ points in four of the past five. The goal of San Antonio is going to be to slow things down as the Spurs have been held to under 108 points in four of the last six. The teams did go over in both of their previous meetings this season, a home and home back in early January that saw a 147-154 Thunder loss in SA and a 122-112 OKC win back at Chesapeake Energy.
Spurs Look to Take Advantage of George Being Out
San Antonio looked much better Wednesday in the 12 point win over the Pistons. The team looks to have put an abysmal “Rodeo Road Trip” behind them and got the win to put a 2.5 game padding on the 8 seed in the West. Lamarcus Aldridge had 24 points to power the win over Detroit and DeMar Derozan and Jakob Pietl were huge on the boards (13 and 14) which will be crucial against OKC’s #2 rebounding team.
Aldridge had a career high in the first meeting with OKC this season, putting up 56 points on 20-33 shooting. Steven Adams would appear to be a tough matchup for the Spurs big man and he did hold Aldridge to 17 in the second meeting. George will obviously be missed for the Thunder and he had 30 in the 1st game between the two this season. PG13 was held to just 18 in the 2nd matchup and the Thunder got the win. Westbrook has posted lines of 24/13/24 and 24/10/7 in the two meetings.
March 2nd NHL Free Pick Betting
This seems like a great bounce-back opportunity for the Thunder, who have lost three in a row. San Antonio is 22-7 at home this season however and they do have the depth advantage, especially with George being out for the Thunder. The line seems a bit high, even with George being out but it’s moved in the opposite direction despite over 65% of bettors liking the Thunder. This points to another big Spurs win.
NBA Free Pick: San Antonio Spurs -3.5
