Lakers Thunder Spread – Game 1 of the NBA Playoffs Second Round
Carrie Stroup with your betting spread for Game 1 of the Lakers vs. Thunder NBA Playoffs showdown after both teams have advanced to the second round. All the latest lines can be found here at Sportsbook.
Sportsbook.ag Line & Total: Oklahoma City -7.5 & 191.5
Opening Line & Total: Thunder -7 & 192
The Lakers finished off a hard-fought series with Denver on Friday night, and now will get less than 48 hours of rest before visiting an Oklahoma City team that hasn’t played since May 5.
The Lakers big men came up huge in Friday’s Game 7 over the Nuggets. C Andrew Bynum and PF Pau Gasol combined for 39 points, 35 rebounds (20 offensive boards), 10 blocks and seven assists in L.A.’s 96-87 victory. But the post players will have quite a challenge in this series against C Kendrick Perkins and PF Serge Ibaka, who are regarded as two of the better interior defenders in the league. The OKC duo combined for 21.0 RPG and 6.3 BPG during the regular season versus the Lakers. The league’s leading scorer, SF Kevin Durant, also outdueled Kobe Bryant, scoring 29.7 PPG with 7.7 RPG and 4.7 APG in the season series, which OKC won 2-1. Bryant scored 24.3 PPG with 7.0 RPG and 4.3 APG in the three meetings, but made just 30.7% FG. The Thunder are a strong 9-2 (8-3 ATS) with at least two days of rest this season, winning those games by 12.7 PPG. Meanwhile, Los Angeles is a horrendous 15-27-1 ATS (36%) with just one day of rest.
The Lakers are a dreadful road team at 16-20 (12-23-1 ATS), and are just 1-5-1 ATS in their past seven trips to Oklahoma City. Chesapeake Energy Arena might be even louder than usual, as they will be all over Metta World Peace, who gave James Harden a concussion with elbow to the head the last time these teams met. But after serving a seven-game suspension for his actions, World Peace made his playoff debut on Saturday, and came through with 15 points and four steals in the Game 7 win over Denver. He didn’t play particularly well against the Thunder this season with 10.0 PPG on just 34.5% FG. Another key to this series will be how PGs Ramon Sessions and Steve Blake match up against dynamic OKC point guard Russell Westbrook. Sessions has been playing through a sprained left shoulder, and it appears to have affected his shot in the past three games (9-for-29 FG, 31%). However, Blake had a huge Game 7 on Saturday with 19 points on 7-of-11 FG. He made 5-of-6 threes and is now 10-for-17 from downtown over his past four games. His hot shooting was also the result of Bynum and Gasol drawing attention down low. Bynum was able to score 16.3 PPG with 11.0 RPG against the Thunder this season, while Gasol posted 18.3 PPG and 9.7 RPG in the three meetings.
Oklahoma City doesn’t lose very often at home, going 28-7 (17-18 ATS) this season, posting a hefty 105.7 PPG on 49% FG. Harden will no doubt have extra incentive in this game facing World Peace, and the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year is coming off his best game of playoffs. In the series finale against Dallas, Harden scored 29 points on 11-of-16 FG (3-of-4 threes) with five rebounds, five assists and three steals. He scored 13.0 PPG on 50% FG against the Lakers this season. PG Russell Westbrook shot poorly against the Lakers this year (33.3% FG), but still managed to score 23.0 PPG with 7.0 APG in the three meetings. In his two home playoff games this year, Westbrook scored 28.5 PPG on 52% FG. Durant averaged 26.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG in the series sweep of Dallas, pumping in at least 24 points in every game. Former Lakers PG Derek Fisher will also play a role in determining the outcome of this series. After not scoring in Game 1 against Dallas, Fisher averaged 11.0 PPG on 14-of-21 FG (5-of-9 threes) in the final three games of that first-round series.
Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
