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Oklahoma City will welcome Kevin Durant back to their arena Saturday afternoon with what is expected to be a whole lot of booing.
He’ll also be accompanied by enhanced security.
Durant will step foot in the hostile territory for the first time since jumping ship during the offseason and heading to play in Golden State. Fans are expected to don “Koward” T-Shirts in his honor.
Thunder star Russell Westbrook says he has not spoken to Durant since bailing more than seven months ago.
"It's up to them what they want to do," Westbrook told reporters regarding the fans possible reaction to Durant’s return. "You know, obviously Kevin did a lot for Oklahoma City and our team when he was here, so it's kind of up to them. It doesn't really matter to me one way or another. It's a basketball game. Gotta go out and compete."
Oklahoma City, which recently ranked number one among NBA fan cities in a USA Today poll, one spot ahead of Golden State no less, has beaten the Warriors at home in two of their last three meetings.
In fact, the Warriors are 1-5-1 Against The Spread in the last 7 meetings in Oklahoma City despite winning the last five games against the Thunder outright (four of those were at Golden State).
This could prove to be an easy cover for the Thunder at +7.5. Even with their last loss at home versus the Warriors, Oklahoma City still would have covered the current number.
As a home underdog of 6.5 to 9 points, they are 2-0 Against The Spread over the past three seasons, losing both games outright however.
- Tyrone Black, Gambling911.com
