82 games, 30 teams, 16 spots in the playoffs, and only one champion. That could be a short description of one NBA season. But, this NBA season is very hard to describe in a million words, that is how good it is. Both conferences have something that NBA lovers love about them. If you prefer qualifying battles until last minute, Eastern is the one for you. If you are like the tight battle for the places from 3rd to 8th than Western Conference is for you. Denver Nuggets and Golden State Warriors have their own battle for the 1st place and Home court advantage through the Playoffs. Houston Rockets are the closest to grab the 3rd place, but Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Clippers, Utah Jazz, Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs are in the hunt for it. They all have almost equal chances to take it. Harden is playing fantastic season again. Lots of people would say MVP season. This is what makes them favorites for the 3rd place. With that in mind, every team is surely trying to avoid the 6th place and 1st round against them. OKC has a fantastic team, lots of shooting a potential, fast, transitional basket with the Steven Adams in the paint giving them chance for an offensive rebound in every possession. Russell Westbrook got support from Paul George and they seem to cooperate amazing. Russell is again the triple-double machine, just like last season. If they want to clinch at least 5th place, they should win games against opponents like Dallas Mavericks are. This is the game we will focus at today in our betting predictions part of the article.
The game is being played on a Sunday, March the 31st. Oklahoma will host the amazing rookie Luka Doncic, who is the leader of the Dallas Mavericks, at their Chesapeake Arena at 3:30 PM local time. Oklahoma City had a very tough schedule lately, and they are surely looking forward to this game. Although it is an almost must-win game for OKC, Mavericks have almost no winning imperative and they could simply enjoy the game. This is why we think that this game should have a score greater than 209.5, which is the border given by bet365 bookies. Total 209.5 OVER @5/6 (1.86) @bet365. You can also try to find some great bookies offers to take the most of your money here. Another interesting prediction is Steven Adams to score more than 14.5, OVER @5/6 (1,86) @bet365. What is interesting about this prediction? Adams is going to be guarded by Dirk Nowitzki, who is in ages when you can expect retirement rather than great basketball.
With the respect for everything done by Dirk Nowitzki so far in his career, our expectation is that Oklahoma City will try to use Adams's height and strength to score some easy baskets in the positional offense. Also, at the other part of the court, we expect Steven Adams to lock the paint for "Dirkenstein". Border or 11.5 points, given by bet365 bookies seems too far. Dirk Nowitzki to score UNDER 11.5 @5/6 (1.86) @ bet365. If you like to risk a little bit more, Russell Westbrook would be a great choice. With the odds of 2/1 (3.00) found at bet365, it seems more than realistic that he can score triple-double against Mavs. If you are one of the guys who just want to sit back and relax with a few glasses of favorite drink and a low-risk bet, then perfect choice for you would be Oklahoma City Thunder - Dallas Mavericks 1 @ 1/5 (1.20) (bet365). This is probably the most important game for the OKC in their effort to reach the upper half of the playoff picture at the western conference. They have more than enough quality to routinely win against Dallas Mavericks, who lost their chances to reach the playoffs a long time ago. Home court, loud crowd, great young team, and imperative should be more than enough to win the game.
There are no many sure things in NBA this season, but one thing is sure, we are going to enjoy every second of this great playoff battle.
