Oklahoma City Thunder vs. N.Y. Knicks NBA Pick (Feb. 20)

NBA Betting – Saturday Night Picks

Before nba betting fans turn their attention to olympic hockey gambling this weekend, we have the NBA. It’s time for our weekly Saturday hoops picks for NBA gambling action.

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THUNDER vs. KNICKS

Time: Saturday 7:30 ET
Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York
Spread: OKC -6.5
Over/Under: 204

What’s it take to make the rest of the NBA sit up and take notice?

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been making steady if unspectacular progress since the then-Seattle SuperSonics moved to flyover country a few years back, and today they have better than a puncher’s chance at making life miserable for one or two of the Western Conference bullies come playoff time.

The Thunder enter tonight’s game in New York at 31-21 in the Northwest Division, and they are forcing their main competitors – Denver, Utah and Portland, to bring their A game every night to avoid seeing OKC vault past them in the standings.

Is there a more underappreciated point guard in the league than Russell Westbrook, the former UCLA star who is averaging 16 points, 7.5 assists and better than a steal a game? Westbrook has more than held his own against the likes of Chauncey Billups and Steve Nash this season.

Rookie James Harden has been solid at the other point, and Jeff Green is scoring 14.5 a game at a forward spot. But the big enchilada has been Kevin Durant, who might lead the league in scoring this season despite seeing a host of double-teams and exotic defenses almost every time he touches the ball.

One sign of a good team is its ability to play well on the road, and OKC has been better than OK on the road, going 15-11 SU and an amazing 19-7 ATS in games not played in Oklahoma. Covering the spread is nothing new for the Thunder, though – they went 46-34 ATS last season, one of the best records in the league against the number.

Betting Angles:

NBA | (503) OKLAHOMA CITY @ (504) NEW YORK | 02/20/2010 7:35 PM
Play AGAINST NEW YORK using the money line in Home games second half of the season
The record is 12 Wins and 27 Losses for the last three seasons (-24.50 units)

Play ON OKLAHOMA CITY using the money line in All games versus poor defensive teams – allowing 99+ points/game
The record is 18 Wins and 8 Losses this season (+13.70 units)

Play OVER NEW YORK on the total in All games in February games
The record is 16 Overs and 3 Unders for the last two seasons (+12.70 units)

SATURDAY NIGHT BEST NBA BET:

The Thunder have 3 straight road wins (Portland, Golden State and New Orleans) and 5 straight road covers. The core of the team is healthy (four starters have played all 52 games, and center Nenad Krstic has missed only 2), and the Thunder are catching the Knicks in transition as they try to figure out how to use newcomer Tracy McGrady.

OKC on the money line is a good call.

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Lawrence Paul is a regular contributor to the Cappers Picks Blog, and is a free-lance gambling and travel expert from Massachusetts.