This isn\u2019t the way the defending champions envisioned their title defense starting out. Dallas was blown out by Miami in a rematch of last year\u2019s title in the season opener. <\/p>\n
8:00 PM EST on TNT<\/strong> They were then blasted by Denver. Both of the Mavericks losses came at home. Oklahoma City is a young team that continues to get better each year. The Thunder have high expectations this year. Oklahoma City is 2-0 coming into this game. It\u2019s a battle of two of the top teams in the Western Conference on the first edition of TNT Thursday night basketball for this season.<\/p>\n Dallas made a lot of moves in the offseason, and it seems like the team needs some time to adjust. Lamar Odom was a big pickup, but he has been awful in the team\u2019s first two games. Odom is averaging five points per game and he is shooting just 12.5% from the floor. [soliloquy id=”82219″]<\/p>\n Odom should get things figured out before long, and I expect him to help this team. Vince Carter is also working his way into the system, and it will be interesting to see if he can be a third scorer for the Mavericks. Dirk Nowitzki was clutch all through the playoffs last year, and he creates a mismatch against every team the Mavericks take on. Shawn Marion was the team\u2019s defensive stopper last year, and he played a big role in the team\u2019s title.<\/p>\n Oklahoma City is loaded with young talent. The Thunder are led by Kevin Durant. Some experts say Durant is the best player in the NBA right now. Durant is a pure scorer who can light it up from everywhere on the floor. Russell Westbrook is an ultra-talented point guard who is another guy that can fill it up in a hurry. Westbrook needs to improve his shot selection at times, but I think he will continue to mature as a player. James Harden is quickly becoming the team\u2019s third scoring option. Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins give the team a quality tandem in the post.<\/p>\n The Mavericks don\u2019t have the team chemistry they had at the end of last season, but they are a proud team. I think Oklahoma City wins this, but I like Dallas to cover the spread.<\/p>\n Prediction: Oklahoma City 101 Dallas 97<\/p>\n NBA Basketball Matchup: Dallas Mavericks vs. Oklahoma City Thunder This isn\u2019t the way the defending champions envisioned their title defense starting out. Dallas was blown out by Miami in a rematch of last year\u2019s title in the season opener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":27658,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[2628,5253,49303,4113,53246,4574,747,2381,10568,8471,4398],"class_list":["post-47085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallas-mavericks-vs-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-mavericks","tag-nba-basketball-matchup","tag-nba-free-predictions","tag-nba-lines","tag-nba-picks","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-thunder"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/190"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47085"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47114,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47085\/revisions\/47114"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n NBA Gambling Odds from Bookmaker<\/strong>
\n NBA Betting Favorite: Thunder -7<\/strong>
\n Over\/Under: 196.5<\/strong><\/p>\nCLICK HERE FOR THE BEST NBA BASKETBALL HANDICAPPING PREDICTIONS ALL SEASON LONG \u2014\u2013><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"