{"id":51608,"date":"2012-05-27T07:30:01","date_gmt":"2012-05-27T14:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=51608"},"modified":"2012-05-27T07:30:01","modified_gmt":"2012-05-27T14:30:01","slug":"picks-spread-thunder-vs-spurs-gambling-lines-27512","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nba\/picks-spread-thunder-vs-spurs-gambling-lines-27512\/","title":{"rendered":"Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs  NBA Preview &#038; Free Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>NBA Handicapping Predictions &#8211; 76ers vs Celtics<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s one of the most anticipated playoff series\u2019 in years. Oklahoma City is an up and coming young team full of talent. <!--more--> <\/p>\n<p><strong>NBA Basketball Matchup: #2 Oklahoma City Thunder (0-0) vs. #1 San Antonio Spurs (0-0)<br \/>\nWestern Conference Finals<br \/>\nDate\/Time: May 27, 8:30 PM EST on TNT<br \/>\nNBA Gambling Odds from BetDSI<br \/>\nNBA Betting Favorite: Spurs -5.5<br \/>\nOver\/Under: 204.5<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/capperspicks.sportsdirectinc.com\/basketball\/nba-matchups.aspx?page=\/data\/NBA\/matchups\/g5_summary_1.html\" target=\"_parent\" rel=\"nofollow\">Matchup<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/capperspicks.sportsdirectinc.com\/basketball\/nba-preview.aspx?page=\/data\/NBA\/matchups\/g5_preview_1.html\" target=\"_parent\" rel=\"nofollow\">Preview<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Thunder are getting better every year, and they are definitely a force to be reckoned with now and for many years to come. San Antonio has been a dominant franchise for years, but most thought their NBA Championship window had closed.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs have won 18 straight games coming into this one, and they are playing amazing basketball.<\/p>\n<p>Will the young talented team make their first NBA finals, or will the veteran Spurs make a run at a fifth NBA title?<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Durant led the NBA in scoring this year, and he is the go to guy for Oklahoma City. Durant averaged 28 points per game in the regular season, and he is averaging almost 27 per contest in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs had the original \u201cBig Three\u201d, but the Thunder are building a dominated trifecta of players as well. Russell Westbrook and James Harden have both improved their game a great deal in the past couple years, and they are legitimate stars. Westbrook shot a career-high percentage from the floor this year. [soliloquy id=&#8221;82219&#8243;]<\/p>\n<p>Harden has taken over several games in the playoffs, and he is great at getting to the basket. This trio of players averaged 68 points per game in the regular season, and they are averaging 68 points per game in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>The San Antonio Spurs have won 18 straight games, and their average margin of victory in the playoffs has been 13.75 points. Tim Duncan looks like he did a few years ago, and Tony Parker is playing the best basketball of his career. Manu Ginobili has struggled a bit with his shot, but he has proven he is a clutch player that this team can turn to in big spots.<\/p>\n<p>There isn\u2019t a team in the playoffs even close to as deep as the Spurs. Ten guys see a ton of playing time for the Spurs, and the bench has proven they are capable of holding their own against the opposing team\u2019s starters.<\/p>\n<p>Nine players averaged at least 8.9 points per game for the Spurs during the regular season. Kawhi Leonard has become a real defensive stopper for San Antonio, and he has been a game-changer in the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>This team has amazing chemistry, and Gregg Popovich is the best coach in the NBA right now.<\/p>\n<p>The Spurs come into this one well-rested, and I think they\u2019ll be tough to beat here. The Spurs are 48-22-4 ATS this year. Look for San Antonio to make a statement with a nice win here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Free NBA Pick: Spurs -5.5<\/strong><\/p>\n<h3><a href=\"\/procappers\/\"><strong>VIEW OUR TOP CAPPERS PICKS FOR ALL SPORTS &#8211; EVERY SINGLE DAY 24\/7 \u2014\u2013&gt;<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA Handicapping Predictions &#8211; 76ers vs Celtics It\u2019s one of the most anticipated playoff series\u2019 in years. Oklahoma City is an up and coming young team full of talent.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":190,"featured_media":21803,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[39626,54548,53626,3779,4040,53627,749,12357,3925,10568,8471,42035,54992,9668,4027,4025,4398,42039,13913],"class_list":["post-51608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-39626","tag-2012-playoffs","tag-free-nba-hoops-picks","tag-game-1","tag-nba-basketball-betting","tag-nba-hoops-lines","tag-nba-odds","tag-nba-playoffs","tag-nba-predictions","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-san-antonio-spurs","tag-oklahoma-city-vs-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio","tag-san-antonio-spurs","tag-spurs","tag-thunder","tag-thunder-vs-spurs","tag-western-conference-finals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51608","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=51608"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51612,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51608\/revisions\/51612"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21803"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}