{"id":61887,"date":"2013-04-27T08:31:13","date_gmt":"2013-04-27T15:31:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/blog\/?p=61887"},"modified":"2013-04-27T08:31:13","modified_gmt":"2013-04-27T15:31:13","slug":"cappers-game-3-thunder-vs-rockets-playoff-gambling-predictions-preview-27413","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/nba\/cappers-game-3-thunder-vs-rockets-playoff-gambling-predictions-preview-27413\/","title":{"rendered":"OKC Thunder vs. Houston Rockets Game 3 NBA Preview &#038; Free Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Thunder vs Rockets NBA Handicapping<\/h2>\n<p>In the snap of a finger, this series has changed from RFOFLMAO to OMG.<\/p>\n<p>No one knows when or if Russell Westbrook will return to the court as he deals with the aftermath of surgery to repair the damage caused by injury suffered in Game 2. <!--more--> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Western Conference<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Oklahoma City Thunder (2-0) at Houston Rockets (0-2)<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Saturday, April 27<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Toyota Center, Houston<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> 9:30 p.m. EST<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> Spread \u2013 Thunder -1.5 at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/go\/topbet\">TopBet<\/a><\/strong><br \/>\n<strong> O\/U \u2013 207<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/capperspicks.sportsdirectinc.com\/basketball\/nba-matchups.aspx?page=\/data\/NBA\/matchups\/g5_summary_7.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">ATS Matchup Stats<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/capperspicks.sportsdirectinc.com\/baseball\/mlb-preview.aspx?page=\/data\/MLB\/matchups\/g5_preview_7.html\" target=\"_parent\" rel=\"nofollow\">Gambling Insight!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Check out our in-house Handicapper!!! <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.capperspicks.com\/handicappers\/ray-monohan-sports-picks\" target=\"_parent\">Buy Razor Ray&#8217;s NBA Picks Today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Might be May, might be October.<\/p>\n<p>What the Oklahoma City Thunder do know is that they will have to change their game on the fly, starting with tonight\u2019s Game 3 in Houston against a Rockets team that is desperate and has just found the equivalent of a $100 bill on the sidewalk.<\/p>\n<h3><a title=\"NBA Picks\" href=\"\/handicappers\/\"><strong>CLICK GRAB OUR BEST Expert NBA Picks for 2013 HOOPS GAMBLING season!<\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n<p>Westbrook\u2019s injury certainly means more minutes for Reggie Jackson, who has made positive contributions in the first two games of the series.<\/p>\n<p>It also may mean that the Thunder will have to break the glass and use graybeard Derek Fisher, who has been hanging around on the back end of the roster for just this type of situation.<\/p>\n<p>However Scott Brooks decides to adjust to the absence of Westbrook, it creates a terrific opportunity for the Rockets, who played a inspiring 1o minutes and 30 seconds in the fourth period of Game 2 before OKC hit a few late 3-pointers to hang on. [ad-6571516]<\/p>\n<p>Houston still has its work cut out to keep the series alive, but things figure to be a lot easier for coach Kevin McHale, especially on the defensive end.<\/p>\n<p>As expected, the Thunder have been able to exploit their huge advantage at the PG spot, with Westbrook hounding Jeremy Lin all over the court. Lin has shot just 4 for 14 in the two games, with 11 total points and only 6 assists. He will have a lot more room to operate with Westbrook in street clothes.<\/p>\n<p>Westbrook\u2019s absence with sharpen the focus on Kevin Durant, who was solid in the first two games but has yet to turn in one of his off-the charts games. On the other end of the court, Houston\u2019s James Harden got loose in Game 2 and his offensive energy nearly enabled the Rockets to steal one. How different this series would look today if it was 1-1 heading to Texas.<\/p>\n<h3>FREE NBA PICK<\/h3>\n<p>Early money was still on the Thunder, perhaps because the Rockets were such a bad cover team over the last month. But the Rockets appear to have things straightened out offensively, and with the Westbrook gift we like their chances in Game 3, especially getting 1.5. Houston should get a boost from being home for the first time in nearly two weeks.<\/p>\n<p>Liking the over, as OKC should still push the ball even without Westbrook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thunder vs Rockets NBA Handicapping In the snap of a finger, this series has changed from RFOFLMAO to OMG. No one knows when or if Russell Westbrook will return to the court as he deals with the aftermath of surgery to repair the damage caused by injury suffered in Game 2.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":28047,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4045,3319,8667,23074,1595,12358,58879,58951,58952,11729,58953,58954,4814],"class_list":["post-61887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-free-nba-picks","tag-game-3","tag-nba-basketball-lines","tag-nba-betting-picks","tag-nba-gambling","tag-nba-playoff-picks","tag-nba-playoffs-odds","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-houston-rockets","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder-vs-houston-rockets-odds","tag-round-1","tag-thunder-rockets-free-prediction","tag-thunder-rockets-picks","tag-thunder-vs-rockets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61887","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\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61887"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61897,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61887\/revisions\/61897"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/capperspicks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}