Houston Rockets vs. Oklahoma City Thunder – 8/20/20 NBA Pick, Odds, and Prediction

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Houston Rockets meet Thursday in game two of NBA playoff action at the AdventHealth Arena.

The Oklahoma City Thunder look for a bounce bak showing to even up this series at 1-1. The Oklahoma City Thunder are averaging 108 points on 44 percent shooting and allowing 123 points on 48.3 percent shooting. Danilo Gallinari is averaging 29 points and three rebounds while Chris Paul is averaging 20 points and nine assists. Steven Adams is the third double-digit scorer and Darius Bazley is grabbing nine rebounds. The Oklahoma City Thunder are shooting 37.1 percent from beyond the arc and 84 percent from the free thitem line. The Oklahoma City Thunder are allowing 38.5 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 46 rebounds per game.

The Houston Rockets look for another victory to take a solid 2-0 series lead. The Houston Rockets are averaging 123 points on 48.3 percent shooting and allowing 108 points on 44 percent shooting. James Harden is averaging 37 points and three assists while Jeff Green is averaging 22 points and six rebounds. Eric Gordon is the third double-digit scorer and Ben McLemore is grabbing one rebound. The Houston Rockets are shooting 38.5 percent from beyond the arc and 89.5 percent from the free thitem line. The Houston Rockets are allowing 37.1 percent shooting from deep and are grabbing 36 rebounds per game.

The Thunder are 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss and 41-20 ATS in their last 61 games as an underdog. The Rockets are 5-2 ATS in their last 7 Thursday games, 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite and 6-2 ATS in their last 8 Conference Quarterfinals games. The over is 4-1 in Thunder last 5 overall. The under is 6-2 in Rockets last 8 overall. The Thunder are 6-2 ATS in the last 8 meetings in Houston and 5-1 ATS in the last 6 meetings.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are a better team than what they showed in their game one loss, as they can play much better defense and we should all expect a better game from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. The issue here is OKC is a young club that lacks serious playoff experience, so coming out flat and struggling was kind of expected. The Houston Rockets are also a team that thrives on confidence, and they’re feeling great about themselves after getting hot from deep and torching a solid OKC team without Russell Westbrook. When Harden and the Rockets are feeling good, it’s often an avalanche coming down that mountain. 

I’m not stepping in front of the Rockets right now.