Oklahoma City Thunder (36-38) vs. Portland Trail Blazers (32-41)
March 26, 2023 7:00 pm EDT
The Line: Portland Trail Blazers +7.5; Over/Under: -
(Get latest betting odds)
The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Portland Trail Blazers do battle at the Moda Center on Sunday night.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have been in great form as they’ve won eight of their last 12 games overall, but they will be eager to snap a two-game skid after getting beaten by the Lakers in a 116-111 road loss on Friday. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the team with 27 points and eight assists, Josh Giddey tallied 27 points with 17 rebounds and seven assists while Luguentz Dort chipped in with 15 points. As a team, the Thunder shot 43 percent from the field and 14 of 36 from the 3-point line as they allowed the Lakers off to a hot start and had to claw their way back from a 17-point deficit, only to go cold and score just 19 points in the fourth quarter to allow the Lakers off the hook in the end.
Meanwhile, the Portland Trail Blazers have been in a real slump as they’ve lost seven of their last eight games overall and they will be hoping for a better performance after getting thrashed by the Bulls in a 124-96 loss last night. Shaedon Sharpe led the team with 24 points on nine of 20 shooting, Trendon Watford added 15 points while Drew Eubanks chipped in with 12 points. As a team, the Trail Blazers shot just 43 percent from the field and six of 31 from the 3-point line as they struggled without Damian Lillard in the lineup and scored just 19 points in the second quarter to fall behind by double-digits and things only got worse in the second half where the Bulls were just too much.
Looking at the betting trends, the Thunder are 46-22-3 ATS in their last 71 road games, 18-8-1 ATS in their last 27 games following a loss and 5-1 ATS in their last six games overall. The Trail Blazers are 0-5 ATS in their last five home games, 4-1 ATS in their last five games against a team with a losing record and 1-5 ATS in their last six games overall.
Head to head, the Thunder are 5-1 ATS in the last six meetings in Portland and the Thunder are 7-0 ATS in the last seven meetings overall.
The Trail Blazers have been in terrible form for a while now and they are going to be severely depleted again with Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons, Jusuf Nurkic and Jerami Grant all ruled out. The Thunder are coming into this one almost at full strength and they were more than competitive in their narrow loss to the Lakers on Friday, so I will back them to bounce back with a solid win here against this slumping Trail Blazers squad.
