[Croodles]

EXPERT: Scott Rickenbach
TITLE: *5-0 RUN* NBA TV *TOP PLAY*
REASON FOR PICK: Scott Rickenbach’s NBA 2* (Top Play) Oklahoma City Thunder (+) vs San Antonio @ 8:05 PM ET – The Spurs are laying a rather manageable number on the road and this will have many “leaning” to San Antonio here. However, the Thunder absolutely have a great shot at the upset here at that means there is a lot of value in grabbing the points here! The Thunder are finally getting healthy again. Oklahoma City now has Kevin Durant back in the lineup and they went 5-2 without him. Even though that included some victories against weak teams, it still did a lot for the confidence of this Thunder team as they managed to notch victories even during the time that Durant was out with an injury. Speaking of confidence, Oklahoma City has no doubt that they can compete with San Antonio. The Thunder only lost by five points to the Spurs in December and that game was in San Antonio. In that game Oklahoma City had to rally after getting down big early and that rally, coupled with the fact the Spurs had Manu Ginobili then and he is out now, gives the Thunder the confidence necessary to take down the Spurs in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder’s Jeff Green had a huge game, as did Durant, the last time these teams met. Also, guard Russell Westbrook absolutely has the athleticism to give the Spurs Tony Parker a little trouble on both ends of the floor. Yes, Parker is hot and he’s going to enjoy some success on both ends of the floor but look for the Thunder, now deeper and healthier than they’ve been all season, to really challenge the Spurs in this one. San Antonio’s Tim Duncan has not been the same since he returned from injury and Spurs coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t hide the fact that he is “saving” players for the playoffs too. This is the first of a back to back spot for the Spurs, they host Minnesota tomorrow, and so we should see plenty of time from the San Antonio bench in this one. Note that the Thunder now have Thabo Sefolosha, whom they picked up at the trade deadline from the Bulls, and he’s played well enough to earn a spot in the starting rotation. He’s a solid defender and 7-footer Nenad Krstic has also played well since re-acclimating himself to the NBA as he returned in December. With Krstic, Green, and Durant, the Thunder have good size up front while Sefolosha and Westbrook have size edges over the Spurs Roger Mason and Parker in the backcourt.

Oklahoma City is playing just their second game in five days. Also, they battled hard at Phoenix on Saturday and were actually tied with the Suns before they “ran out of gas” in the fourth quarter. Keep in mind that was Durant’s first game back. He’s likely to be even better in his second game and plus he gets this on his home floor where the Thunder have been a much tougher team this season! Note that the Spurs are just 5-4 in their last 9 games. Also, two of their last three wins have come by five points or less! Again, you can see the value with the home dog Thunder here! The last four times the Spurs have played in back-to-back spot, they have lost either the front-end game or the back-end game three times. In other words, it’s been very tough for the Spurs to get a sweep and, while tomorrow’s game against the Timberwolves looks very winnable, the Thunder are fully capable of handing the Spurs a loss here! Oklahoma City is catching the Spurs at the right time here too. Even though the Spurs were off Sunday, they came up with a key win in a tough battle with the Rockets in Houston on Saturday and that makes this a very tough spot for the Spurs to now take on an 18-48 Thunder team that is much better than their full season record shows! Play Oklahoma City plus the points as a Top Play selection.

[InTheHole]

[InTheHole]

tadam

[clownpuncher]

man, i hate to say it but i have been looking at all of these service picks and taking the ones that all of these guys like the same. for example, last nite i had the nuggets and the spurs under!!!!! once again thank you inthehole!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!a couple of these clowns are hot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EL CALIENTE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!