2010 NBA Playoffs Betting: Thunder vs. Lakers Prediction: April 18th 2010

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Los Angeles Lakers
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The defending champion Los Angeles Lakers (57-25, 33-46-3 ATS) take their first step towards defending their title when they welcome the Oklahoma City Thunder (50-32, 48-34 ATS) into the Staples Center for the first of this seven-game series. The Thunder come into this 2010 NBA playoff betting series as the Western Conference’s 8th overall playoff seed after winning a franchise best 50 games. The Lakers fell woefully short of their predicted season win total, but nonetheless, are the conference’s top seed.

When you think of the Oklahoma City Thunder, the first name to pop into your head would most definitely be that of Kevin Durant. The Texas product just won the scoring title by averaging a shade over 30 PPG on the year. He along with Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook form the Thunder’s trio of scorers that account for 61.3 of the 101.5 PPG the team averaged on the year. They also convert at a high clip from the free throw line (#2 at 80.5%). Defensively they rank amongst the top 11 in points allowed, FG percentage allowed, and 3-point percentage allowed.

The Lakers weren’t by any means as dominant a team throughout the 2009-10 NBA betting regular season, but there were reasons why. Mainly injuries, as Pau Gasol, Kobe Bryant, Ron Artest, and Andrew Bynum all missed a number of games due to them. Still, Kobe is still Kobe, and head coach Phil Jackson has already stated this team will be competing at full strength in the post-season; along with complaining about Durant getting to the charity stripe too much.

The Lakers went 3-1 SU against the Thunder this season, but Durant and company snagged three pointspread covers. That come as no surprise to NBA bettors since the Thunder finished up the regular season as the fourth best bet in the league. The Lakers struggled for their NBA betting backers at home going 16-23-2 ATS, but the Thunder were a solid squad to back as a visitor going 26-15 ATS.

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